10 Wrestlers That Made Fans Change The Channel

4. Bill Goldberg (1998)

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WWE.com

Blah blah blah WCW should have saved this for pay-per-view blah blah showed they were panicking blah blah.

You know that bit of the story (and have probably read it on this author page let along every other site on the internet), but not enough people stop for a second to enjoy the magic of one of the last great moments WCW managed to create. Not least because it was one that no WWE homer could remotely claim as their own.

'Hollywood' Hogan was the hideously wonderful creation of Eric Bischoff, Hulk himself and the WCW braintrust, and had maintained a vice-like grip on the company's beloved Heavyweight Championship for the better part of two years when Goldberg bulldozed him for it in July 1998. Big Bill was all theirs too - a unique offering when the company desperately needed one, the ex-NFLer clearly wasn't built for a long time but a f*cking really good one. And did many times look better than inside the packed Georgia Dome in July 1998?

WCW needed more than mere moments to reverse the company's ailing fortunes. But as a wrestling organisation ran by a television company, the 6.91 rating (translating to over 5 million viewers), this one glorious night confirmed their most recent creation as a bonafide smash hit.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett