10 Wrestlers Too Big To Fail (That Failed Anyway)
1. Goldberg (WWE, 2003-2004)
It’s a question that’s been debated for fifteen years: did Bill Goldberg really fail in his first proper run with the WWE in 2003 and 2004?
Goldberg certainly thinks that he did. He was already in an uphill battle to earn the respect of the WWE’s fanbase: it hadn’t been that long since he’d been the enemy, one of WCW’s biggest stars. He felt that Vince McMahon didn’t really understand what had made the Goldberg character such a success in WCW only a few years earlier.
It hadn’t been about the streak, the win and loss record, so much as it had been about the aura of the man. Goldberg was a monster truck in human form, whose only purpose was to run people over. Instead, McMahon had him engaged in run-of-the-mill feuds with 50/50 booking, requiring him to sell post-match beatdowns.
Yes, he won the title more than once; yes, he was in the main event, fighting and beating top stars. But that’s just what the record books show. The numbers aren’t what people remember. The magic from years earlier just wasn’t there in the WWE. Goldberg wasn’t Goldberg, and he wasn’t happy.
The match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XX was the capstone on a frustrating year - the crowd knew that both men were leaving and comprehensively cr*pped all over it. Goldberg won, but left feeling defeated. He didn’t wrestle again for a dozen years.