10 Wrestlers You Can’t Believe WWE Ruined
8. Goldberg
The mentality in WWE is that you must first make it in WWE to gain respect. AJ Styles is a curious but no less welcome late exception to that rule.
This explains why Goldberg was exposed in lengthy back and forth matches almost immediately upon debuting in WWE. His entire selling point was sold off. His matches with The Rock (13:03) and Chris Jericho (10:53) weren't terrible - but by the time the bell rang, he had become just another wrestler. This made sense in regards to the company's mentality, which is to say it made no sense at all. Goldberg represented an easy shortcut to the lapsed fan in the wake of the mainstream bubble bursting.
His run, ultimately, was as deflating. He triggered Triple H's instincts for self-preservation in their summer/autumn series, which did nothing for anybody, least of all the audience. Their matches were suspiciously sluggish, in that Triple H went the scenic route of putting Goldberg over. He seemed to make sure to bore viewers to tears before doing the job - so that when the mat was struck for a third time, nobody really cared.
Ruined is a stretch - he returned to much acclaim over a decade later - but few mourned his absence a year after he debuted to incredible fanfare.