Goldberg On His Wrestling Prime: "I Just Squished Motherf*ckers"
Bill Goldberg on the timeless formula that shot him to WCW stardom.
"I was the Mike Tyson of wrestling."
This is Bill Goldberg speaking on his early pro wrestling success during a recent conversation with Dr. Beau Hightower. He added, however, that this was likely what drew him so much hatred as well, aside from being a WCW interloper in the WWE locker room after signing for Vince McMahon in 2003 (h/t WrestleZone):-
“I always felt that too. And I still believe there’s a tiny bit of that in the back of everybody’s mind because I did work for the competitor during those Monday Night War battles. But I think what has made me successful and also made me hated is the thing that is the determining factor. I was the Mike Tyson of wrestling. My goal was to be something completely different. Black tights, black shoes, I didn’t frickin’ talk for six months. I just squished motherf*ckers.”
"Squishing motherf*ckers" helped make Goldberg one of the most over, money-drawing stars of the '90s, but nothing screamed that era of WCW more than the company ending the 173-0 streak via taser at Starrcade 1998. Nonetheless, WWE chose to crowbar Goldberg into their own formula rather than his own, making it impossible to replicate the success of a few years prior.
Despite comparing himself to Tyson and citing Nikita Koloff, Bruiser Brody, and the Road Warriors as influences, Goldberg claimed he was trying to stand out on his own, creating something authentic:-
“That’s my job, that’s what I do. That’s what I did. When I was I was younger, you know. Now I just try to. But I didn’t want to be the chain wrestler, I didn’t want to emulate anybody. Now granted the Road Warriors and Nikita Koloff and Brody were extremely influential to me. You know, Hawk was extremely influential to me. So I took little aspects of what they did and I applied it to my idea of the character. I had MMA moves, a lot of them in the beginning.”
Now 55 years old, the WCW icon wrestled what was believed to be the last match on his latest WWE contract at Elimination Chamber 2022, where he lost to Roman Reigns. Whether the two parties come to terms on a new deal remains to be seen.