How Good Was Goldberg Actually?

Bill Goldberg is open about the fact that his passion in life was “football”. His passion was playing as a defensive tackle in the NFL, where he had two short stints with the LA Rams without making an appearance, made 14 appearances for the Atlanta Falcons, and became the first player to ever be cut by the then-new Carolina Panthers franchise (without playing a minute for them).

This is important because pro wrestling wasn’t even a backup plan for Bill. It was only when he was approached by Sting, Buff Bagwell, and Lex Luger in an Atlanta gym and encouraged to think about giving it a try that Goldberg signed with WCW. Pro wrestling found Bill Goldberg, not the other way around.

As such, Goldberg’s skill set and passion for the business are lower than 99% of people we’ll cover in this feature. He wrestled dark matches, and crowds took to him instantly. Eric Bischoff rushed him onto TV before he was ready to go, and people didn’t care because his matches had a winning formula. A brief set-up, a vicious spear that came naturally to a defensive tackler, and a really cool finishing move in the Jackhammer.

Goldberg had a drastic lack of in-ring skills, but it didn't impact his rise. Only four of his first 50 televised matches on WCW television went longer than three minutes, and yet every sold-out arena and the millions at home were crazy for Goldberg’s “set-up, spear, Jackhammer” formula. Just watch the crowds in these moments compared to anything you see on WWE or AEW TV today. It wasn't pretty, it was definitely a product of its time, but people LOVED it.

For all of his faults in the ring, that includes his infamous bone-headed kick to Bret Hart’s head that concussed Bret and ended his in-ring career, and a match with Steven ‘William’ Regal in the early part of his career that showed his lack of ability bare for all to see, Goldberg did popularize the Spear. It’s a move that everyone from Adam Copeland to Roman Reigns to Jey Uso deploys today, but the devastating impact and sheer ferocity of Goldberg’s Spear made the move mainstream for the first time.

The Jackhammer was also a great-looking finisher that played into Bill’s sheer physicality. Goldberg Jackhammering The Rock at Backlash 2003 felt like one of the only moments that captured the essence of what the Monday Night Wars could have been after Vince bought WCW. It also looked unreal in WCW when he would lift people the size of The Giant up like it was nothing and smash them into the ground for the finish.

The Bret Hart incident makes it easy for modern audiences to believe that Goldberg was an oaf who offered nothing in the ring, but he himself has played a part in that being the accepted reality. The paydays were huge, and his kids got to see him wrestle, but Goldberg's latter-day comebacks stank like a bad fart. Wrestling into his 50s, Goldberg wasn’t able to replicate the trademark intensity that made him a believable attraction in his heyday. His aging body took away the one attribute he excelled at, and only furthered the idea that he wasn’t ever fit to wrestle at the highest level.

Even when pointing out his cool moves and people's fanatical reactions to them, there's no way of hiding that Goldberg is one of the worst wrestlers ever to make it to wrestling’s main event scene when it comes to in-ring ability.

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