How Good Was Goldberg Actually?

The more time rolls on, the more Goldberg’s popularity seems as if it fit the zeitgeist of the late '90s more than capturing something timeless.

WWE and AEW have both tried the Goldberg method of booking someone as an unstoppable monster and having a talent smash their way to the top. Ryback and Wardlow are wrestlers with limited mic ability, given nicknames like ‘Mr. Mayhem’ or handed a Schwarzenegger-lite catchphrase like “Feed Me More”. Ryback even employed a Spear as one of his signature moves, while Wardlow also had a period where he was dovetailed by security guards.

Neither of these wrestlers were able to sustain momentum. In the age of social media, where fans can tire of a wrestler quicker than ever before, it’s hard to make the argument that Goldberg would be able to work at the highest level in the modern era. Oba Femi is currently being booked like a bone-breaking killing machine, but the gap in promo and in-ring skills between Goldberg and The Ruler is enormous.

There’s always a market for a Goldberg-style character with kids. Power is aspirational to children, and smashing an opponent in record time, a long winning streak, and a 90+ rating on a 2K game would be enough to secure popularity with the youth market, but the IWC would eat Bill alive if he were in his prime in this era. Jey Uso is a man with a great entrance and limited promo and in-ring skills, and just look at how his 2025 moment in the main event scene went.

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