How Good Was Goldberg Actually?

For as long as wrestling fans and the business itself talk about the Monday Night Wars, they will talk about Bill Goldberg. WCW’s biggest babyface during these hallowed years is a straight shoot-out between Sting and Goldberg. If we are talking about popularity in the moment, Goldberg wins that battle by a mile (even if Sting’s character, stories, and skill-set have aged far better).

Don’t let WWE’s revisionist history fool you; Goldberg is one of the top five most popular wrestlers of the Monday Night Wars era. He was a bigger draw than Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and basically everyone on WWE’s side of the trenches apart from Stone Cold and The Rock. Only Hollywood Hulk Hogan was worth more during this time period to WCW, too.

Goldberg’s streak is legendary. For the majority of the time that he was undefeated, he was as hot as anyone you want to name in any era of wrestling. WWE has turned this period into a joke, pointing at WCW embellishing the number of wins he racked up between broadcasts, but the truth is that Goldberg went 151 actual televised wins before the streak was broken. WCW claimed he was 173-0 when the streak was broken, which only exaggerates that number by 22 matches. Not quite the punchline that WWE’s version of events makes it out to be, is it?

As already discussed, Goldberg hasn’t had much in the way of lasting impact on the business, outside of making the Spear fashionable. There aren’t many of today’s wrestlers who call Goldberg their inspiration. Maybe it’s just the way WWE likes to reframe history, but even an act like Batista, who followed Goldberg’s formula of cool pyro and overall intensity, is considered to have left a bigger mark on the business than Goldberg.

The narrative of wrestling history has essentially been controlled by Vince McMahon and Paul Levesque, two men who fought on the frontlines of the Monday Night War. No matter how much either man would protest it, there’s always an undercurrent of disdain that cheapens the impact of WCW stars like Scott Steiner and Goldberg. Like it or not, that has diminished the cultural legacy of both men.

5/10