Unquestionably, Bill Goldberg was the WCW star most wrestling fans wanted to see in WWE during the heyday of the Monday Night Wars. Entire articles in many magazines of the time were dedicated to fantasy booking scenarios, dreaming up the many matches and opponents Goldberg could have should he be under contract to WCW's competition. Steve Austin was routinely the most popular choice for these columns, but he was followed closely by The Rock. Fans would eventually get their wish in 2003, as Goldberg was brought in to combat The Rock's arrogant heel character. Wrestling enthusiasts badly just wanted to see big Bill tear through everything in his path, and it's hard to argue that his debut, spearing The Rock out of his boots on an episode of Raw, wasn't terrific TV. Sadly, even though the match between the pair at Backlash 2003 was decent, it could never live up to the hype. Even though he'd move on to a program against Triple H (who else) later in the year, WWE stupidly started moving away from what fans wanted to see with Goldberg, putting him in silly promo situations with characters like Goldust. One year later, in the Spring of 2004, Goldberg was gone, and it never seemed like he was truly into his WWE run, certainly not the same way he had been throughout his WCW tenure. At least he had a better debut match than DDP, Booker T or Scott Steiner!
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
