WCW: 6 Innovations Eric Bischoff Did To Change Wrestling

4. The Push Of Bill Goldberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTJsD1NIpxg It's unlikely that Bischoff was the only person to think of this angle, but seeing as how he was in charge of WCW in 1997, he deserves a lot of the credit. The rise of Bill Goldberg is one of the best things that WCW ever did. It was so important because WCW kept trotting out the same familiar faces in Hogan, Savage, Nash, Hall, Sting, Flair and guys like that, so fans were clamoring for something new. Goldberg's undefeated streak took on a life of its own. It's amazing that WCW could book something so well considering all of the other bad stuff they were booking. The Goldberg streak took on a life of its own as he racked up a record of 173 wins before his first loss at Starrcade 1998. Of course the 173 win number is bogus, but that's pro wrestling. Even though Bischoff deserves a lot of credit for the rise of Goldberg, Bischoff also made a stupid mistake by giving away Goldberg vs. Hogan on a live edition of Nitro instead of putting it on pay-per-view. They could have made a lot of money off of that match. It was the last truly big match that WCW had and they put it on TV in July of 1998 just to pop a big rating. Part of WCW's demise has to do with Goldberg's loss to Kevin Nash at Starrcade 1998 (it was the wrong time against the wrong guy), but Bischoff and WCW deserve credit for the way they built up Goldberg from a nobody into a top guy. Obviously Goldberg deserves praise as well, but it's also due an executive like Bischoff hand picking him as the guy they could build around. They were right.