The world of professional wrestling always needs a little bit of shock. You know, that surprising moment where fans were not expected it, but yet it was something they had always wanted to see. Unfortunately, WCW had a hard time understanding that concept.
For nearly three years WCW had a money making draw with Bill Goldberg. Goldberg made his debut in September 1997 and proceeded to go on a hot streak, winning 176 matches in a row. Sure, the number of wins may be inflated a little, as one week he’d have 30 and the next he’d somehow be at 38. Nevertheless, the company had the next draw to lead them for the next several years, similar to what Sting and Hulk Hogan had been prior.
Despite some horrible booking of their top star beyond his first year, Goldberg continued to have a huge fan following. His record came to a screeching hault at Starrcade 1998 when he lost the WCW World Title to Kevin Nash, and he wasn’t given a rematch for the Championship until a year later at Starrcade 1999, which he was screwed out of against Bret Hart.
On December 23, 1999, Goldberg suffered an arm injury, nearly having to have his arm amputated after putting his forearm through a limo window. He was out for five months following the incident. By the time the spring of 2000 came around, fans were waiting with anticipation for Goldberg’s return.
On May 29th of that year, Goldberg returned to action, and was his usual “baby face” self. He helped his friends fight off the New Blood faction and everything seemed to be fine. Sure, at this point Goldberg came across like a superstar playing for the minor leagues as WCW had fallen far from grace, but he added a much needed spark to the show.
WCW couldn’t possibly ruin the one top baby face they have in the company, right? They can’t be that stupid…
But, remember, it’s WCW.
At the Great American Bash 2000, the show had been centered around a “big surprise” from the duo of Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff. Something fans would not expect, something that would “change the landscape of the business”.
However, that ‘surprise’ didn’t deliver. If you watch the show, there are a few signs in the crowd, and one that is clearly seen on camera right before the turn, stating “Goldberg Is New Blood”. It was as if the fans and critics expected the turn to happen, and of course, it did.
It’s one of the dumbest things WCW could have done. Heel turns make sense when fans want to boo someone or have had enough of the character. You look at a guy like Hulk Hogan when he turned in 1996. The fans were tired of him. Sure, some people cheered him afterwards, but far more people booed their former hero.
However, there was no interest in booing Goldberg. He was the hero that made the shows worth watching. They wanted Goldberg to kick ass and take names. It was so evident that they didn’t want to boo him that the experiment lasted all of two months. By August of 2000 Goldberg was back to being a baby face.
WCW tried their hardest to make Goldberg into a hated superstar. On an episode of Nitro, Goldberg brutally beat up sickly Jim Duggan, who had just beaten cancer. They had Goldberg brutally attack Sting several times, but nothing managed to generate real hate for the truly beloved Goldberg. Fans weren’t cheering him, but they weren’t into the heel turn either.
During this heel turn, Goldberg cleanly lost on Nitro to WCW World Champion Booker T in under two minutes. A guy who went 176 matches straight without losing had now lost in under two minutes. It’s rarely mentioned it seems, and for good reason.
I’m not saying a heel turn from Goldberg shouldn’t have happened at some point, but at a time when WCW didn’t have an established baby face outside of stale acts like Sting and Nash, he needed to remain in that role and have the Championship. Instead, it seemed like Russo and company had tried to sabotage his career for whatever reason.
Decisions like this is why WCW in the latter years is remembered in a negative light, and ridiculed, and made fun of.
What are your memories of Goldberg’s heel turn? Did you think it was a good idea? Leave your thoughts below.
Thanks for reading.
WCW towards the end was a total disaster most times, and this was one of the biggest mistakes. I myself was never a Goldberg fan, I just didnt care for the character. But even I knew he was widely over with the fans and one of the guys that fans actually wanted to see when WCW had so few stars. This just seemed like one of those “Let’s try to shock the fans” angles. And it failed horribly. WCW was just trying anything it could to attract viewers by this point, and I actually had some friends, who were Goldberg fans, that stopped watching after he turned heel, because they were so done with the company after that. Could a heel Goldberg have worked? Yes, if done properly, I think a Booker T/Goldberg feud could have been good or Goldberg/Sting, but the way WCW did it, it was never going to work and was just one more failed experiment at the end of the company.