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Bill Goldberg

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For the social worker of the same name, see Bill Goldberg (social worker).
Bill Goldberg
Born (1966-12-27) December 27, 1966 (age 57)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Bill Goldberg
Goldberg
Billed height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Billed weight285 lb (130 kg)
Billed fromAtlanta, Georgia
Trained byWCW Power Plant
DebutJune 24, 1997

William Scott ("Bill") Goldberg (born December 27, 1966 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American former professional wrestler, retired American football player and actor. Goldberg played college football as a defensive tackle for the University of Georgia and in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons, from whom he played for three seasons from 1992 through 1994; but he is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling between September 1997 and January 2001 and with World Wrestling Entertainment between March 2003 and March 2004.

Professional wrestling career

World Championship Wrestling (1997-2001)

Goldberg had met several employees of the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) professional wrestling promotion while living in Atlanta, Georgia, and decided to pursue a career in wrestling after meeting WCW employees Sting and Lex Luger in a gym. He was quickly signed to a contract by WCW and sent to the WCW Power Plant, a professional wrestling school owned by WCW and operated by former wrestlers such as Dwayne Bruce.[1]

After training in the Power Plant for several months, Goldberg debuted on June 24, 1997, defeating Buddy Landell in a dark match under the ring name Bill Gold[1] (he had originally considered wrestling as "Mossad").[2]

He made his first appearance on WCW television on the September 22, 1997 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, defeating Hugh Morrus as Goldberg.[1] This match marked the first victory of Goldberg's "streak"—a series of 173 consecutive victories that took place on WCW television, pay-per-views and at house shows.

File:Goldberg fireworks.png
Goldberg as WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

With his bald head, goatee and utilitarian black trunks, Goldberg was often compared to Stone Cold Steve Austin, a prominent wrestler in the rival World Wrestling Federation (WWF). However, WCW President Eric Bischoff later claimed that the original character of Goldberg was based not on Austin but on Ken Shamrock, another WWF employee and famed mixed martial artist. During his "streak" Goldberg also became known for his ring entrance, which saw him walk from his locker room to the stage with a police escort, exit the "tunnel" with pyrotechnics exploding around him, while fans chanted "Goldberg, Goldberg".

Goldberg's succession of wins saw him quickly advance up the card, and he won the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship on April 20, 1998, defeating Raven. He vacated the title after winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Hollywood Hogan on July 6 1998. His reign, along with his streak, lasted until December 27, 1998, when he suffered his first defeat, losing to Kevin Nash at StarrCade 1998 after Scott Hall interfered, electrically shocking him with a taser.[3] However, Goldberg avenged this act by defeating Hall at Souled Out 1999, in a Ladder Taser Match. Goldberg won when he used the taser. The match could only be won by using the taser. At the same time, the WWF began lampooning Goldberg with the character Gillberg, a perennial jobber who dressed similarly to Goldberg and mocked his signature entrance and mannerisms.

Goldberg became a two-time United States Heavyweight Champion on October 24, 1999 at Halloween Havoc by defeating Sid Vicious via referee stoppage. Later that evening, he answered an open challenge from WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting, and defeated him within minutes of the opening bell. However, on the next night's episode of Nitro, commissioner J.J. Dillon ruled that the match had not been sanctioned by WCW and that, therefore, Goldberg's victory was void. Goldberg lost a second title that same evening when Bret Hart defeated him for the United States Heavyweight Championship. Shortly thereafter, Goldberg joined forces with Hart, teaming with him to defeat Creative Control for the WCW World Tag Team Championship on December 7, 1999. One week later, they lost the titles to The Outsiders.[3]

At StarCade 1999 on December 19, 1999, Goldberg challenged Hart for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. In the course of the match, which was won by Hart, Goldberg delivered a stiff kick to Hart's head, legitimately concussing him and tearing a muscle in his neck. This injury, combined with the various injuries Hart had suffered in the course of his lengthy career and the additional blows to the head he absorbed before being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, forced Hart into retirement several weeks later.

Shortly thereafter, Goldberg was accidentally injured during a sequence where he chased the nWo limousine into the parking lot. Goldberg, who was wearing protective covering over his hands so he wouldn't get injured when he would break the windshield glass (a spot in the scene), got a little too overagressive in his pounding and severely injured his forearm.

After taking time off to recuperate, Goldberg returned to WCW in May of 2000 interfering in a Nitro match between Kevin Nash and the team of Tank Abbott and Scott Steiner. Then, the following month, Goldberg interfered in the WCW World Title Match between Nash and Jeff Jarrett, and turned heel for the first time in his career by alingining himself with the New Blood faction. This didn't last long, as Goldberg would again be lost to injury and miss time.

In October 2000 he began a new undefeated streak, with Vince Russo threatening to "fire" him if he lost. The streak was broken after thirty five straight victories on January 14, 2001 at WCW Sin when Goldberg, teaming with his Power Plant trainer, Dwayne Bruce, lost to Totally Buff in a tag team match after a fan maced him, enabling Totally Buff to pin him. The angle was intended to enable Goldberg to have shoulder surgery, but WCW was sold to the WWF in March 2001, with Goldberg still recuperating. The WWF did not buy out Goldberg's contract with Time Warner (the parent company of WCW) as they had done with several other WCW employees, and so he was not involved in the WWF "invasion" angle. Goldberg instead remained under contract to Time Warner until May 2002, when he agreed on a contract buyout.

Goldberg had suffered an arm injury during a celebrity car racing event in April 2002, but in August 2002, he returned to the ring in Japan. He initially joined All Japan Pro Wrestling, defeating Satoshi Kojima on August 30, 2002. He went on to defeat Rick Steiner in Yokohama in a match for the W-1 promotion, and teamed with Keiji Mutoh to defeat KroniK in Tokyo. His success in Japan led to the World Wrestling Federation - now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment - beginning contract negotiations with him.

In the course of his WCW career, Goldberg suffered only six official singles defeats, three of them to Bret Hart.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2003-2004)

Goldberg was signed to a one year contract by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in March 2003. He debuted in WWE on the March 31, 2003 episode of RAW, the night after WrestleMania XIX, and immediately began a feud with The Rock by spearing him. His feud with The Rock culminated in a match at Backlash 2003, which was won by Goldberg. His first match on RAW saw him defeat Three Minute Warning in a handicap match.

Goldberg went undefeated over the subsequent half-year, feuding with Christian and Chris Jericho. Goldberg first challenged for the World Heavyweight Championship on August 24, 2003 at SummerSlam 2003 in the second Elimination Chamber match, but was pinned by the defending champion, Triple H, which ended his undefeated streak. On September 21, 2003 Goldberg defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Unforgiven 2003. He won after he recovered from a hit with a slegde hammer and speared Triple H. He then Jackhammered him to pick up the win. He successfully retained the title in a match with Triple H at the 2003 Survivor Series on November 16, 2003, but lost the title to Triple H at Armageddon 2003 on December 14, 2003 when Triple H pinned him in a triple threat match which also included Kane.[4]

Goldberg entered the 2004 Royal Rumble in an attempt to regain the World Heavyweight Championship, but he was eliminated after Brock Lesnar entered the ring and hit Goldberg with the F-5, enabling Kurt Angle to eliminate him. Goldberg gained revenge by attending No Way Out 2004 the following month and costing Lesnar his WWE Championship by interfering in a match between Lesnar and the challenger to the title, Eddie Guerrero. This led to a match between the two being scheduled for WrestleMania XX. A match between the two has been highly anticipated due to their similar physique and their undefeated streak. Goldberg was not seen on WWE television for several weeks before the event, as he had already worked the maximum number of dates (bar one, his WrestleMania appearance) stipulated by his contract and would have had to have been paid a supplementary salary in order to make extra appearances. This may have hurt the build to the WrestleMania match, with the last episode of SmackDown! before WrestleMania featuring a confrontation between Lesnar and Stone Cold Steve Austin, the guest referee of the match, not Lesnar and Goldberg.

At WrestleMania, Goldberg defeated Lesnar, with both men receiving a Stone Cold Stunner from Austin after the match. Lesnar and Goldberg had both gone undefeated for long periods of time, leading many fans to label a match between the two a "dream match". However, as both Lesnar and Goldberg were known to be leaving the company immediately after WrestleMania, the match was poorly received by the audience, who soundly booed both competitors due to the extremeley poor quality of the match where there were only three actual throws in the whole course of the 25 minute match (in subsequent video releases of the show the sound has been "sweetened" to make the crowd seem more into the match). On March 31, 2004, Goldberg's contract expired and, following a short period of negotiations, was not renewed.

Post WWE Activity

Since leaving WWE, Goldberg has primarily focused on his acting career. He has commented on his year with WWE in a highly critical fashion, arguing that his character was poorly utilized. In February 2006, several media outlets reported that Goldberg was in negotiations with the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling; possibly in response to these rumors, semi-retired wrestler Warrior commented on his website that he would be interested in wrestling Goldberg in TNA should TNA approach him with such an offer. In a series of interviews conducted in June 2006, Goldberg stated that he was mildly interested in working for TNA, particularly since his friend Sting had joined the promotion by then, but had several reservations. Rumors are still going around of Goldberg signing in with the WWE. As of late, Goldberg's name has been used in TNA rather frequently. He was one of the two people that Kurt Angle suspected was Christian Cage's consualtant for their upcoming bout at Against All Odds. TNA is currently holding a contest where the fans could vote via their moblie phones of who they think is Chistian's consualtant. Goldberg's name is one of the people the fans could choose the others being Brock Lesnar, Samoa Joe, or none of the above.

According to his official website, Goldberg has signed on to host an automotive rally based television series called "Bullrun", set to air on Spike TV cable network this spring on Tuesdays at 10PM EST starting on March 13th 2007.

Acting career

Goldberg was the first-ever guest on the "Pain Clinic", a professional wrestling radio talk show based in Rochester, New York that debuted on November 14, 1998. He made several more appearances on the show, with his final appearance taking place on November 19, 2005.

Goldberg began acting while working for WCW in 1999. His appearance in Universal Soldier: The Return corresponded with him being featured in the music video for 2005 after eleven episodes.[5]

Filmography

Television appearances

MMA career

On July 22, 2006 Goldberg served as color commentator in mixed martial arts promotion World Fighting Alliance (WFA) King of the Streets pay-per-view in Los Angeles, California.

Goldberg is also scheduled to be the color commentator / announcer during EliteXC 1, Destiny, which will be broadcast live on Showtime February 10, 2007.

When asked whether he was interested in becoming a mixed martial artist, Goldberg stated, "I'd love to, especially if I was 21 or even 29, but these guys are so far ahead of me in terms of experience. I never say never, though. But I don’t see myself stopping my movies, my shows, my commentating, or being a dad to do that."[6]

In wrestling

Finishing and signature moves

Championships and accomplishments

  • 1998 Rookie of the Year

Personal life

Goldberg's mother, Ethel, is a classical violinist, while his father, Jed, a graduate of Harvard University, is an obstetrician and gynecologist (they are divorced). In addition to playing the violin, Ethel breeds flowers, and once succeeded in creating an award-winning hybrid orchid which she named after Goldberg.[2][8] His brother, Michael, owns a cargo plane leasing company with close ties to former President of the United States Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party.[8] His sister Barbara is an accomplished equestrienne. His brother Steven owns several restaurants and the Belly Up Tavern music venues in San Diego, California and Aspen, Colorado. His niece Katie also works in the music industry. He also has a cousin, Brenda, who is currently a middle school teacher.

Goldberg is Jewish.[9]

On April 10, 2005, Goldberg was married to Wanda Ferraton, a stunt double who he met while filming Santa's Slay, as stated in this movie's audio commentary. He and Ferraton have a son together, Gage A.J. Goldberg, who was born on May 10, 2006.

Goldberg is an animal welfare advocate and an ASPCA spokesperson, and has addressed the United States Congress in order to raise awareness of illegal animal fighting.[9]

Goldberg co-owns and operates the "Extreme Power" Muay Thai training facility in Oceanside, California.

Goldberg owns over 25 vintage cars.[2]

Books

  • Goldberg, Bill and Goldberg, Steve (2000) I'm Next: The Strange Journey of America's Most Unlikely Superstar, ISBN 0-609-60780-4

References

  1. ^ a b c Milner, John "Goldberg", Canoe.ca
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Handler1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Solie's title histories
  4. ^ a b Solie's title histories
  5. ^ Forman, Ross "Exclusive interview", BillGoldberg.com
  6. ^ World Fighting Alliance "Bill Goldberg Wrestles with New Gig for WFA", WFA.tv
  7. ^ Bill Goldberg at Bodyslamming.com
  8. ^ a b Reilly, Rick "Wrestling with Their Son's Career", Sports Illustrated
  9. ^ a b Kurtzman, Daniels "Jewish pro-wrestling star goes to the mat for animals", Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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