Goldberg Responds To Bret Hart's Criticism To Him Over WCW Starrcade Kick! 

At a live Inside The Ropes show, we asked Goldberg about working with Bret Hart. This leads to Bill discussing how he feels about the kick to Bret's head, his response to Bret's criticisms of him and his regret about the whole situation. Subscribe to the channel for more clips of our live shows and interviews and don't forget to like and comment too!

Bret never said he had malicious intent, but simply that he wasn’t trained or skilled enough to be a professional wrestler at that level.

In Brets book he talks about how WCW not really giving him the medical attention he needed after the match. The concussion was bad but WCW allowing him to continue to work and take bumps made it a whole lot worse!

Saying “I’m not an entertainer” as a professional wrestler is priceless.

" If I wanted to hurt the guy, he wouldn't have gotten up"- that statement sums up Bill Goldberg

“I’m a competition not an entertainer”. Guess Scott Hall was right when he said Goldberg was the biggest mark for himself.

This isn’t about Goldberg being malicious, it’s about him not being a fucking pro in the ring!

kicking Bret in the head like that and saying if he wanted Bret wouldn't have gotten up. all respect is out the window

When anyone is trained to wrestle, the first and foremost thing that needs to be embedded in your head is "ALWAYS PROTECT YOUR OPPONENT!!" Always. Anyone who can't learn this rule has no business being in the business, period.

As a pro wrestler, Bill Goldberg has always been notoriously unsafe to work with. Ended Hart's career and nearly ended Taker's too. As a pro wrestler it is your job to ensure your opponent's safety.

Nobody thinks he wanted to hurt Brett but he didn’t apologize for almost a year.

When he says that he’s a competitor and not an entertainer, he’s telling us one thing. He won’t accept that it’s entertainment. He’s such a competitive person that he just can’t help himself, and feels an impulse to show his ‘rival’ who’s boss in the ring. He’s that kid at school who trips you up on cross country runs just to get ahead of you.

2:09 “That’s one thing I’ll forever be remorseful for, is the misplaced kick, and he did kind of know it was coming”. Even in the attempts at an apology there is still the diffusion of responsibility and rationalization of what happened to Brett in that statement.

He has every right to be angry Bill wasn't trained properly and the result was Bret getting hurt

Bret has had a very difficult time since the accident: strokes, divorces and so forth. One can't blame Bret for being bitter.

Him admitting to not pulling his kicks is wild.

Goldberg acts like he’s the toughest guy in the history of wrestling, but, like Shawn, every time he’s been involved in a fight, he’s never won

I like Goldberg, but justifying hurting Bret by saying "I just wanted it to look real" really isn't any sort of viable excuse. You're supposed to make it "look" like it hurts, whilst also making it safe. He could be a bit more contrite here

This video was longer than a goldberg match lol

I hate the way Goldberg uses this opportunity to boast about how tough he is by saying that he could have killed Bret if he wanted to. Really man? What kind of apology is that? You did not execute the move properly and as a result Bret got hurt.

"If I really wanted to hurt the guy..." Already lost me. People get hurt by other people not because they want to hurt them, but because they don't care, or don't have the professionality/competence to do anything about their technique.

Honestly seems flippant about ending one of the greatest of all time's career prematurely.

When you want to give an apology but end up burying the guy.

"I'm a competitor, not an entertainer." That's not what you were hired to do Bill. You weren't hired to "compete", you were hired to entertain the crowds in a professional wrestling show. If Brett Hart, or any of the other great wrestling entertainers you worked with wanted to hurt or injure you Bill, you think you'd still be walking around? Brett Hart and Undertaker were two of the very best wrestlers that ever worked in the business and you nearly killed them both...by accident. They weren't "competing" against you, they were working *with* you to put on a show.

From what I've seen from other wrestlers at the time. Goldberg was awful to work with. Not skilled enough to wrestle at that level. Dangerous. This is a good example of fears coming to reality.

"I'm a competitor not an entertainer..." Well, entertainment wrestling isn't about competition unless your talking about popularity or say in the storyline. In WWE and WCW you were an entertainer as the winner was already fixed.

He says Bret was an idol of his. Yet took 8 months to reach out after ending his career. Actions speak louder than words

People are getting the wrong idea of what he means by “I’m a competitor not a entertainer” he was talking about how he wanted his character to be believable saying he doesn’t want to be like Ric Flair saying woo and running around the ring being goofy not wanting to entertain the crowd like that but wanted to be presented as a serious competitor to make the matches feel real and he’s right guy like Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley are like that and the fans like wrestlers like them but still guys like them have to be careful with his opponents

Bret put Bill in a figure four around the posts but smashes the back of his head on the ground while he does it. That's what really caused his concussion in that match, not Bill's sidekick. You can actually see him in agony holding his head on the ground after the figure four - there's no kayfabe reason for Bret to be selling a head knock after putting someone else in a submission hold around the posts, so he was clearly in real pain. If you watch the match you can see it as clear as day. It was never Goldberg's fault but he's been wrongly blamed for it all these years, even by Bret himself. Go and watch the match, it's obvious as all hell. Watch how Bret is in agony after smashing his head on the ground. That was it 100%.

I love when these guys say "I'm a competitor!" as if this is a professional sport with an undetermined outcome. Say "I'm a great performer!" instead. Makes way more sense.

"he would never have never gotten up" - Jericho says otherwise

"If i wanted to hurt the guy, he wouldve never gotten up." - yeah thats really smacks of remorse.

I saw an interview with Hart after the various problems, in which he said: "You couldn't meet a nicer guy than Bill Goldberg". I'd take some of this with a few grains of salt. Accidents do happen, and nobody knows it better than wrestlers.

"I'm a competitor, not an entertainer..." Ah, so you're not a pro wrestler.

I went and found the full match on the dailymotion website, and watched it. I will say that, Goldberg never really appeared to try to hurt Hart, and in fact, Goldberg flung Hart into the ropes earlier in the match and gave him that very same side kick, which in both instances Hart had to "come into it" off of the ropes with 2 small , quick steps, but the first time Hart protected his head with his forearms, the second time he did not get his arms up for some reason. NOW, the MAIN THING, was DEFINITELY when Hart drug Goldberg's to the ringpost from outside of the ring, wrapped one of Goldberg's legs on either side of that ringpost, and then, tried to apply a sharpshooter with Goldberg's legs hanging down onto the ring apron, he totally disregarded the fact that his head would hit the concrete, and the padding on the concrete was minimal at best, and his head struck the concrete HARD when he fell backwards and down to the floor, which had to be the cause of the most severe injury in that match, you can clearly see him dazed beyond normal for minutes, and was totally Hart's fault. I think when Goldberg did the second rope fling - side kick incident happened, Hart was still stunned from his head trauma and that's why he didn't get his arms up to protect his head. The rest of the match, Hart was thrown onto the announcers table, and metal partition, and was easily given a chance to protect himself from injury, which he did well, but putting himself into the position of striking his head that hard on the concrete is 100% on Hart.

I’m glad he said he regrets it, but could be a lot more remorseful about it. The point of wrestling is to make it look as real as possible without hurting your opponent. That being said, Bret did have some serious head shots against Terry Funk after this match so it’s hard to pinpoint for sure what ended his career. It was likely more of a cumulative effect.

Goldberg is still a mark for himself lol. You would think the defeat at the hands of Jericho would have humbled him. The whole point is that he was dangerous in the ring, when he was supposed to protect his opponent.

goldberg looks more jacked since the last time he wrestled brock lesnar, is he planning another comeback?

I admire Goldbergs honesty regarding the matter to be honest... he's stated numerous times he was never a wrestling person like the majority are... I agree if he wanted to he could have done more than give Bret a concussion

It took 8 months before Goldberg even apologized to Bret Hart for ending his career. Alot of the WCW wrestlers he squashed to get "over" with the fans, he legitimately hurt and or injured many of them.. While Goldberg might be one of the greatest legitimate fighters of all time he's also one of the most unprofessional, and undisciplined wrestlers in history.

Goldberg definitely had his own style, but it wasn't "something different" it was Ultimate Warrior all over again.

Never would have gotten up? Bret was jacked in his prime and could have handled his own.

I feel really bad for Bret Hart regarding this. But on the same token, I've seen and heard countless interviews over the years since that incident where Goldberg has shown remorse and regret for that incident. At the end of the day, it's an unfortunate incident that happened. No point in crying about it now because it's already done. Just have to move on from it.

It is hard to imagine how hard these performers work to make the moves believable without hurting each other. The timing and choreography that prevents more serious injuries is impressive.

Goldberg says if I wanted to hurt him for real he ( Bret Hart ) would have never gotten up! Goldberg looks tough but remember Lord Steven Regal completely schooled him & made Bill his bitch, so what would happen if Bret had wanted to be as unprofessional as Goldberg was & still is? Bret Hart would have wrapped Bill up like a pretzel

My biggest thing is maybe Goldberg wasn’t the easiest guy to talk to outside of the ring, but when it’s about safety and about a good show, I don’t understand why more people didn’t try and help him become a WRESTLER

He was a one of a kind in the ring. Thanks bill for that sacrifice.

Goldberg is still well built for his age damn

Brett Hart the most technical wrestlers of all time, from a family of wrestlers, experienced! if he says you aren't skilled enough, smart enough, have enough experience when it comes to wrestling then you don't. Period! He said Goldberg was reckless, he's right!

golberg delivered that kick many times before and it was fine. bret was injured in the ring. it happens. owen hart broke steve austin neck. they both called that spot. if bret did not trust goldberg with the kick, he should have called for something else.

Many people misunderstanding the comment about Bret not getting up. Using Jericho and Regal as examples is faulty because they knew what was coming and could shoot on Bill. Bret knew a kick was coming, but what Bill is saying is that if he'd wanted, he could have acted straight in the back but then when he got out there, went into business for himself and kicked full force, like Sexy Star stretching Rosemary. He's saying he didn't do that, he just wanted the kick to look real and unfortunately, it looked a bit too real.

Imagine if you were in Bret's situation. Upon having his stroke, Bret underwent intense rehabilitation when he was hospitalized. He had no choice but to retire from wrestling. If I'm not mistaken, Bret has to take some type of medication to decrease the risk of his having another stroke or anything related; thankfully he's been stroke-free for 17 years. Though I'm sure that Goldberg feels remorse for the botched kick, unfortunately he's not suffering the consequences of it. It's easy to say, "Let it go" when it hasn't happened to YOU.

Thing is, Bret can count on one hand the amount of serious injuries he inflicted on opponents in his entire career.....Goldberg hurts opponents almost every match he has. He may be bigger and stronger than Bret....but when it comes to skill and pure talent, Goldberg couldn't wipe Bret's ass. :)

Bill also gave Bret more than one concussion in this match. Notably, Bret claims a series of two stiff elbows in the corner early rocked him. He also stated the figure four on the apron/turnbuckle was botched as Goldberg didnt get set up right to take it, leading Bret to landing on the back of his head outside the ring. After those two, then he took the kick to the temple. Steven Richards has a YT channel where he breaks down the actual kick, but yeah, it was a climate of unprofessionalism that lead to Brets injuries. It wasnt 'one accident' like Bill tries to claim in this interview. He was unsafe in 99, he was unsafe in 2019.

It’s an easy explanation accidents happen in the ring even with the greatest trained wrestlers, from Owen pile driving Austin, to Seth Rollins buckle bombing Sting, to Sasha hurting Paige

“If I really wanted to hurt the guy he wouldn’t have gotten up” Says the guy who got whooped by 180lb Jericho

at least hes always been remorseful about it you can always tell

It wasn't just the kick, Bret mentioned Bill was sloppy the whole match: knocked the wind out of him with a legit elbow in the corner, didn't take Bret's figure 4 around the post properly causing Bret to fall and get spiked on the floor, Then the kick. But WCW deserves blame for it too, their doctors misdiagnosed Bret, weren't convinced Bret was legit concussed and made him work through it for a while until he went to an outside doctor who correctly diagnosed it. Bret has said Goldberg's a good guy and all but he wasn't trained well and injured a lot of people as a result.

If he was truly a competitor, he would have competed in mma matches. Professional wrestling IS entertainment! In this extreme form of play fighting your opponent is responsible for your safety, and you are responsible for your opponents safety. That's entertainment, Not competition!

When a real move accidently happend...

A "competitor" in a ring when everyone is supposed to be entertaining. That's how Brett got hurt Bill didn't and still doesn't get it.

You are 100% an entertainer, competitors aren’t told who is going to win before it happens

Goldberg had to keep his apology under 5 minutes

Jesus I actully thought this was a really old video of Goldberg because of how good he looks. Jacked 💪

For a 50 year + Goldberg is in phenomenal shape.

It always surprises me to hear old wrestlers speak with their normal voice and sound like they could be a friendly neighbor across the street, a neighbor that happened to high kick you too hard one time

If you go back and look at Goldberg's mule kick he does to other wrestlers, it's not done any differently. Bret should have known that. Even HBK's kick (sweet chin music) always comes in contact with the opponent's head/jaw. The only thing that may have been off is Goldberg's kick on Bret was a bit too high. The problem was Bret was already concussed before the kick was performed. If Bret raised or turned his head a few inches, he probably would have avoided the blunt of it.

I appreciate Goldberg for keeping his cool and remaining respectful. The man made a big enough mistake that he regrets to this day. What else can he do?

I think a huge part of this is Bill probably being upset that he made a huge mistake that really hurt someone and they had to suffer for it. It's gotta be hard for a green wrestler to go 100 mph and not screw up.

Being intense and being safe are not mutually exclusive. Fit Finlay and William Regal were intense-they laid it in-but they were never reckless in the ring.

1. Bret took a hard bump on the back of his head a few minutes before the kick (when they botched the Figure-4-around-the-ringpost). I assume that was Bret's fault, since he never mentions it. 2. Owen cut Austin's career short with an equally reckless piledriver. No one will ever know why Owen thought it was safe to sit-out with a guy who was many inches taller than him. We let that go, we should let this go.

He says he was remorseful, not professional enough to pull the kick , wanted to make it believable, etc. I have heard many, many wrestlers say that they always watched out for the other guy , and by Bill’s own words , he did not do that ! Very disappointing!

Goldberg 1998 vs 2014 Undertaker at WrestleMania XXX Streak vs Streak

the fact he said if i wanted to hurt him he wouldn't have got up..says alot about this guy

Bill Goldberg is not ashamed of what he did to Bret Hart and here is this video he said that "If I wanted to hurt the guy, then he wouldnt have gotten up". What a shame man. Truth is that you weren't very professional as you should have been and it was your responsibility to be careful with your competitors in the ring.

Never saw this evening advertised. When and where was it?

Golberg "Im not going to complain, im going to go and do my job Golberg the day of the saudi arabia paperview: "I want my character to be a superhero, so I want to go over The Fiend"

Owen Hart prematurely ended Stone Cold Steve Austin's career, but you don't hear Austin whining, moaning, bitching, complaining and trying to tarnish the legacy of Owen Hart, he doesn't even talk about Owen.

Owen broke Austin's neck, never heard him cry about it. There's been countless wrestling injuries. It's not ballet, as y2j once said.

i forgive him, and i loved goldberg for a time, but he really took this shit way to serious. "im a competitor" and i know its his angle, but he does believe it to a point and held onto it to much. if he really wanted to compete he should of gone into MMA because without a real fight, whos to say who would win, goldberg talks all this shit about being able to kill everyone and its annoying, we know you were a pro athlete but there are a number of guys in the locker room who could kick the shit out of goldberg if they tried, but they never let something like that effect their emotions

Even as an older man Goldberg's got more charisma than most of the wwe rosta put together

When you got into the ring with this guy, you knew beforehand exactly what you were getting. That’s not a knock on Bill. His finisher is called the Jackhammer and with Goldberg, you got a wrecking ball in the ring.

The "Spear" was a fantastic move at that time during Wrestling, and the tank of a man Goldberg pulled it off better than anyone else could. However, someone should've informed the man that Wrestling is pure entertainment and NOT competition. Football, Rugby, Olympic Wrestling, etc... Maybe he'd have been a better fit at them. TV Wresting, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair had it right, entertainment first. Who the hell didn't let Goldberg know about that?

"If I really wanted to hurt the guy, he would have never gotten up." That pretty much says it all. This guy has bought into his gimmick way too much. Chris Jericho handled him easily, and prime Bret Hart would have killed this jackoff in a shoot.

Goldberg was never malicious. He just wasn’t very good at his job. Every match: punches, crappy leg lock, punches, power bomb, get other guy injured, spear, end.

I have seen Bret's interview he never blamed Goldberg for that kick and did take it as an accident the only thing that hurt bret was this dude never even called 📞 him once to ask about his health despite ending his career..... That's the uncaring world we live ppl forget u the next day

Bill saying "I don't acare" and I'm "not gonna sit and complain about anything" is pretty selfish, he caused Bret Hart to have a stroke and Bret lost his ability to taste food, plus he lost his in ring ability and ultimately his career. Bret said he wished Goldberg could've sent him some money from the 3 million he made in Saudi Arabia for a 10 minute match. Bret actually has a wrestling background. All Bill has is Football.

"In my 2 to 5 mins matches...that's stretching it a bit." LOL

what I don't like about fans is that they like to have double standards and are very passionate about their flawed point of view. for example: look at how many people don't like goldberg, call him an asshole and say he can't wrestle for ending bret hart's career. now look at how many people say the same thing about sasha banks for ending paige's career? or seth rollins for ending sting's career? yeah there was some backlash but they got not even half as much hate as goldberg.

There’s a video where Stone Cold and Booker T talk about trading blows. Booker knocked the hell out of Stone Cold and Steve retaliated with a stiff kick to the face and a punch. So it’s funny to see how Goldberg was considered unsafe when dudes are kicking each other in the head and saying “aight I earned that receipt”

The comments on this are just hard to read. It's like you guys have some personal stake in this. Bill clearly feels horrible for it, explains his reasoning behind his style, and even further explains that not everyone has Bill's best intentions in mind. If they were really that concerned they would've helped mold him. They didn't back then and all they do now is complain. Was his style stiff? Yes, but that goes back to people not taking the time to show him how to make it look real and powerful without hurting others. He was brought into the business poorly and did not get the direction someone needs when they are green. The guy has gone out of his way to apologize multiple times. Bret is being petty at this point and time is fleeting. They should just bury the hatchet.

Goldberg had a responsibility in the ring to protect his opponent. During many matched he was far too rough and did genuinely hurt his opponents. Goldberg seemed to forget that these guys were also his colleagues.

"Accidents happen." Says the guy with WAY more accidents than a lot of other people. At some point you just have to accept that YOU'RE the problem, Bill.

He is absolutely right. He was the Mike Tyson of wrestling.

Goldberg was kicking high that is why his knee was straight. I think he suspected that Bret Hart would "catch" his foot and fall simultaneously. I've seen Goldberg wrestler and he is quick, strong, and dynamic. His athletic ability surpasses many his height and weight. Other wrestlers have injured one another, and although many would disagree I think Goldberg was safer than he is led to be.

Goldberg was running wcw I can’t lie about that the man was like a human machine

Fact is accidents happen d’lo and droz Seth and sting and Goldberg and Bret. These are all bad things and it sucks they happened but people blaming Goldberg is to me bizarre.

There are numerous interviews with different wrestlers all claiming Goldberg was the most dangerous unprofessional opponent they had. Many quoting hulk hogan as the safest most professional

Brain injury is life changing. Goldberg doesn't seem to understand the mental and emotional pain Bret is suffering from now. If I wanted to hurt him "he never did of gotten up"...like dude don't say that

I don't think Goldberg was out to maliciously hurt people. He was just built like a rock. If he holds back and gives you a lovetap, it would probably hurt.