How WCW Built (And Almost RUINED) Goldberg 

The interesting thing about Goldberg's streak is that Wrestling Bios has actually been keeping track of it in his Reliving the War series... and there was actually a point where they were *underselling* his win record.

A small correction, Goldberg didn't get taken out by Scott Hall disguised as a security guard. He got taken out by Scott Hall disguised as Scott Hall dressed as a security guard.

THANK YOU for pointing out how Hogan didn’t have an open PPV date to drop the belt to Goldberg. Too many people leave that out.

A lot of people complain about them hot-shotting the title to Goldberg on TV rather than PPV, but Tony Schiavone actually had the best response to that criticism I've ever heard (paraphrasing here): "Well, we were owned by a TV network, so our #1 goal was pleasing the TV executives. PPV revenues were just a bonus." That actually makes a lot of sense.

Most surprising thing about Goldberg is that he only had the 1 WCW title run.

Funnily enough, Goldberg actually dropped the pipe and it rolled under the limousine, so he had to improvise which lead to him breaking the windows with his own hands instead.

A Hill I will always die on is that DDP should've been the one to break Goldberg's streak

Wrestling Bios in his Reliving the War series is currently figuring out how fudged the streak actually was. So far it's only a few more than his matches on TV and house shows because they counted eliminations in a single match as multiple wins.

The question for the alternative “Bill Gold” timeline: would Gillberg have been “Gill Bold”?

Goldberg's streak actually wasn't too inflated until he participated in the nWo Battle Royal at Road Wild 1998. They seemed to count everyone in the match as a win instead of just one win for the whole match. Watching Reliving the War whos been keeping count of every single win across the WCW Shows and House Shows. Also you may notice in some of these clips with Goldberg having a red mark or blood on his head. He would bash his head on lockers, doors and what have you before the match to psyche himself up like a idiot

Fun fact; The Giant lost a third of all the matches in the streak to Goldberg.

I will go to my grave thinking DDP reversing the Jackhammer into a Diamond Cutter at Halloween Havok should have been what ended the streak. Having the underdog tough out and shock the world by pinning the undefeated champ clean is a WAY better payoff then the Nash clusterfuck

My favorite thing about that January 4 episode? They showed the arena in the early shots and the police station Goldberg was "detained" in was literally across the street from the venue.

Goldberg definitely works best when it's just arrive, Spear, Jackhammer, win and leave.

I love Goldberg after watching in August 1998. I wished he fought Jericho back in WCW, but it did lead to a great feud in 2003.

If anyone is unsure about the streak, the Reliving the War series on Wrestling Bios gives the actual number (including house shows) against the worked number

Say what you want about Goldberg but he had some cool power moves. I especially liked the press slam in to a spine buster or power slam.

Vinny Mac really dropped the ball with Ken Shamrock. The man had everything to be a proper pro wrestling superstar

Other than Austin, Rock, and Hogan, no one was a bigger mainstream star than Goldberg in the Monday Night Wars era. People seem to forget how popular he was in the late 90s wrestling boom.

The fact that it’s nearly been another decade since his 2016 return really makes me feel old

“More twists and turns than a Bugs Bunny trip to Albuquerque”. I’m 100% stealing that line. Pure genius 🤣🤣

Congratulations to Goldberg on being the first one to receive 2 videos on his run in --- series

Brians first insert wrestler in WCW episode in over 3 years. The last time Brian did one of these Roman was a couple months away from becoming Universal Champion. 3 years later he's still in the sane reign. Let that sink in y'all

Looking at Wrestling Bios' Reliving the War series, WCW did basically very little when Goldberg was champion during their hottest period. It was mostly Hogan, NWO, and the Wolfpac, which got stale very fast. The match with DDP was the best highlight.

You should make one about aew and wardlow. He was being built as the next Goldberg, but looked what happened to him

What a coincidence, WWE just uploaded the Road Wild Battle total, where Goldberg was THE WORLD CHAMPION and he wasn't even defending the title.

We were also all growing tired of the NwO by this point and the realistic presentation of Goldberg was a breath of fresh air.

WCW did Goldberg Dirty after Starrcade 1998

I have a respect for Goldberg and him knowing his strengths

once again i’d like to point out how much i love the rap theme. please don’t change ……unless Mega Ran is adding a couple more verses

Goldberg and his run to the world championship is legit arguably the best if not, one of the best storylines I've ever seen. His winning streak was just unreal and it shows that a guy doesn't need to have awesome mic skills in order to get over. Nobody saw someone like him coming. That was what's so great about it. How it ended was how he lost the world championship at Starrcade and then it was just that a downward spiral from there,he never won the world championship ever again in WCW.

As a ten-year-old Goldberg fan, he was someone you could believe in. Like a real-life Superman. You wanted to see him win. It just felt right, somehow. You could tell your drunk, abusive uncle that "If Goldberg were here, you wouldn't be so tough."

I'm kinda shocked you didn't talk about Goldberg's short stint in All Japan in 2002, where he fought the likes of Satoshi Kojima and Taiyo Kea, and even teamed up with Keiji Mutoh against Kronik in the Tokyo Dome the following January, two months before his WWE debut.

I think they did ruin him. It wasn't that the Streak ended, had to at some point, but the manner that it did and the subpar follow up didn't help. Add in that heel turn and him being taken out in the final months leaves a lot of murkiness to his WCW career. But we can't get it twisted, Big Billy Goldberg was a star and at his peak, as over with people as anyone in wrestling. Great video like always!

I wonder how many people watching understand what Brian means when he said he watched Starrcade "scrambled" 😂

Food for thought: the young bucks in tna aka generation me

Goldberg was like a character in a video game with almost maxed out stats

I don't remember where in his run it was, but I remeber the crew I got together with every Monday night in 97-98 noticed on time his win streak from week to week jumped by something like 22, and that was when the suspension of disbelief broke for us on that win count being accurate even with house shows.

I never realized how much I wanted the Goldberg face for the Batman transition.

Thanks for that Brian because I was legit wondering what the thumbnail was for WCW Sin.

"Remember how cool they were? Let's do it again but worse!" That would look good on a WWW t-shirt.

Amazing how Bret overcome his hatred of Shawn and made peace with him, but I can't see him ever doing the same for Goldberg. In some alternate universe out there, Goldberg didn't kick Bret in the head, Bret returned to the WWF after the fall of WCW and had another feud with Shawn Michaels.

I wish people paid attention to everything Bret did AFTER the match, for the following weeks & months, rather than just acting like Goldberg just ended Bret's career. Even Bret admitted this several years ago, back when he was in one of his "I get along with Bill," phases. Bret's known to go back & forth on the people he hates, his opinions on things, and various relationships, but at that point he acknowledged just getting kicked wasn't what ended his career. And nor should it have been. Wrestlers get injured all the time, accidents happen extremely often, and many times they're far more severe. Sting was in his 50's when Rollins broke his back, now is in his 60's still doing matches. Owen Hart nearly ended Austin's career breaking his neck with a botched tombstone. Saraya (aka "Paige") went limp & couldn't move her legs mid-match after Sasha Banks botched a move, ending her career... except she's back. The difference is these people got help & didn't continue to wrestle or perform. They didn't immediately keep doing things & instantly sought medical help. Bret went 9 months before seeing a doctor about things? I love Bret, but he's bitter towards a LOT of people. I just think in it's annoying that in such a dangerous business, he's back to making one person out to be a villain (which some fans accept & repreach like gospel). If Seth Rollins was treated the same way by everyone he injured, he wouldn't be the star he is today. It was a crappy situation, but it was an accident.

I'm a huge mark for Bret's hate for Goldberg. It pops me every time.

Goldberg coming out to Spandau Ballet would have been something 😂

About Goldberg breaking the limo windows. You left out some details: Goldberg was reportedly given a PIECE of pipe to conceal in his fist, but he somehow dropped it during the live feed, and couldn't bend down to pick it up without breaking the illusion. Thus, he had to shatter the windows with his own strength, and that's what caused the glass to so damage his arm. Why didn't they just make this a pre-taped segment instead of doing it live? It's WCW. Of course they'd screw up something so simple.

Wasn't that Power Plant the place that made Batista puke and leave training?

Kevin Nash breaking the streak only to then 2 weeks later producing the finger poke of Doom along with Hulk Hogan Is the embodiment as to why you should never let the inmates run the asylum

Did people seriously not get that Final Fantasy 10 reference?! That's one of my favorite thumbnails.

Goldberg's WCW Run was awesome turning him Heel was a terrible idea glad that didn't last long best part of Goldberg's run in WCW was when he destroyed Sid's Car sid Yelling Goldberg was absolutely hilarious awesome Video Brian.

22:17 didn’t realise that thumbnail was a Final Fantasy reference, or that Zane had any experience with FF. The more you know!

I always forget the Mankind spoiler and finger poke were the same show

I remember watching the Thunder that the title match was announced on. Being a wrestling fan I was excited for the match. The other people in the room (non fans) just looked at me as if I had three heads. I was 14 at the time.

That spandau ballet song got a huge pop out of me

Interesting note - As a kid I had that Halloween Havoc '98 home video release on VHS . Throughout the early portion of the show, they kept mentioning that they had Meng vs Wrath on the card, but it was nowhere to be found on the VHS release. I had never seen the show prior to that and was a newer fan, so I didn't realize until I was older that they cut Meng/Wrath along with Lodi/Saturn and Alex Wright/Finlay so they could fit Hogan/Warrior and the DDP/Goldberg main event (Goldberg's best match IMO) on the tape in their entirety because of what happened with the live feed getting cut when it originally aired as a result of all 5-6 matches with the bigger names all running 12-15 minutes on a 2 1/2 hour show. Lol even Disco Inferno took up about 20 minutes of ring time on that show.

As someone who saw Goldberg in his prime live. The Goldberg chants were definitely Legit

Just realized the original song the UK's Matt Riddle song is based off of 😂

I want Bro-straps to be a thing... Also, Sid at that time was a former World Champion and was full of muscles, Jericho was a technically sound "Cruiserweight." Goldberg would feel different.

I heard that rumour that the chants were piped in which I’m not surprised because Wwe did the same thing.

I've always wanted to go back and watch WCW from the beginning but it's kinda difficult to schedule it. I really appreciate these history lessons, Brian! ❤️

1:56 Gotta appreciate Z Man for giving love to Spandau Ballet’s other hit😂

At least he got to eat a lot of paper

Scrambled. Damn that brought back some memories. Once during an entrance by Glacier the PPV came in clear as a bell and stated that way through the entire show. I was so happy. I remember running into the living room and telling my dad. He swapped over to it and we watched it together just like Nitro. RIP dad.

I feel like Goldberg was uniquely a non wrestling fans wrestler during the Monday night wars The frat nitro party catalyst if you will. I used to hate him but now I’m interested in his fascinating run and it helps that he doesn’t hate the fans anymore

Okay best video ever for the Spandau Ballet ref.

Sin wearing buff Bagwells hat is still a top tier joke to me

I was 12 years old during that peak Goldberg run and in was all in on him, Kevin Nash, and Sting. The Fingerpoke of Doom basically killed off my WCW fandom and I switched to WWF thereafter. I think I was just sick of the bad guys winning all the time back then, and in WCW, the nWo ruled everything.

I was in college during this streak..having been reintroduced to wrestling by virtue of my dorm finally being wired for cable. This was a great time (aside from my grades). I lived in an all male dorm...and Monday nights were echoes of Nitro and Raw up and down the halls...too bad about the lousy booking

People forget, Goldberg is the birth of the "BOR-ING" chant. It was an answer to his matches being boring, predictable, and a repetitive. Kevin Nash said it best, "They turned Goldberg into the Yankees"

What is funny that Wrestling bios reliving the war series is actually doing the Goldberg comparison counter.

Absolutely LOVE these style of videos you do, (wrestler’s name) in (company) , always an awesome/fun video! Another home run with this one!! 💪

I remember all of this. I started watching WCW right around the time Goldberg was getting his push, and I was behind him 100%. I remember being so over the NWO and viewing Goldberg as the one guy who could endure their shenanigans and find a way to give them their much deserved beatdown.

‘Struck gold - Bill Gold’ is an underrated banger

A Spandau Ballet reference in my wrestling videos? I’ll take it!

Goldberg early days was definitely great but it all fall apart when he turned heel in 2000.

Thanks for clearing up the Sin pic always wondered

This is why you don't try to use real auto glass in a wrestling skit regardless of the day but especially on Saturdays. I don't know why I wanted to say this but I've just had the need to say that for some reason these past two days or so.

Bret's number one fan, his cat Smokey, was more than happy about The Hitman finally getting the WCW world title.

My friend’s dad’s name is Bill Goldman and I always think of him when I hear Bill Goldberg which is funny because they’re both bald too 😂

Wasn't a huge Goldberg fan, but WCW really dropped the ball with him, long term. Love the channel, keep up the awesome work!!

Goldberg streak in WCW made me a fan of his as a teenager in the late 90's.

William Gold would be a solid name and that song would be some New Japan stuff.

The most unforgettable part was him kicking Bret’s head off..unforgettable because Bret will not let anyone forget!

Many fans (myself included) felt the rolls should've been reversed for New Blood vs. Millionaires Club. New Blood should've been Babyfaces and Millionaires Club should've been heels. I would like to see Adam do that story

Sting,Goldberg,Hulk Hogan,Kevin Nash,Scott Hall,Ric Flair,Eric Bischoff,Ted Turner,Scott Steiner,Sid Vicious,Mr. Perfect,Randy Savage,Lex Luger,Mean Gene Okurlund,Tony Schiavone,Jeff Jarrett,Dennis Rodman,Rey Mysterio,Konnan,Buff Bagwell,David Arquette,Vince Russo,Virgil,Stevie Ray,Rick Steiner all should've made appearances when WCW invaded The WWF during The Invasion angle(2001) but it never happened cuz of the AOL TimeWarner contract's

People will who are not haters, and or was not born before 1990 will never understand how Great WCW and Goldberg was

Bill Goldberg is one of my all time favorites. His wwe run is so terribly hilarious I love it. Plus he was pretty cool in wcw

When I was a teen and WCW was at it's peak he was my favorite wrestler. The explosive energy, the power, that entrance... he was amazing. But then you learn years later he's actually a rudimentary wrestler who gasses out way too easily. And then it just gets more embarassing from there...

Super grateful for your voice in professional wrestling. Thanks for the consistent quality videos/analysis.

Thank you for explaining the Sin thumbnail, I have been curious about that since you released the video!

The first time I ever saw WCW programming (thanks for making it so difficult Canada) was that moment with Bret, the plate and Goldberg and as a huge fan of Bret but also just being amazed by Goldberg's presence I was hooked. Well, as hooked as I could be with how hard it could be to watch in Canada (Thanks for making it so difficult Canada! :D)

Goldberg was never over. The chants were piped in and WCW spent millions promoting the Goldberg character and got nothing for heir efforts.

Bret Hart stone face saying no about Goldberg is hilarious.

Goldberg refusing to work an angle with Jericho showed what little instincts he had about the business. It was an easy paycheck - satisfyingly squash a clownish heel, get a big pop from the crowd, get yourself over, get paid. He chose to do none of it. What a fool.

I remember that thumbnail and didn’t have a clue what it was. And that Spandau Ballet bit was perfect 😂

Say anything about his wrestling skills, his aura is unmatched by today's so called superstars

I think you got Halloween Havoc 1999 wrong. Sting was the champion going in so his 'victory' over Hogan wasn't a title change so there were not 2 title changes on that show. He did beat Hogan for the title the month before at Fall Brawl so maybe there's your confusion. On a side note, do you really think Hogan would lay down like that if he was the champion already?

*The streak was Mike Tenay's idea.*

Thank you for FINALLY answering that thumbnail question, been wondering for like 2 years

Fun fact, before Goldberg, Pat Tanaka used his theme circa 1995-96 on Saturday wcw show