Bill Goldberg

William Scott (Bill) Goldberg (born December 27, 1966 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a former football star turned wrestler, often promoted simply as Goldberg. Until March 2004, he was in the WWE on Monday Night Raw.

Pre-Wrestling

He played college football at the University of Georgia, and then played pro football with the Atlanta Falcons and the Los Angeles Rams, and then was signed by the Carolina Panthers, until his football career was ended by an abdominal injury, when he tore all his abdominal muscles from his pelvis, and had them surgically reattached.

Wrestling history

World Championship Wrestling

Goldberg became a wrestler, training in the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Power Plant wrestling school and entered the ring professionally on September 22, 1997, defeating Hugh Morrus. He then started on the path of what made him a wrestling superstar, his undefeated winning streak. WCW kayfabe said that he had one hundred and seventy-four wins before wrestler Kevin Nash handed him his first loss. The count of 174 wins came from a record of televised matches and pay-per-views.

He would become the WCW United States Champion on April 21, 1998, by defeating Raven. He would vacate the title when he gave it up after winning the World Heavyweight title.

He became the WCW World Heavyweight Champion on July 6, 1998 when he defeated the at the time nWo leader, Hollywood Hogan. He would hold the title until wrestler Kevin Nash handed him his first loss in the WCW on December 27, 1998. Goldberg's streak was booked so that it took wrestler Scott Hall getting involved with a tazer gun for Kevin Nash to win.

He would become a second time holder of the WCW US Championship on October 24, 1999 but would be defeated by Bret Hart the next day, losing the title. Amazingly enough, he would later team with Bret Hart to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship on December 7, 1999. They would hold the title for only a week, losing the titles to The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall).

In October 2000 Goldberg began a new streak, with Vince Russo threatening to fire him if he lost. The streak was broken after 35 victories on January 14, 2001 when he was pinned by "Totally Buff" (Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger) while tagging with his trainer, Dwayne Bruce in what would emerge to be his last ever WCW match. As a result of the defeat, Goldberg was obliged to "leave" WCW (in reality, he was given time off to have shoulder surgery), and WCW declared bankruptcy just two months later, with Goldberg still rehabbing his shoulder.

Due to the fact that Goldberg was signed through Time Warner instead of directly with World Championship Wrestling, when the WWF had purchased WCW, the WWF did not get Goldberg's contract with the purchase. At the time, the WWF chose not to buy out Goldberg's contract.

Goldberg suffered only six official losses in his WCW career in singles matches. Three of those losses were against Bret "Hitman" Hart. Including an unofficial loss when Bret made his own three count, which makes 4 losses.

After WCW

Goldberg would wait out his contract after his run in the WCW. He would make his biggest splash in Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling, becoming one of the biggest pulls in the country. This would finally prompt the WWE to sign Goldberg.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Goldberg would make his WWE debut on RAW, immediately following the 2003 WrestleMania (WrestleMania XIX), on March 31, 2003. He immediately started a feud with The Rock, which culminated at the 2003 Backlash PPV event. He won the match, which became his first win in WWE. His first win on RAW would be defeating Christian inside a 15-foot high steel cage.

Later in the year, he would defeat WWE RAW World Champion, Triple H, winning the title. This match took place at the Unforgiven PPV Event on September 21, 2003.

He would hold the title until December 14, 2003, when he would lose the title back to Triple H in a triple threat match which included Kane, during the 2003 Armageddon PPV event.

During the 2004 Royal Rumble, Brock Lesnar came out and eliminated Goldberg from the actual Rumble. Of course, this made Goldberg mad, as at the time he was once again shooting for the World Heavyweight Title. However, thanks to Lesnar, this chance was now gone. This led to Goldberg appearing at the No Way Out PPV the following month (February 15, 2004), as an "official audience member."

He would be taunted by Brock Lesnar and approached the ring. He would proceed to give Lesner a Jackhammer and via orders from Paul Heyman, at the time SmackDown!'s General Manager, Goldberg was promptly arrested by security and escorted from the building. He would come back during the WWE Championship Title Match later in the night and caused Lesnar to lose the match to Eddie Guerrero. This led into a match to play out at Wrestlemania XX.

The match at WrestleMania XX featured Goldberg taking on Brock Lesnar with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the match's special guest referee. The match would end with Goldberg winning, but he and Brock Lesnar would both receive a Stone Cold Stunner from Austin. This was Goldberg's last match in WWE, as his contract ran out immediately following Wrestlemania.

After WWE

Reportedly, Goldberg will continue his wrestling career in Japan, where he remains a major draw.

With aspirations to do work in film, Goldberg has two movies that are both due out in 2005. The first film of the two, Santa's Slay, is due to be released soon. The second is a remake of the 1974 Burt Reynolds film The Longest Yard, starring Adam Sandler, in which he co-stars with other wrestlers Kevin Nash and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Neither of these two movies are his first movies, as he has starred in others. See below for more information about the movies Goldberg has starred in.

Recently, it has been noted that Bill Goldberg has been married to Wanda Feraton, a stunt woman that he met while filming The Longest Yard. Bill and Wanda were married on April 10, 2005.

Title History

World Championship Wrestling

April 20, 1998 – WCW United States Title (1)

Defeated Raven – Colorado Springs, Colorado

Vacated on July 6, 1998 after winning World title

July 6, 1998 – WCW World Heavyweight Title

Defeated Hulk Hogan – Atlanta, Georgia

Lost to Kevin Nash on December 27, 1998

October 24, 1999 – WCW United States Title (2)

Defeated Sid Vicious – Las Vegas, Nevada

Lost to Bret Hart on October 25, 1999

December 7, 1999 – WCW Tag Team Title

Teamed with Bret Hart

Defeated "Creative Control" (Ron & Don Harris) – Madison, Wisconsin

Lost to the Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) on December 13, 1999

World Wrestling Entertainment

September 21, 2003 – WWE RAW World Heavyweight Title

Defeated Triple H – Hershey, Pennsylvania

Lost to Triple H on December 14, 2003

Other information

Movies and television

Goldberg has starred in several movies:

• His first role was in The Jesse Ventura Story and it was followed by an appearance in Universal Soldier: The Return. Both movies were released in 1999.

• His next movie was in 2000 in the WCW movie, Ready to Rumble, in which he would play himself.

• During his time in the WWE, he would star in the 2003 Warner Brothers movie, Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

• He was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher any ways after messing the whole entire prank up causing Kutcher to quit the show after two seasons (Kutcher re-launched Punk'd on April 25, 2004).

• He has a brand new movie coming, that is due to be released in (2005). The name of the movie is Santa's Slay.

• He also has a role in the upcoming Adam Sandler movie by the name of The Longest Yard, in which he co-stars with other wrestlers Kevin Nash and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

• In his first television role, he has a show on the History Channel called AutoManiac (but Goldberg calls it "Inside the Ride" in an interview). To quote Goldberg from an interview he did: "It’s a 30-minute show with 13-episodes, talking about the history of automobiles and motorcycles, and what’s their historical perspective. The first (episode) that we shot was, mob cars. We’ve also shot police cars and extreme bikes." It is unknown when this show will debut.

Trademark moves and sayings

His favorite catch phrase is “Who’s Next?” or “You’re Next!” He also recently used “Believe the Hype” coming into the 2003 Unforgiven PPV Event.

He has two of the most famous wrestling moves in recent wrestling history; the Spear and the Jackhammer. The Jackhammer has been regarded as the most powerful and destructive finishing move of all time.

He leads with the Spear. He waits on the opposite side of the ring, waiting for his opponent to get up and turn around. When they do, he charges at them like a linebacker in football, tackling them to the ground. Then, in a move called the Jackhammer, after doing the Spear, he picks his opponent up over his head, legs up in the air, then slamming them to the ground, covering immediately for the pin. Only once has anyone kicked out of a pin following this combo of moves, and it was due to a timing issue during a six-man tag match done to Hollywood Hulk Hogan and was supposed to be interrupted by Kevin Nash who was outside the ring at the time.

Trivia

• He used to be a bouncer. It is unknown where this was however.

• He has a degree in Psychology from the University of Georgia.

• He was the first man to simultaneously hold the WCW United States and World Heavyweight Championships. However, the United States Championship was vacated immedately afterwards.

• Goldberg steadfastly kept his real last name as his wrestling moniker against the advice of many. Goldberg has stated that he does so as a show of pride in his Jewish ancestry. Ironically enough, he would later star in a movie, Santa's Slay where he plays a murderous Santa Claus.

• His character was criticized by some (including Vince McMahon) as being a copy of that of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Despite character history and storylines being different to the extreme, the aforementioned similarities include both men wearing short black tights, sporting bald heads and goatees, using similar wrestling styles, and uttering similar catchphrases. However, Eric Bischoff has stated that his character was created to mock Ken Shamrock when he was in the WWF.

• He is an advocate for animal rights and a vegetarian.

• Many Internet wrestling fans consider Goldberg to be the one responsible for the ending of Bret Hart's career, although Goldberg and Bret Hart are not feuding in real life and have become friends in recent years. Goldberg had delivered a mule kick to Bret Hart while in WCW, and the injuries Bret suffered due to this kick essentially put an end to his career although Hart had a concussion going into the match.

• Regards WCW wrestler Meng as the real-life toughest guy he's met.

• Has the most impressive undefeated streak in all of "modern" professional wrestling history (with Lou Thesz having the most impressive with 900+ wins between 1948-1956) with 174 wins before suffering his first loss to Kevin Nash. The loss to Nash came soon after Nash became part of WCW's booking team.

External links

• http://www.billgoldberg.com – The Official Bill Goldberg website
• Bill Goldberg at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.billgoldberg.net – A popular fansite/message board dedicated to Bill Goldberg
• http://www.billgoldberg.com/new/latestnews10.29.04.htm – An interview with Goldberg done by former WCW MAGAZINE editor Ross Forman

Awards

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 75 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.

• He also won two PWI Awards in 1998. He won Rookie of the Year and Most Inspirational.