Goldberg Recounts His Challenging Transition From WCW To WWE
In a revealing interview conducted in May 2017, WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg candidly discussed the onerous transition from World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). This conversation shed new mild at the formidable challenges and moments of awkwardness he encountered when he joined the rival wrestling advertising in 2003.
Goldberg were a towering determine in WCW for the duration of the notorious Monday Night Wars, a duration of excessive competition among WCW and WWE. The transition to WWE turned into no longer just a profession pass; it changed into similar to entering into antagonistic territory.
“It was like jumping into a fire pit with no way out,” Goldberg recounted. “I was their competition, along with everyone else, for a long time. We didn’t look favorably upon our competition, and we did anything we could to get out in front. And now we find ourselves working with the competition, and everything we did will be held against us.”
Shortly after his arrival in WWE, Goldberg determined himself in a discomfiting scenario designed to mock his legacy. WWE orchestrated a skit related to Dustin Rhodes, additionally referred to as Goldust, in which Goldberg turned into forced to wear a wig. This second changed into a stark reminder of the deep-seated rivalry that had existed among the two promotions.
“And so after two weeks, they put a wig on me. Figure that,” Goldberg recalled with a touch of incredulity. “You think it might have had something to do with the fact that we were neck and neck with them, and I might have been one of the guys who helped. They had some feelings about that, and they wanted to diminish the character? I don’t know. At the end of the day, it was what it was. If it wasn’t Dustin, I never would have done it because he’s a buddy of mine.”
The demanding situations extended past the hoop and into the locker room, where Goldberg confronted the assignment of forging relationships with a brand new set of work-mates who had lengthy viewed him as an adversary.
“It was tough. It was a totally different deal,” Goldberg explained. “Before WCW, I played football in the area, I played college football, I played pro football, and I knew most of the guys for a long period of time prior to wrestling. That was not the case in WWE. Totally different. Not only was the office in Stamford, Connecticut, 1200 miles away from me, but it was run by people that I didn’t know. It was filled with people that were working as wrestlers I had no clue who they were, and I just thought it was the enemy. And so how good could it be going up there? They wanted to hang us at one point, as we wanted to hang them. You do whatever you could do to bury your competition. And we resorted, and they resorted to some really goofy stuff. And now that’s who I’m working for. So it was tough. It was a really tough decision.”
Goldberg’s preliminary stint in WWE lasted best a yr, marked by way of his final look at WrestleMania XX in March 2004. However, his go back to the corporation over 12 years later in 2016 marked a pivotal chapter in his profession. This comeback allowed him to engage in a sequence of dream fits and in the long run redeem his legacy, providing fans a glimpse of the Goldberg they had constantly revered.
In extra current information, Goldberg disclosed that he had engaged in discussions with AEW proprietor Tony Khan. Despite these talks, he firmly stated that he wouldn’t recollect working for WWE’s rival promotion, describing their product as too “cheesy.”
The intensity and honesty in Goldberg’s recount of his transition highlight the behind-the-scenes struggles and personal challenges faced by professional wrestlers, offering fans an unvarnished look at the realities of the industry.
H/t to ITRwrestling.com
