Goldberg Talks to Steve Austin About His WCW Run, Looking Like Him, Beating Hulk Hogan, Infamous Brock Lesnar Match, Dislike of Scott Hall, More

Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions: Goldberg

-We are back with the second episode of Austin’s new WWE Network series and this time Goldberg is next. The last session with Taker was great and Goldberg definitely qualifies as a big enough name for this spot.

-Austin welcomes us and says that people used to mistake him for Goldberg and Goldberg got the same treatment. It pissed both of them off as they were enemies at that time, but today they are friends. Austin introduces Goldberg.

-Goldberg talks about how someone once told him he looked like Austin. It pissed him off back in the day, but now he is honored. Austin mentions that Goldberg is a lot more jacked than him and that is what kind of angered Goldberg. Austin says them being angered by it back in the day shows how competitive they were.

-Austin wants to talk about the dream match that never happened between the two of them. Goldberg loves that Austin brought it up that he (Austin) could have one more match, while he (Goldberg) is 700 years past his prime. Austin says that in theory he could handle a match, but he doesn’t want one and gets annoyed with people jumping on and trying to fantasy book him. He throws up a middle finger to those trying to fantasy book him. Wonderful!

-Goldberg looks at it as a compliment that people still want to see them in the ring and knows they wants to see Austin more than him. Austin goes back to when Goldberg came to the WWE and he was burnt out and wishes Goldberg jumped a bit sooner. Goldberg says they kept Austin away from him for whatever reason, and Austin says he did welcome him to the company. Goldberg compares it to being in a different college locker room as he had a reputation for being hard to work with and that is because he listened to people he shouldn’t have.

-Austin takes us back to Goldberg watching wrestling growing up in Oklahoma with his grandma. He watched Texas Championship Wrestling, but he was a football guy. Austin says he was destined to be a wrestler even if he was a football guy because his great grandfather was a wrestler and worked with Gotch. They talk about family and his brother Mike roomed with Ric Flair at one point. Again all back to Austin thinking Goldberg was destined to be in the business.

-Back to football and Goldberg thought his only future was in putting on a football helmet. He talks about the average football play being 18 seconds and you can learn a lot in those 18 seconds. He loved being able to smash someone every 18 seconds. There has to be people out there that cut meat, just like there needs to be a 275 lb nose guard who wants to smash people. It as a release to him and nothing gave him that feeling other than stepping on a gas pedal and having his tires explode.

-Goldberg was All SEC at Georgia and was drafted in the 11^th round. Goldberg says that he partied a little bit too hard at The Gator Bowl and he ended up getting nabbed on the NCAA drug policy. That cost him in the NFL Draft. He ended up going to the LA Rams and was cut on two different occasions. Goldberg talks about the depression as he had no other endgame. He ended up going to the World Football League and won the Championship and then was signed immediately by the Atlanta Falcons. He was beat up from WFL play, but couldn’t pass on the chance. He injured himself during the season but hid it and he was cut when they figured it out. He was then drafted in the expansion draft by Carolina and knew he was too hurt and decided he couldn’t do it anymore. His accountant told him he needed to start doing something and went to Main Event Fitness and started lifting a ton of weights.

-At Main Event Fitness he ran into a few of the WCW guys in Page, Sting, Luger, and Bagwell. He vividly remembers meeting DDP and calls him the best self promoter and a carney. He also knew the Steiners really well and Sting. He had no indication though of what the wrestling business was truly about, but he ended up giving it a go.

-He showed up the WCW Power Plant and they have a photo of what the Plant looked like years after Goldberg left. He says that he was a fan of MMA and watched the stuff in Japan and wanted to learn some of that stuff to mix with his football background. Austin brings up that Sarge helped trained Goldberg at the Power Plant. Bob Sapp was also in his class and because of that he didn’t stand out as much as you would think as they had some monsters down there.

-Goldberg talks about how he took to Sarge. He had a ton of respect for Sarge and he made sure to push him. If not for Sarge he wouldn’t have made it through. He says if you came through a pro-sport, you were cocky and Goldberg made sure nobody down there was going to break him. He smiled at everything they put him through. Goldberg worked his ass off for 6 months with Rage and Chaos and calls them his guinea pigs. Goldberg also talks about his gym that was the largest MMA gym in the world until his partner stole money from him.

-They talk about Goldberg’s dark matches where he went by Bill Gold. They then brought him to TV and he wanted to be The Hybrid. They told him that wouldn’t work and he decided to go with Goldberg. He was told to come up with an impactful finisher. He says The Streak was organic and his character was organic. There was no long term plan and they just kept feeding him people. Austin mentions that Bischoff was in charge and Goldberg jokes, “there was no plan.”

-He brings up that he found out about the Hogan match while watching Thunder like everyone else. Austin wants to know if Goldberg would call himself an overnight success and Goldberg says he was the right guy at the right time. Austin says in watching him, he would call him an overnight sensation. He was different because he wasn’t normal wrestling. It was shock and awe and by the time people figured out what had happened he was out of the ring. Not everyone has to do 20 minute storytelling classics. He talks about his second match with Barbarian and he took a over the head suplex from the top rope and Bischoff told him to never do that again. He learned from Hogan that less is more and Sarge always told him to slow down. Goldberg says he is a very simple guy and he tried to listen to the right people and worked hard.

-Austin talks about the intensity factor being off the charts with Goldberg and we get footage from his first match with Hugh Morrus. Austin says Goldberg was already in the ring and didn’t get a televised entrance so he was treated like a jabron. That’s what made it all the more shocking when he rolled through Morrus and the crowd popped for the finish. Austin loved that Goldberg didn’t want the ref to raise his hand and that he grapevined the leg for the pin. Austin goes over some of the people Goldberg went over in the early days of the streak.

-He wants to know what Goldberg thought as he was getting this monster push over everyone in impression fashion. Goldberg knew he couldn’t go backward and didn’t worry that people were upset he didn’t bump much or lose. He is a team player and did what was asked of him. He knows there are things in his career people don’t like, but he knows what he is most proud of in his career. He loved Bobby Eaton and how much he helped him. Sting also was a great help to him. There was a match with Eaton in his hometown and he wanted to put him over and everyone is telling him it would kill him and The Streak. At the time he didn’t understand why he couldn’t put him over, but looking back now he realizes it would have been insane.

-Austin moves on to the Monday Night Wars and how Nitro kicked their ass for 83 weeks and it was a shoot to him. He wants to know how caught up in the War Goldberg was. He admits he wanted to kill Austin at the time and hated being called an Austin copycat. There was a parallel but a big difference.

-Hogan vs Goldberg time as we get to The Georgia Dome show. Austin goes over that he had to go through Hall and then we seen the finish of the Hogan match. Goldberg says it was the lightest spear he ever hit and he made sure to protect Hogan better on the way down from the Jackhammer. He jokes that you can tell what guys he liked by the way he gave them the jackhammer. Austin understands why he did it as he was protecting the Man. Goldberg says he hated Hall and wanted to tear through him. He was scared shitless in the match with Hogan and he was told they would just call it in the ring. He talks about Hogan ribbing him by having icy hot under his arms. He didn’t want to be a wrestler and yet here he is in The Georgia Dome winning the World Title while his former Falcon teammates are in the front row, wishing they could be him. That was the coolest thing to him as they wanted to be him and he wanted to be in their spot.

-They jump to Starrcade 1998 and the loss to Nash. Goldberg mentions it was on his birthday and then they talk about The Finger Poke of Doom. At the time Goldberg just took it as a loss and didn’t know enough to pass judgment. He knows he needed to lose at some point and looking back he calls it The Ultimate Rib.

-Before exiting WCW, Austin brings up Goldberg destroying his arm smashing out a limo window. Goldberg shows off the scar on his forearm and we get footage of it. Nasty as blood was squirting everywhere. Goldberg says you have to go crazy at the drop of the hat. He calls Hall a piece of shit and he wanted to kill him that night. Instead of using a sledgehammer he used his hand and the gimmick didn’t work. So he did it on his own and his arm went through like a cheese grater.

-Austin asks if losing for the first time was a mind fuck and Goldberg says a little, but not as much as you would think. He rationalizes that it is not a competitive sport and it was just his time to lose. He was the guy on the winning side all the time, so he wasn’t going to complain.

-The WWF bought out WCW and Goldberg says he had a guaranteed deal and wasn’t going to work for half the money when he could sit at home. He missed out on The Invasion, but did come in 2003. Goldberg says it was tough as he was seen as the enemy and he had heat with Hunter through things they said about each other.

-They jump ahead to Mania XX and the end of Goldberg’s initial run. It was Goldberg vs Lesnar with both of them leaving the company. Goldberg jokes that Vince just hated him less that night. They show footage and the crowd just absolutely roasted them. Goldberg knew it was killing Brock and he thought he was going to try to kill him. Goldberg fed off the crowd, but he knew Brock was seething. He jokes they should have both gone in the crowd and started tagging people. Austin says they were pacing around so much and he knew something needed to happen, so he was going to start running the ropes. He tells a story of how Bobby Eaton did a similar spot in WCW. He realized he didn’t want to steal their moment as they were both his friends.

-Goldberg says that night didn’t sit well with him. He had a ton of animosity over that night and really his entire WWE run. He just wanted to get along as part of the team and pull his weight, but it just didn’t happen. He feels the WWE accomplished what they wanted in trying to embarrass him and have him getting booed out of the building while Austin was seen as the conquering hero. He felt it was unfinished business in the WWE, but didn’t think it would ever be finished.

-We get personal now as Goldberg talks about meeting his wife, Wanda, while filming a movie. She worked as a stunt woman in the movie. There was a scene with 49 naked women in a strip club and one of the women had a robe on and it was the stunt woman. They met while doing a stunt where he had to jump up and grab a bar while putting his head between her legs. She jokes guys usually buy her a beer first before getting to that point. She apparently only took the job because she thought Jeff Goldbloom was the star and is crushed her when they tell her it is Goldberg. She asks who the hell is that and they say the famous pro-wrestler and she shoots back, “that fake shit?” Tremendous! Three months later they get married and he has lived a fantasy life since.

-They talk about Goldberg’s son and how he is his life. Goldberg wanted to accomplish things before becoming a father as he knew when you have kids, you have to be all in. Austin talks about visiting Goldberg when his son was just a baby. They jump ahead 10-12 years and Goldberg gets a call to get back in the business. Austin wants to know the story behind the comeback.

-Goldberg says he had moved on and didn’t have anything to prove anymore, but it bothered him that his family never got to see him in that environment. He says he retired from football with a serious injury and now 16 years later he wanted to get back in the ring. He was never a great worker who could carry matches and he had a limited move set. He was also a power wrestler and he was now pushing 50, but he wanted to come back to let his family just see a little bit.

-Austin talks about how Goldberg seriously doubted himself and remembers seeing doubt in his eyes when he returned on RAW in Denver. They show the ovation he got from the crowd that night and it was rather emotional for Bill. He shouts out to his son and you can see it meant a ton to him. He thanks the fans for not forgetting. Goldberg says that was the first time they saw someone other than the ass kicking machine that he used to be and that was by design. It added a layer to his character as he never would have let his family on camera. He says he needed a crutch as a way to get people passed that he wasn’t that same guy from 1998. He admits that he thinks he will be booed every time he heads out to the ring. He is a pessimist by nature and knows you are only as good as your next performance. He called Austin and CT Fletcher and anyone he knew that could help build him back up to being Goldberg.

-Austin brings up Paul Heyman being a help and Goldberg says that if it wasn’t for Heyman that comeback doesn’t happen. He trusts Heyman fully with his career and that leads to the shock and awe win over Lesnar at Survivor Series. Goldberg says he was in the right place at the right time again, but if it didn’t make money they wouldn’t have brought him back. Austin puts over Brock for being a great worker and while Goldberg wasn’t in his prime he still physically looked like a beast up against Brock.

-They jump to Mania where Goldberg is Universal Champion and defending against Brock Lesnar. Goldberg says that he gets amped up before the match and he knows people joke about him blowing up. He made up his mind this was going to be his last match and he was going to enjoy it. They show him telling HHH that he is smiling for the first time and HHH says he’s never seen it and is happy for him. For the first time he enjoyed walking to the ring and enjoyed being in the moment. Austin puts over the match and that they rocked the house with a short and violent match. It was fantastic match and everything you wanted. Nobody wanted a 20 minute wrestling match and what we got was 2 monsters tearing each other apart.

-Goldberg says he never knows how to act when he loses. Austin says that is fascinating as Goldberg rarely ever lost so he could see where he’s coming from and mentions he felt a ton of weight coming off his shoulders when he lost to Rock at Mania XIX. Goldberg says it was more of a cleanse for him. He says as stupid as it sounds he didn’t know how long he needed to stay down or down around ringside. He is still learning the business and says he is still green to this day.

-Austin starts to wrap up as he says Goldberg has had one of the most fascinating careers of all time. He wants to know what is next for Goldberg and he plugs some commercials he has coming up and tells Austin he is moving to Texas soon, right down from where Austin used to live.

-Goldberg puts over Austin and says he was a fan and appreciates his friendship. He calls him a great guy and a great worker. They shake hands and that wraps up another this edition of Broken Skull Sessions.

-Fun stuff here as Goldberg came off great and gave some wonderful insight into his career and his mindset. The story about not knowing how to act when he lost was fantastic and even better was Austin agreeing with Goldberg’s thought process on the situation. Everything else was very good and while some of the stories have been told before, it was still a fun time listening to two friends shoot the breeze about pro-wrestling. Goldberg is often hated for not being a long time fan of the business and seemingly getting things handed to him, but others put in his position likely would have screwed it up and not connected with the fans they way he did. To him it was a job and he wanted to do what he was told. As he mentioned he was in the right place at the right time and he knocked it out of the park. This interview was great as this series continues to deliver.

-Thanks as always for reading and join me Tuesday for WWE Backstage.