411’s WWE 24: Goldberg Report

411’s WWE 24: Goldberg Report

-Back at it with another WWE 24 special as this one focuses on Goldberg and his second go round with the WWE.

-Great start as The Network feed won’t get past the TV PG rating and then kicks me out back to the main menu. After about a half hour things start to work for a few minutes at least.

-Goldberg says he never would have envisioned sitting here and talking about getting back in the ring. He talks about his family and wanting to make this comeback for his wife and son. The video then freezes as I continue to have fun on this wonderful night. We are back as Goldberg says it is mental anguish on him to come back, and then again my feed freezes.

-After spending nearly 2 hours trying, I decided to go to sleep and wait for morning to see if things were better. So, here we go again with our review of WWE 24: Goldberg.

-As mentioned Goldberg never thought he would be stepping back in the ring, but he needed to do this for his son. The 24 part is focusing on Goldberg at Mania 33 and him discussing what made him decide to get back in the ring and get back to WrestleMania. He states he is terrified and knows this is going to be tough.

-After the intro we jump to Goldberg appearing on SportsCenter to promote WWE2K17. Goldberg tells Coach that the game put ideas in his head that he thought he would never think about again. We cut to a montage of classic Goldberg in WCW which highlights why he was a massive success. Bischoff pops up and puts over Goldberg huge. He calls Goldberg a real life fire breathing dragon and says the beauty with Goldberg is that everything worked perfectly.

-Bischoff was surprised to see Goldberg join the WWE and we see a montage of Goldberg spearing everyone and winning the World Title from Triple H. We cut back to the SportsCenter interview where coach asks Goldberg who he would like to work with if he returned. Goldberg says that match would be against Brock Lesnar and mentions that he already beat him once. Oh man, they better touch on the craziness surrounding their Mania XX match.

-Paul Heyman challenges Goldberg on RAW and Goldberg says he will show up to RAW to answer. Goldberg’s wife, Wanda, shows up and talks about how neither her or her son have ever seen Bill wrestle. They have footage of the family boarding a jet bound for RAW where Goldberg made his return. She calls the opportunity to return amazing.

-Oct 17, 2016 Goldberg returns to RAW and they show everyone having fun in the back with all the boys and ladies. Gage looks like he is having a ball meeting everyone and they show him hanging out with some of the females which is never a bad deal. Goldberg calls the backstage area a different animal now and how he feels uncomfortable.

-HHH with headset walks Goldberg through his entrance and gets input on what Goldberg still wants to do. He asks Goldberg if he still wants to the pyro and he says of course, though good luck with that now. HHH talks about trying to get Goldberg back and comfortable again. He says it is tough thing coming back to a group you don’t know and how the few you may know, you didn’t get along with well. They show Goldberg and Jericho meeting backstage.

-Goldberg talks about his WWE run not ending well and Bischoff talks about how Bill would show up to do his job and leave. They show a shoot interview Goldberg did where he talks about not playing their (WWE) games. He just wanted to be a team person, show up, do his job, and leave. They show fans giving Goldberg a hard time including some nobody cussing him out so Goldberg tells him what hotel he is staying and tells him to come find him. Awesome! Bischoff doesn’t think Goldberg ever felt at home in the WWE and Cole says Goldberg had a bitter taste in his mouth as he left.

-Now we get to the Mania XX match with Brock. Goldberg calls it bullshit that people call it a crappy match. He says it was only crappy and before he can finish my feed goes out again and takes me back to the title screen. I don’t have the words for this garbage right now.

-Third times a charm as we are back with Goldberg saying the match was only crappy because nobody gave it a chance. Heyman talks about how the crowd knew both guys were leaving so they turned on the match from the start. They crowd serenades them with goodbye chants and they show a close up of Goldberg telling Brock “fuck these people.” Tremendous! The only positive for Goldberg with that match was that he was leaving.

-His wife says that when Bill left he was jaded about the industry and he made up his mind he was never going back. HHH says they tried to get Bill back years prior and they just couldn’t repair the bridge. This last time was different and HHH says it was a different Goldberg. He had a desire to let his wife and son see him in the ring. Goldberg says he has matured and was appreciative to everyone that let him come back. They show Goldberg introducing himself to everyone and Heyman thinks Bill went out of his way to speak to everyone as he knew he had a reputation as a loner and he wanted to squash that. Heyman mentions that Goldberg is a genuine guy.

-We move on to Vince McMahon and he talks about his relationship with Goldberg. It was always business as there was no warmth between the two of them. Vince talks about how Goldberg dropped his guard this time and they had a man to man talk. They settled things and we see Vince telling Goldberg to act like he is at home. Goldberg says it is great to gain back trust and it can happen quickly. I enjoy seeing previously burned bridges repaired. Good stuff here!

-Goldberg makes his return in Denver and the crowd was jacked to see him. They show Road Dogg (I believe) play a rib on Goldberg before his return as he points out that Bill is going out the wrong way and then quickly lets him know he was right the first time. Nice!

-The crowd was way into Goldberg and it made him feel good that people cared. His wife says it was all organic again as the crowd was happy to have Bill back. He thanks the crowd for not forgetting about him and the reaction brings Bill to tears. It was a great moment! Bill thanks God for that Denver crowd. His wife started to get choked up as she saw Bill losing it in the ring. Bill gives his fun promo where he talks about having one last ass kicking, spear, and jackhammer in him. Brock vs Goldberg is set for Survivor Series. After the promo Goldberg walks around the ring with the fans while his son sits on his shoulders and that brings more tears to his wife. She was thrilled to see Bill talk about wrestling and smile instead of being angry. This is truly a feel good redemption story.

-Vince says it was a chance for Goldberg to come back and have one match. They show Bill and Vince hugging backstage and Vince says it was a cleansing. Goldberg knows Vince cares about him as a man, and he cares about him the same. Goldberg calls the moment the coolest thing he has ever done.

-They show Goldberg playing football with his son and he says he values his role as father and husband. He jokes he used to be #1 on the totem pole and know he is like #16 behind the goats and he is okay with that. Nice! He spends 4 days a week coaching his son’s flag football team. His wife talks about Bill didn’t want that Brock match at Mania XX to be the last match he had that his son had to watch. In the end everything came back to his son, Gage, and he wanted him to experience all the good of wrestling. For the one time in Goldberg’s wrestling career it wasn’t about him.

-RAW: Oct 31, 2016: Goldberg talks backstage with Gallows as he confides to him that he hopes he will be able to do it. He talks about the mental strain and anguish he is living with in making this comeback. Heyman talks about how the closer it came to Goldberg having to do something physical he started to become unbearable as he had to stop being Bill the father and become Goldberg The Wrecking Machine. It is kind of crazy the transformation people go through as they try to find this zone they need to get into. Rusev got to be the lucky guy to eat a jackhammer from Goldberg this night. There was a small moment where Goldberg slipped during the angle and it pissed him off. Bischoff calls him a perfectionist and Goldberg says there is a ton of pressure. Heyman says that slip showed Goldberg how things could go wrong during this comeback and he became obsessed with everything being picture perfect.

-Bill talks about getting back in shape for the match. He knows you can only give 100%, but he felt in his mind he had to give more just to get back to where he was. They show Goldberg working out and his wife talks about the crazy pressure Bill put on himself. Again, some will poop on his return and the short matches, but the man put in crazy amounts of work. He knows that getting in ring shape is more than weight lifting and kick boxing, but he doesn’t have the time. His goal was to gain weight and get back into cardio shape. They contradicted each other as he couldn’t get bloated and rest as that would kill his cardio training. The process involved him training 3 times a week for 6 days and not sleeping much at all.

-At a photo shoot a week before Survivor Series, Goldberg talks about forgetting how to put on his gear and his prematch routine. He paces around talking about needing more time and he knows he doesn’t have it. We are up to the RAW before Survivor Series with the two of them coming face to face. Goldberg got to destroy some indy geeks in security. Backstage Goldberg talks about tearing his rotator cuff and says it happened as he was stuck between punching and using a clothesline. He gets the shoulder iced up and jokes that he can’t let Vince see him wearing it. He also jokes to his wife that it’s all good as he has one good shoulder still.

-Goldberg talks about the PR grind and how he forgot about that part of the business. He calls it a grind as they show him going to a bunch of TV and radio shows. Bill is just exhausted after everything leading up to the match.

-We are up to Survivor Series and they talking heads talk about talent having doubts when they return to the ring. Goldberg: “I’m 49 fucking years old.” He doesn’t question his intentions, but he does question if he can pull this off. Bischoff talks about Goldberg being back in an environment he hadn’t been in over 12 years.

-They show Goldberg making his entrance and then as you would expect the show basically the entire match considering it was over in the blink of an eye. They show the crowd reactions and credit to them as the crowd seemed quite satisfied with a Main Event that only went a few minutes. As discussed though people wanted to see a Goldberg match and that’s what they got to an extent. Backstage Goldberg celebrates with his family and it’s a touching moment. Bill tells his family that it was worth it and you can see the joy and relief on his face.

-HHH says it was always put out as a one shot match that could lead to more if both sides kept an open mind. Bischoff says the match was beautiful as it put Goldberg back in the character the audience remembered him as and wanted to see again. Very true! It helped get Bill over the confidence hump, and Vince mentions that Bill caught the bug once again. Bill became open to it being more than a one and done.

-Fastlane: Goldberg gets a Universal Title match with Kevin Owens and squashes him in fine fashion thanks to a distraction from Jericho. Again the place went crazy because they got what they wanted: Goldberg smashing people in short order. Again backstage as Goldberg lets his son hold the Universal Title and again, a cool moment. Goldberg gets in a shot at KO as he says talks about the belt having a goofy name on it that will be removed. Funny! Goldberg says it was pretty damn cool, but he is a man that is only as good as his next match.

-That brings us to WrestleMania and we see Goldberg arriving to the Citrus Bowl. Goldberg says that he and Brock need redemption for what happened at Mania XX. His wife says that Bill feels he has an obligation to the fans to give them something better. Bill meets up with Taker backstage and it is cool seeing them shoot the breeze. Bill asks for some advice and Taker tells him to relax and have fun.

-Heyman says that Mania was the first time that Bill came into the stadium with peace of mind. He could breath and he was relaxed. Cole says Bill had 2 goals: 1) perform in front of his son 2) erase the memories of Mania XX. Bill says that he is actually looking forward to the match and he is just happy to be there with his family. He is going out on his shield and he is just going to have some fun. HHH says that Bill finally enjoyed the process, grind, and hard work he put in instead of dreading all of it. Bill says prior to going out he was living in the moment and he jokes with HHH at Gorilla that it was the first time he was ever smiling right before a match. HHH says it was shocking to see, but in a good way.

-The match at Mania was actually one of the high points of the show. They kept it short, but not too short and hard a hard hitting match with 2 huge men beating on each other with their best moves. It was a fun match that more than delivered on what was expected. Goldberg went to suplex city (took 10 of them) before eating a F5 and going out on his back. Good stuff!

-Cole calls it one of the most exciting, hard hitting 10 minutes he ever called. Vince says he was elated and calls it a great story that was told. Goldberg celebrates with his family and says it was the first time in his career that he had fun wrestling. Again, you can see the joy on the man’s face.

-The night after Mania, Goldberg got to speak to the fans from his heart. Heyman says that he went to the ring as Goldberg and left as Bill. It was a wonderfully touching speech from Goldberg to the fans and I recommend everyone check it out. He handled a post Mania crowd and got them on his side as he talked about making his son proud. Fantastic moment during the speech where Goldberg brings his son in the ring and the kid slips coming over the barrier and Goldberg puts him over for bumping already and notes until last night that is more bumps than he ever took in his career. Amazing! The crowd loved Bill for that dig at himself. Since becoming a father, stuff like this makes me a softie and it was a fantastic way for Bill to end this run.

-Bill puts over the WWE Universe for letting him be himself again and he is grateful for being able to go out his way. He says he has been one of the lucky guys in the business and he will never forget the smiles on the faces of his wife and son. He wants to be known as the guy that got to slap hands with kids and do Make A Wish. He appreciates every single person that was a fan of his as it meant he did something right along the way. He closed this part of his life with a smile on his face and for that he is forever grateful.

-I enjoyed that much more than I thought heading into this review. Goldberg was open about everything and very clear about his reason for returning. What was interesting was seeing Bill change from a guy who was dreading doing this while remembering why he was doing it, into a guy that enjoyed doing it while still holding on to the reason. It was a fascinating change and much like Bruno and Warrior before him, it’s great to see someone mend fences and find peace with something that made them bitter. Go out of you way to check this one out as it will likely make you a bigger fan of Bill Goldberg the man even if you aren’t a fan of Goldberg the wrestler.