Goldberg Says Dolph Ziggler Match Wasn’t His Farewell Performance

– Goldberg spoke with Sports Illustrated about his match with Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam, a possible future match in WWE and more. Highlights are below:

On Dolph Ziggler doing the job at SummerSlam: “I am greatly appreciative of what he did for me, and for his professionalism. I can’t say thank you enough…I’m never happy with any of my performances, and I’d lost my mojo, I felt like. But the reality is, the older you get, the more you’re going to lose your mojo because you can’t do it like you used to.”

On his appearance on ABC’s Schooled: “I’ve been in numerous situations, in front of millions of people, in my underwear. Anything after that is pretty much a walk in the park. Some people get intimidated by the roles, but I work backwards from the wrestling experience. It’s given me the opportunity to get front and center in front of millions of people, so to do comedy and to make fun of myself on The Goldbergs, and now Schooled, it’s amazing.”

On being able to show off his comedic side: “Everyone expects me to be this tough guy who rips guys’ heads off, so that gives me a little bit of freedom to be ridiculous. I’ve been a goofball my entire life, but I haven’t shown anybody that in wrestling. It wasn’t conducive to the success of my character. Now, my character is solidified. It’s no different than my evolution in wrestling. Never in a million years would Goldberg have had his wife or son next to him during the middle of my monstrous run. It would have taken away from the character. I perfected being a badass with Goldberg, now it’s time to let my proverbial hair down and have some fun.”

On being on set for the series: “The writers are tremendous, and I have absolutely no problem being self-deprecating, which catches people off-guard. I’m working beside 24-hour comedians, so if I can somehow steal a laugh, that’s awesome. Everyone on set has made me feel so comfortable. I’m the only actual Goldberg on set most of the time, so how can I not feel comfortable? But Bryan Callen [who plays Goldberg’s on-screen brother] and the entire cast have gone above and beyond to make me feel at home.”

On another possible WWE match: “[The match with Ziggler is] by no means my farewell performance, nor was it my best performance, but you have to be realistic and take all things into consideration,” said Goldberg. “It’s a very good possibility I’ll be back, but you don’t know it until it’s done.”

On his physical condition being a factor in a possible return: “That gets lost in the shuffle, but it’s actually the biggest factor. I don’t know of a power wrestler that’s been able to come back after a 12-year hiatus and still be that guy. I had a really tough time keeping weight on when I was that guy, so now it’s exponentially harder. So I just need to reinvent myself. Instead of being 280 pounds with veins on my traps, I can be 260 with veins on my traps. I just moved to Texas, and the first pod that I loaded up was my neck machine, my upright rowing machine, and dumbbells from 60 to 120. Staying in shape and being that role model for my son is my priority. That’s a struggle, and it’s not just physical. It’s also mental. The physique, that was part of the package. If you take away parts of the package, then it isn’t as favorable as it was in the past. But I’m the man of reinvention, and anybody that says I can’t do something can kiss my ass.”