Goldberg Weighs In On Criticism Of Him As a Performer, Having Short Matches

Goldberg recently commented on the oft-made criticism of himself as an in-ring worker in a new interviewed ahead of his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. The WWE Hall of Famer is set to face Gunther at the show next month, and he guest on The National Football show where he was asked whether fans didn’t understand him as an in-ring performer. You can see some highlights below:

On criticism of his short matches: “1000% because — here’s the deal. A lot of people are like, ‘Well, you know’ — and Gunther came out in the beginning and said it. ‘Hey, two-minute match. You can’t go more than two minutes.’ If my job is to go out and smash someone in 60 seconds, do you think I’m going to politic to be out there longer? Do you think I’m gonna do you think I’m going to say ‘Guess what, make me like every other schmuck in the ring that chain wrestles and that does high spots, and that does–‘ I want to be different. And I do believe there was a place for different, and I think that I proved the point.”

On criticism of his character: “And I mean, ‘The character’s one-dimensional.’ Yeah, he’s one-dimensional. He went out there, I was Tyson, I smashed people and I left. I didn’t talk about it, I didn’t revel in my success. I just went out and headbutted doors, and ran people over.”

On the criticism of him hurting people: “And along the way I — a couple people got hurt. You know how many times I got hurt in the business> Do you think I blamed it on everybody else? Not a chance. I’ve seen — I’m studying my opponent, right? And I’ve seen random videos of his opponents and of other people — and then a short will pop up and I’ll click on it — of guys hurting people, right? And I’ve — I kicked Bret Hart in the head on accident a hundred years ago. And I’ve been remorseful ever since, and I’ve said I was sorry. I was young in the business, no question… and people make mistakes.

“And people have to understand that I was extremely lucky to break in the business when I did, because I had Curt Henig, I had Kevin Nash. I had the Steiner Brothers, I had Norton, I had Hogan. I had Flair. When he talked to me, I had Bret Hart. There were guys that were unbelievable sources of information and coaches, and people that took the time to help me out. I never would take advantage of anybody. I mean, I’m a dude who went up against two 350 pound guys every play [when I was] playing nose guard just like you did. Do you think I’m going to cheap shot people?”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The National Football With Dan Sileo with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.