http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-re...s/s_180679.html
By Rennie Detore
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Goldberg cemented his status as an elite sports entertainer with 173 consecutive victories in WCW. Another number, however, will most likely define the former WCW world heavyweight champion's career. That being 365, the number of days he lasted with WWE.
Remember back to the last WCW "Nitro," a joint telecast with "Raw," and picture Vince McMahon standing in the WWE ring addressing an entire nation of wrestling fans.
McMahon rattled off a list of WCW superstars and asked his WWE fans who they wanted to see work for him.
Buff Bagwell -- a mixed reaction for a so-called superstar who proved that a chiseled body doesn't equal success.
Booker T -- Mild cheering for a tag-team wrestler just turned on to singles' stardom.
Goldberg -- a thunderous ovation for pretty much the only talent left in WCW whose name could be coupled with the word "potential."
Goldberg finally arrived to WWE in 2003 just after "Wrestlemania XIX," when he confronted The Rock on the post-pay-per-view "Raw."
At first sight of Goldberg on WWE TV, fans naturally reacted, cheering the former WCW world heavyweight champion if for no other reason than he injected life into the stagnant company. As time passed, however, neither party -- WWE or Goldberg -- felt comfortable with the situation.
The company made him into a comedic act, teaming him with Goldust in backstage vignettes that soiled the Goldberg persona. Goldberg wasn't completely innocent, flaunting his ego and name-value like he was roaming the halls of the old WCW, where intangibles like that actually mattered for leverage purposes.
Last Sunday's "No Way Out" was Goldberg's next-to-last WWE appearance until March 14, when he battles Brock Lesnar at "Wrestlemania XX" in Madison Square Garden. That match, as of now, will be his final WWE match, since the federation has yet to offer him an extension.
Goldberg's first, and last, "Wrestlemania."
So, what happened? How could Goldberg and WWE completely squander any opportunity to succeed as a would-be unstoppable union between the creative genius that is McMahon and Goldberg, a superstar still with plenty to learn about sports entertainment?
First and foremost, blame WCW for creating Goldberg.
McMahon doesn't welcome former WCW superstars to his company, and his track record supports that point. Booker T, Scott Steiner and even The Big Show -- all main-event superstars with WCW -- never really ascended to top-tier status in WWE for a lengthy amount of time.
A world title still eludes Booker T and Steiner, and Big Show still sometimes comes across as more of a goofball than a real-life "Giant." The Big Show actually lost his first high-profile singles match -- a one-on-one showdown with Steve Austin on March 9, 1999 -- upon arriving in WWE.
A few superstars -- namely Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit -- have finally started succeeding after years with the company. In Guerrero's case, WWE added the "Latino Heat" gimmick, thus making Guerrero's character its own.
McMahon, for the most part, won't push what he didn't create.
But McMahon and his biased toward WCW-bred talent isn't completely to blame.
Goldberg isn't really worth his price or the trouble.
Think about it: Here's an ex-football player who became a top superstar in WCW in just under a year. He became the company's premier act in that time and had barely logged an hour's worth of work and was subsequently rewarded with a multimillion dollar contract with Time Warner.
He learned everything that was wrong with wrestling, picking up traits of backstabbing and jockeying for position during his time in WCW, a company riddled with politics. For that, he'll always be skeptical of the wrestling business. And McMahon doesn't employ skeptics of his craft; he's got enough of them to deal with from Bob Costas to Phil Mushnick.
Goldberg, because of how WCW treated him, perhaps expected WWE to employ the same kind of "do-as-little-as-possible" mentality that defined WCW. Instead, WWE expected a lot from Goldberg, more than he cared to give.
Goldberg always has lacked the kind of desire that perfectly describes a WWE superstar. He doesn't have the passion of a Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar or Austin. He didn't make the business his life's work like Triple H, Benoit or Chris Jericho.
Goldberg treated professional wrestling just like any other job, which is why he won't have one March 15.
Rennie Detore's Pro Wrestling Insider appears Sundays in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at
[email protected]
