Goldberg Interview

[KTID 0]

WWE Byte This review Part 2 of 2

October 2, 2003

Host: Josh Mathews and Dr. Tom Prichard with Droz

Guest: Bill Goldberg

 

This week's feature guest, Bill Goldberg calls into the show. He tells us about his new Warner Brothers movie coming out soon called "Loony Tunes Back In Action," which is something similar to Space Jam. This film not only has Goldberg but will have other stars, such as Steve Martin and John Cussak, as well. Bill is also negotiating for another movie in January- February. "Thank God for the Rock paving the way for guys like me," he appreciates.

 

Winning the World Title in WWE cannot compare to his WCW Title win, he states. They were both equally as important. Winning for the first time in his hometown in front of 40,000 people, pinning Hulk Hogan of all competitors for the gold after having only been in the business for half a year was pretty a special accomplishment, "but then, again, it's no more special than holding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt considering who's held that championship before (well, basically the same people that held the WCW crown) so they're really not comparable."

 

Does he feel more stable and confident than his earlier months in WWE, Dr. Tom asks him. "No question, no question. There's a feeling period, and I had to get acclimated not only to the situation but to the people, and to Vince and the business itself is totally different from where I came from. What I did in the past can, in no way, shape, or form, compare with what I'm dealing with now."

 

His first choice of a match that would reach dream match status would be between him and Austin but unfortunately Stone Cold's injuries would prevent that from happening.

 

"As a kid, my best friends were kind of my animals." He has always had a dog and now calls his home "the Goldberg Farm" where he has over twenty animals. He actually introduced Lita to a Humane Society since she has a similar love for animals.

 

An e-mail asks about a rumor that Goldberg's contract expires around Wrestlemania time. Goldberg doesn't deny this. The e-mail asks if he will continue to work for WWE after this time. Goldberg stays wisely vague in his response of, "In a perfect world, yea, that would be a good situation, but what I do is I take it day by day. Ideally, yes, I'd like to be here. But things can change and who knows what the future holds, so that will just have to be an obstacle to be crossed when we come to it."

 

Dr. Tom asks him about his relationship with Vince McMahon. "In the beginning it was stand-offish. There's a very hesitant feeling-out period, I think. In all honesty, I look at him not only as a boss but also as a friend. He's totally different than what I would have imagined. His passion for the business is unmatched by anyone who I ever seen and I think that shows through with the success that he's had. And I'm just very appreciative that he had the confidence in me to be an integral part of the program."

 

A caller asks Goldberg how his "heat between you and Triple H played off in your match with Triple H at Unforgiven." Goldberg answers, "Well, you know, there's been heat between Triple H and I ever since he opened his mouth prior to, or immediately after my injury where I put my arm through the window of the limousine (in WCW where Goldberg was supposed to punch through the windows of the vehicle with a hidden bar in his hand, which he did successfully to the first window but then the bar fell inside the car so instead of kicking the next window or giving up or something, he figured "what the Hell" and punched it in with his naked fist and injured his arm doing so)."

 

Continuing on Triple H, he says, "Truth is, I don't like the guy, and I enjoy wearing the belt that he so graciously called his own, because in reality it was mine first (if you consider this World Title to really be the WCW belt, which no one in WWE makes mention about so who knows if they are the same. Physically, the belts are one and the same. This belt was the WCW Title until Vince dubbed it the ‘'World Title'' which was then merged with the WWE belt into the Undisputed title. The when Brock Lesnar was Undisputed Champ, Eric Bischoff decided to make a "new" belt which he called the World title which, in form, is the actual belt that was used as the WCW/World title. But does this mean that it somehow miraculously fell off of Lesnar into Triple H's hand? If so, why is WCW never mentioned to give the title some history? And why am I so dizzy thinking about this? Is it because I'm a wrestling fan who is trying to find logic in a storyline? Probably...)."

 

Another caller asks Goldberg about the scuffle he had with Chris Jericho. Is it true that Jericho got you into a headlock, the caller wonders. "Oh, he kicked my ass, man," Bill respectfully admits. "You know what, honestly, that's between he and I and there was a lot of heat between us stemming back to the WCW days and any situation that we ended up in was purely because I didn't want to kill the guy, especially on my second week back in the business in a place that it was going to take me a while to get acclimated at. (Oh, okay, so Billy actually was going easy on the guy. Not that he got beaten up. I knew it!) It was a situation that never should have happened but, Chris and I are friends, and hey, it's water under the bridge."

 

Dr. Tom understands where Goldberg is coming from. He relates how most people in the business are either from the old territories or WCW, where you always had to watch your back and DTA was the name of the game. So it makes sense that Goldberg may have needed an adjustment period to acclimate himself but once he did, it got smoother as he progressed. Goldberg thanks him very much for that statement, appreciating that Dr. Tom understands that when he came to WWE, he had a bad rap, and he had many negative prepositions about others, too. But as he looked around, he saw that this wasn't WCW. "And the one big thing here is that we're all working for that common goal and you're not worried about that one guy trying to one-up you. And that's coming from a situation where that was commonplace. Let me tell you, this is a definite breath of fresh air."

 

Joshy Mathews asks him what the difference is between WWE and WCW. "Well, they paid me a hell of a lot more in WCW," he laughs. Seriously, the boys in back, the trucks, the production, Vince. "It's not just a wrestling company, it's an empire," he glorifies.

 

An e-mail asks him his thoughts on putting away Bret Hart. "Oh man, every time you bring up the name Bret Hart my heart kind of drops. Unfortunately, that was his last match and unfortunately I am somewhat responsible for ending his career. It was on an accidental note. It's unfortunate that he still harbors ill feelings towards me because if he does, he definitely doesn't understand where I come from. There's no question that upon reflecting back upon that I'm very sorrowful for that situation." Dr. Tom kills the silence by assuring him that it's just one of those things that happen. "It's not ballet," he quotes the old adage.

 

They then take one last caller, and let me tell you, this individual, I think Michael is his name, sounds so upbeat and fun and polite, saying a quick hello to Joshy and Dr. Tom before proceeding with his question. And he asks about such intelligent matters, too! Amazing! He wonders if Goldberg is getting along better with the boys in the back after all the crap that went on when he first came in to WWE. Now granted, this was discussed previously in this interview, but it sounds as if this Mike character is looking for a more overall summary-type answer from the big man. Pure genius! And the screener also probably didn't like his first question so he was forced to pick another question and came up with this one just as quickly! How resilient this caller must be! And so friendly sounding, too, not in an intimidating or annoying way, either. This is the type of person I would love to hear on Byte This more often. An energetic character with astute observations. Man, where did Phil Speer, Byte This producer, find this guy?! He should get some discovery credit for himself, too! Interestingly enough, though, Josh Mathews was making button pointing gestures with his fingers, as if asking Phil to hang up on him as soon as possible while Dr. Tom just made faces. Inconceivable! Obviously, they felt a bit threatened by this caller's wonderful interviewing abilities. Oh well. Whoever he is, this Michael is okay in my book! And hey! My name is Michael, too!

 

Anyway, Goldberg answers, "That is something for them to answer. I feel as though [the backstage boys] have welcomed me with open arms. All the crap is just water under the bridge. Yea, it's a working atmosphere that I can enjoy going to work on Mondays instead of actually dreading it... I mean, all of the situation surrounding me was a no-win situation when I was coming in but I feel much more comfortable about it now."

 

And I feel more comfortable that Goldberg was able to have a pleasant interview about his WWE experience as he says good bye to the Byte This crew.

 

Before going they announce that Trish Stratus and William Regal will be on the Tommy Dreamer-hosted program next week and the Undertaker will probably be on the week after that.

 

Wow, what a show. From top to bottom, great guests, interesting discussions, and surprisingly fun callers. We found so much about Bill Goldberg that we were all wondering about. However, I am a bit dismayed that I did not get to learn what Goldberg's favorite movie was. Shame on Phil Spears for not finding the time to allow that integral question through. Oh well, maybe we'll find out William Regal's. I bet it's "The Besmirching of the Pillack's Rubbish." I don't know if that's a movie but those are all the Englandish words I know. That and "water closet," "shag" and "bum," which means "tooshie!". Okay well that fills the toilet-humor part of the report. I guess I've got all my bases covered then. You can e-mail me at [email protected].

[Guest hagger85]

Why can't Goldberg just come out and say that WCW was better than WWE instead of repeating the phrase "You can't compare the two" as an answer to every question.

[Slayer 0]

Why can't Goldberg just come out and say that WCW was better than WWE instead of repeating the phrase "You can't compare the two" as an answer to every question.

He knows which side his bread is buttered on

[KTID 0]

Why can't Goldberg just come out and say that WCW was better than WWE instead of repeating the phrase "You can't compare the two" as an answer to every question.

 

He knows which side his bread is buttered on.

 

Rob Van Dam said in an interview that he prefered working in ECW to WWE. But then again, not every wrestler is Rob Van Dam.

[KTID 0]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WWWOOOOOOWWW 300th post!!!

[Slayer 0]

Why can't Goldberg just come out and say that WCW was better than WWE instead of repeating the phrase "You can't compare the two" as an answer to every question.

 

He knows which side his bread is buttered on.

 

Rob Van Dam said in an interview that he prefered working in ECW to WWE. But then again, not every wrestler is Rob Van Dam.

True, plus RVD seems to be actively looking to get dropped by the 'E' so he can pursue interests elsewhere, although the 'E' will probably not drop him because 1) He still draws regardless of how he's mishandled and 2) Vince's mindset that even if he's not gonna use bigname wrestlers not associated with Levesque, he's gonna make sure no one else can use them either

[KTID 0]

Only about a year to go, then he'll tell them to cock off!

[HellSpawn 0]

An e-mail asks him his thoughts on putting away Bret Hart. "Oh man, every time you bring up the name Bret Hart my heart kind of drops. Unfortunately, that was his last match and unfortunately I am somewhat responsible for ending his career. It was on an accidental note. It's unfortunate that he still harbors ill feelings towards me because if he does, he definitely doesn't understand where I come from. There's no question that upon reflecting back upon that I'm very sorrowful for that situation." Dr. Tom kills the silence by assuring him that it's just one of those things that happen. "It's not ballet," he quotes the old adage.

OK, I get it.

I guess Bret Hart's CLEAN recod of injuries against other wrestlers means zero, when you face Goldberg.

I mean, even Michaels in SurSer 97 holded Bret's leg on the F4.

 

"It's Not Ballet"?

Yeah... I feel better after knowing that Dr.Tom thinks that.

[Kardo 0]

"It's Not Ballet"

 

This has always confused me... Ballet requires about 5 times the endurance and physical stamina/endurance/flexibility than wrestling, so are they trying to put down wrestling?

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Well, at least he's sorry for what he did so he's not a total dick.

Edited October 11, 2003 by Rico_Constantino

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Bret would of given himself a concussion had Goldberg not done it that night.

 

Bret was physically breaking down at that point, and all he needed was one final incident to really set him off for good. It's just Goldbergs bad luck that it was him.

 

UYI

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

"It's Not Ballet"

 

This has always confused me... Ballet requires about 5 times the endurance and physical stamina/endurance/flexibility than wrestling, so are they trying to put down wrestling?

I believe this is a reference to the contact and high risk of injury present in wrestling in comparison to ballet.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Why can't Goldberg just come out and say that WCW was better than WWE instead of repeating the phrase "You can't compare the two" as an answer to every question.

Because it's not true?

 

WCW has been worse creatively then the WWF/WWE for 99% of it's existence since Turner bought out Crockett.

[The Czech Republic 0]

"It's Not Ballet"

 

This has always confused me... Ballet requires about 5 times the endurance and physical stamina/endurance/flexibility than wrestling, so are they trying to put down wrestling?

I believe this is a reference to the contact and high risk of injury present in wrestling in comparison to ballet.

I don't think it's fair that if you don't shake the hand of the injured Sergei, you'll get sent to the back line on stage and forced to work the Royal Winnipeg style. This ain't pro wrestling.