WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg has hit back at critics who think he “never liked” the wrestling business, dismissing the claim as “bullsh*t”.
Goldberg debuted in WWE to much fanfare in March 2003 on the Raw after WrestleMania 19. On the show, he attacked The Rock leading to a match between the pair at Backlash a few weeks later where he defeated The Great One.
This began a year-long run that would see Goldberg defeating the likes of Kane, Chris Jericho and Ric Flair as well as capturing the World Championship from Triple H.
When his contract came up for renewal, Goldberg opted not to resign meaning his final match would be against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 20.
Lesnar himself also decided to leave WWE at the same time, leading to fans booing both men on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Goldberg ended up winning the match, but afterwards, the special guest referee, Stone Cold Steve Austin, delivered Stunners to both men to please the angry crowd.
Reflecting on the match during a recent appearance on Talk is Jericho, Goldberg spoke about the positive aspects of the bout but admitted it was tough and he felt he needed to calm The Beast Incarnate down or he would “rip his head off”.
“Looking back on it, I think the match wasn’t that bad. I haven’t seen anybody press Brock [Lesnar] over his head before and you know, the things like that get overlooked in a debacle.
“It was tough. If I could have been anywhere else on the planet at that time, I would have wished to have been there, because I got absolutely no love and Brock, you know, if you look at my words on that documentary, when I’m saying ‘f the people’, I’m trying to get Brock to calm down so he doesn’t rip my head off.
“Because he was p*ssed, as p*ssed as I was. Yeah, you know, I got it, I understood, I didn’t really know his situation. But it looked like he wanted to kill me. And, you know, I was a big bad dude back then. But as you know, Brock’s got that wrestling background.”
The former Universal Champion also talked about a moment that led people to thinking he didn’t like the wrestling business, something he says is “bulls*it”.
“It would have been interesting, man, for sure. But I had to, I had to try to calm him. I can see how the public takes that little clip and goes ‘Oh Goldberg never liked the business or the people.’ That’s bullsh*t. I was just trying to calm a beast down.
“You know, it was a tough night. I love to put that behind me. But you have to look back on it, reflect and try to pull something positive out of it.
“The positive is that I changed exponentially over the number of years that passed and I came back and I kind of made amends with myself. You know, everything happens for a reason, man.”
Following WrestleMania 20, Goldberg was not seen in a WWE ring again until 2016 when he made his return and defeated Lesnar once again, this time in under 90 seconds.
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