Now, his name his synonymous with squandered potential. If ever there was a guy you could point to and say “icon” long before he got there, Goldberg was it.
![wcw souled out 1997 meltzer wcw souled out 1997 meltzer](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8wKSTgLvnPA/maxresdefault.jpg)
He was WCW’s answer to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
![wcw souled out 1997 meltzer wcw souled out 1997 meltzer](https://sportsobsessive.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SouledOut1998_PiperHogan.jpg)
In short, he was a money-printing machine and ratings gold.
![wcw souled out 1997 meltzer wcw souled out 1997 meltzer](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DvR8NtcVsAAX8yp.jpg)
Goldberg t-shirts were the only wrestler-specific shirt WCW sold that came close to the level of the New World Order shirts. He mowed down opponents in such dominating fashion, he won the WCW United States Championship and World Championship in his rookie year, toppling no less than Hulk Hogan live on Nitro for that ultimate accolade. He looked like a gladiator mixed with a Terminator, and wrestled like a steam-roller with a NASCAR engine. He was supposed to be the can’t-miss, home-spun superstar of WCW, their first on that level since Sting. They sat on midcard talent until they’d been booked into oblivion and bolted for Connecticut.Īnd, some would say most important of all, they blew their diaper with Goldberg. They watched months (and months and months and months and months and …) of build-up for Glacier go down the tubes because of a bizarre need to delay the debut until nobody cared. They learned the hard way with not bringing the nWo angle to its logical conclusion at Starrcade ’97. If there is another lesson to be taken from WCW in this time frame, it is this (and it’s one all promoters should, but rarely ever, follow): there comes a point where you’ve stricken the iron too many times, regardless of whatever heat remains in the metal. Vince McMahon found out the hard way, and nearly went out of business because of it. If there is one lesson to be taken from WCW during the Monday Night Wars in the late 90’s, it is this: sometimes, you have to play dirty to win. This is done in the same non-kayfabe style I did the Nitro/D-X story, and it comes from a point of view as if it were written following WrestleMania XX and the notorious Goldberg/Brock Lesner match.) You’ve waited long and long for this, in more ways than one. You’ll get what I mean by the end.Īnyway, enough of my blathering. My story and reality may not share the same road, but I think the end result would’ve been the same. By the time you finish reading this, I hope it’ll be obvious that the story isn’t what I think what would’ve literally happened … but the overall message of the story, the basic thrust if you will, IS infused with my opinion. And that’s why I feel the need for this brief note before we kick off the festivities. I’ve never indulged in the latter, because the format is not one where opinion can really creep into the product … until now. One is a fun little diversion into narrative fantasy, and one is an opinion piece. That said, there’ve been some who have taken RTB to task rather than just enjoy the ride – be it for historical errors, or storyline logic – and my rebuttal against those critics has always been that these are chronicles of what COULD have happened, not what WOULD have happened.
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Normally, that’s a policy that I agree with if a story’s quality or direction needs defending, the author should’ve hit backspace a few more times. (Author’s note: Stephen King once said that any story that couldn’t act as its own defense attorney didn’t deserve to be written. Rewriting The Book: What if Goldberg never lost at Starrcade ’98? (Part I)