Goldberg's streak

[Maverick]

Does anyone remember Berg's feud with Mongo over his super-bowl ring? Think it involved Debra managing Goldberg a little while, seemed totally baffling when I was going through old Nitro's.

[jm29195]

Clearly bullshit, you can't hurt Haku by dropping him on his head...

 

You can certainly try though - see 08:15 and 08:30 for added Jimmy Hart head dropping goodness:

 

[air_raid]

Yeah, it kind of reminded me of that Mike Tyson documentary when he denied he raped Desiree Washington. "Yeah, I've taken advantage of women before, but I didn't take advantage of her." That's OK then.

 

Please don't compare Bret to a rapist.

 

 

Right.... Goldberg.

 

I think I said everything I needed to say about the Raven match in the DVD thread and was stunned to see that all there was about it in the famed "short matches" thread was this :

 

 

Quite possibly my favourite match of all time now. Like Zbyszko says - "Goldberg's open for business."

 

Something that's been really overlooked in the recent discussions about that great match, is the role of Raven in terms of being a superb tosser that you wanted to see Bald Bill completely demolish. Just to backtrack - in the preceding six months, Raven had made Benoit's professional life very difficult then repeatedly ducked him when it came to their actual match. Even after The Crippler got him in the ring and beat him at Souled Out, Raven didn't leave him alone and when Benoit tried to move on and set about challenging DDP for the US belt Raven got himself involved and basically complained and interfered his way into the US title picture. After Page beat Raven and Benoit at the same time at Uncensored, Raven got himself another title shot (by beating Benoit on Nitro) and then stole the US belt. "Oh, fuck off Raven!!" was the consensus. So he marched down the aisle at Spring Stampede wearing DDP's belt, then proceeded to cheat his way to winning it for real thanks to, as I recall, interference from his newest Flock member, Horace. By the time he came out to defend it against Goldberg, I wanted Bill to kill the cunt. Back in those heady days, I'd read the pay per view results on the Monday but watch Nitro unspoiled on TNT on the Friday night because I was hooked on the rush of not knowing what was going to happen. As discussed in the DVD thread, what followed was an absolutely perfect "heel execution" which wouldn't have looked out of place on a WrestleMania in terms of "we've built this tosser up so you can see him get knocked down - here it is. Enjoy."

 

Here's what we said in the other thread about the match to add to what daz and Ian have already said here :

 

How many snowflakes did Meltz give Goldberg vs Raven? Was a superb match, and easily one of my most watched matches of all time. Goldberg destorying the Flock, on the way to winning the title is up there as one of Goldberg's best ever moments. Wil be good to have that in great quality.

Dai, given that it was a five minute match, I expect Meltz would not have let himself go above ** at most. I've got a list of all the matches from WCW he ever gave *** or more to, and Raven/Goldberg isn't on it.

The "OOOHHH" from the crowd when Horace hits Goldberg with the stop sign, followed by the collective roar when they realise Goldberg's no-sold it, STILL gives me goosebumps to this day. That match is surely the crowning achievement of Raven's career. The whole layout of the match is absolutely perfect. From being the first guy to ever go toe-to-toe with Goldberg, to the one-by-one destruction of the Flock, to the eventual defeat, the match just built and built to a perfect crescendo. Go back and watch that match and there are people literally jumping for joy at the end. That is what wrestling should be.

My own personal favourite moments are shrugging off the dropkick from Sick Boy and pasting him, Jackhammering Reece, the way you think Raven's going to get away for a bullshit no contest then he doesn't, and the fluid delivery of the winning Jackhammer with no delay which on the night struck me as a bit "special occasions."

Goldberg v Raven is my second favourite match of all time. Zbyszko was brilliant on commentary as well. I rewatch that match regularly.

 

As well as that match, and his famous matches with Hogan, Sting, Page and Nash, there are a few others I want to dwell on :

 

Goldberg vs Glacier, night after Starrcade '97

 

The first match from the Nitro after Starrcade which was seen as the end of a chapter of WCW in terms of the initial nWo insurgence and takeover and the "Sting in rafters" run. It's quite fitting that next chapter started with Goldberg, isn't it? This is the earliest memory I really have of watching Goldberg at the time other than annihilating Alex Wright and Disco the night after Havoc, which had made me think "who the fuck is this??" It's interesting to see Goldberg with neither pyro, massive pop nor chants, but the intensity is there. Nice line from the Living Legend - "Goldberg... I don't know if he's a "full deck" player but with that body he doesn't need all the cards." I'll be honest, most of the reason I love this one is that I hated Glacier, I thought he was utterly shit, and I got a real kick out of seeing someone relatively new beat the crap out of him in short order. Glacier was the first attempt at the undefeated streak to make someone look good, and it fell flat on it's arse. I consider myself pretty shit hot on WCW details, but I'll be honest - I don't remember who put the first singles loss on his record. That's how little I cared about him. Entrances are longer than the match, in fact you've taken longer reading my waffle than you'll take to watch the match, and though the crowd make modest noise when Goldberg comes down the aisle, they sure come alive when he puts Glacier on ice, so to speak.

 

 

I liked the Rocco Rock match as well where he speared him through a table in the corner. That was a new, innovative spot at the time and I remember being blown away.

 

13th April, '98. This is usually the first match that enters my head when I think about the early build of Goldberg. I know Rocco is only "one half of really shit tag team Public Enemy" but he represents something just that little bit different from the other guys that 'berg had been ploughing through to this point. They'd mostly gotten into the ring and tried to wrestle, and he'd splattered them. Rock (heh) tries to bring a different gameplan, and Goldy took what he had to dish out, shrugged it off then killed him. Decent pro, Rocco, more than happy to bump big and show intimidation. He gets a lucky break with the dropkick into the steps and you think "you've got a chance here, Flyboy..." then 30 seconds later, you realize he didn't really have a chance at all. A lot of the January-April stuff blurs into one up to the Saturn match, but this one always sticks out in my mind.

 

 

Why's his fucking matches with Brad Armstrong and Perry Saturn not on there?

 

Just for you, Brother Devon.

 

This is BG's first PPV singles match since his best-forgotten debacle with Mongo, and it's a nigh-on perfect early undercard match to continue establishing a fresh face. Brad Armstrong, who for me is top/bottom (depending on your viewpoint) of the table in the talent:achievements ratio. Brad was an excellent wrestler, and that's the beauty of this match - Goldberg can do whatever he wants to Brad, Brad'll make it look good, and it doesn't really matter because you don't need to worry about Armstrong looking weak since he's losing his next seven million matches anyway. Workers like Armstrong were simultaneously dispensible and indispensible if you follow. Every fed needs Armstrongs, talented guys who'll go out and have a great match for the pure purpose of getting the other guy over. One of the few times a "bonus match" on a PPV truly was an unexpected bonus. San Fran goes FUCKING NUTS for Billiam. He ignores a Russian legsweep then pulverizes Armstrong with a pump-handle suplex, spear and Jackhammer. Sounds nothing, really. Watch it.