Goldberg 173-0: The First 100
Goldberg’s un-defeated streak sparked my interest in WCW as I know it did for many others. I started this project to figure out when different elements of Goldberg’s career became part of his character. I wanted to learn what happened when. I wanted to see the different stages of a meteoric rise. I wanted to catch certain pieces of minutia. I wanted to discover when the crowd, commentary, and upper management went all in on Bill Goldberg. The official number of the win streak has much dispute. With house show wins and dark match victories accounted for, it’s widely acknowledged as 173-0 when it finally ended. I will be looking at the first 100 matches of his career and see if we reach the pinnacle.
I will be using the WWE Network, ProfightDB, CageMatch, YouTube, DailyMotion, and message boards debating the topic of Goldberg’s streak to follow it, watching each match and providing whatever interesting details I feel paint the story best.
Not every Goldberg match was televised. For instance, his first ever match on June 23rd, 1997, Bill GOLD wrestled Buddy Lee Parker in a dark match. He then wrestled Buddy Landel, the next night, dark, on WCW Saturday Night. Hector Guerrero was on July 14th’s Nitro, Chip Minton on July 17th at a house show, and John Betcha on July 21st’s Nitro were his next three defeated opponents. You could say he was 5-0 before his TV debut.
Goldberg wrestled as Bill Gold during this period before his TV debut. This is important to note because on July 27, 1997 in a dark match on WCW Saturday Night, a wrestler named Chad Fortune, also known as Troy, of Tekno Team 2000, DEFEATED Bill Gold, making Bill Gold 5-1. I find it convenient to disregard this un-televised run as Bill Gold and go with what’s recognized in Bill Goldberg canon. I refuse to be the ACTKHUALLY guy, even though I kind of just was. Bill Gold was not Bill Goldberg.
Throughout Bill’s career, there are dark matches and house show victories that I factor into his televised match victory total at the end. I will use commentary as a baseline for the correct number and keep Mike Tenay in check. I’ll also be counting Pro, Saturday Night, and Worldwide with short or little description, due to the complexity of syndication and re-airs. These dark matches, house show matches, and some C show matches are unreleased so I can’t tell you much. The good thing is, it doesn’t contribute to the goals I have in doing this project. And now, Bill Goldberg.
Match 1: Nitro, Sep 22, 1997 vs. Hugh Morrus
The first moment we ever see Bill Goldberg on TV is in the ring, as Hugh Morrus arrives to it when Nitro comes back from break. It’s the second match on the Nitro card. Hugh has a Riddler outfit and seems to be somewhat over. The announcers inquire as to who Bill Goldberg is. Tony and Larry laugh about how they’ve stumped Mike Tenay who has no knowledge of him. Here are their first quotes about him:
“A newcomer here in Bill Goldberg. A man we know absolutely nothing about, and from the looks of him he looks very determined and very powerful.” – Tony Schiavone
“I certainly pride myself on knowing the background, the experience factor of the wrestlers involved, and I don’t have any information on Bill Goldberg, help me out Larry. – Mike Tenay
“YOU don’t know? Fire this man! I don’t know that much about Bill Goldberg, we just have to watch his movement. He’s gotta have good movement to compete against Hugh Morrus” – Larry Zybysko
Goldberg shows a lot of athleticism in this as both men display their offense. Goldberg silently no-sells a lot of Hugh Morrus’ later offense. to not much crowd response. He does a back handspring out of nowhere, seemingly for no reason, which elicits a small pop. He then goes into a powerslam after the handspring to a big pop, a scoop slam, and then the delayed twisting vertical suplex, later known as his finisher, the jackhammer, but is not announced as such. Mickey Jay counts the three-count.
After the match, Okerlund stops him on the ramp for an interview to try to get any words out of him and he doesn’t say anything. I popped for Larry, (as usual) asking “Is he a mute?”
I love the fact that Goldberg wins his first match with the finisher he uses his entire career.
Goldberg surprised me with an inside cradle into half a figure four, displaying ground game.
Morrus surprised me when off being whipped, jumped onto the turnbuckle and onto the rope for a springboard clothesline.
Perhaps the biggest sign of things to come is that he kicked out of Hugh Morrus’ finisher, his top rope moonsault known as “No Laughing Matter”.
“Bill Goldberg, out of obscurity, comes to Nitro and pulls a major upset” – Tony Schiavone
Match 2: Nitro, Sep. 29, 1997 vs. The Barbarian
I’m a Tongan Death Grip mark as well as a Faces of Fear mark so I’m looking forward to this one. It’s the third match on the card and the 2-0 in Goldberg’s record book.
It opens with both men in the ring after a break and a WCW Saturday Night promo, so still no entrance.
“We take a look for the second straight week at a man named Goldberg, a man that really shocked us last week, only thing we knew was his name. What have you found out about him, Mike?” – Tony Schiavone
Tenay says he’s done some research, says where he’s from, that he was recruited by Georgia, was All-SEC defensive lineman, and he does say he played in the NFL for the Falcons. So I mean, I guess that’s the reveal of his past that gets accomplished in the second match.
On a replay of last week, during the match, Tony refers to the finisher as “some kind of a suplex-combination powerslam”
Barbarian and Goldberg go back and forth for the first minute or two, highlighted by some move by Goldberg where he jumps, wraps his legs around Barbarian’s waist and flips him. I’d call it a guillotine monkey flip into a mount. It was pretty cool but got no pop. Once he no-sold Barbarian’s turnbuckle chops, you knew it was on. A couple moves later, knee to the gut and then the sloppiest jackhammer I’ve ever seen, still not referred to as the jackhammer. Three-count. He pushes the cameraman’s camera posted at the turnbuckle out of the way.
Mean Gene is on the ramp saying he knows about Goldberg and shows a picture of him in a Falcons jersey and how he’s a former Georgia Bulldog. He asks him why he’s trying to be a mystery man, pushes the camera and walks up the ramp in victory.
Match 3: WCW Saturday Night: Taped 10/1/97, shown 10/11/97 vs. Roadblock
I guess I have to watch a Roadblock match, but the way it starts is a new development for Goldberg. I went to YouTube for this one. Tony puts over the past two weeks of his two wins and Dusty Rhodes gives his input about Goldberg as he makes his entrance:
“Every tape I’ve been able to look at Goldberg is that he’s got so much athletic ability but he’s got a mean-ness in him, he’s got a look about him that tells me there’s something special about this young guy.” – Dusty Rhodes
Goldberg has music for his entrance. This is the official debut of his theme. No smoke, no sparks, just an entrance and a “Bill Goldberg” footer.
First big move of the match is a Roadblock clothesline that Goldberg no-sells and screams “Is that all you got?”
Goldberg gets into his ground game and all I notice is how freaking big of a dude Roadblock is. He has to be 6’10 and 400 pounds. Goldberg knocks him off his feet with a shoulder tackle. He later hits a spinning wheel kick. Picks him up, couple knees to the gut (again) and a punch, locks up his head and hits a half jack-hammer, (AKA straight-up vertical suplex) on the guy (understandable) for a three-count. 3-0.
Goldberg shouts “Bring ‘em on” as the ref raises his arm. Fun fact: Castrol GTX sponsors the replay.
“In the span of three weeks, Goldberg has solidified himself as a player in professional wrestling” –Tony Schiavone
***Note 10/10/97 a match was taped for WCW Pro with Manny Fernandez that didn’t air until December
Match 4: Monday Nitro, October 13, 1997 vs. Scotty Riggs
This Goldberg sighting starts with his entrance and his music, no pyro, walking to the ring with speed but all of it is pretty much overshadowed by Raven who is sitting with Perry Saturn at ringside. Perhaps because before the match, Raven is cutting a promo about childhood in a dark room with a crib. Riggs looks a little too excited to do the job as he comes down the ramp.
The match starts pretty much with a whip, two missed Goldberg clotheslines, followed up by a pretty vicious spear, a mount, and a choke. First big move of the match.
Interesting fact, Tony comments about Goldberg’s TWO WINS. Not even counting the Worldwide win against Roadblock. Even though in the Roadblock match, he commented that it was Goldberg’s third match and the two wins over Morrus and Barbarian.
Goldberg, on the outside of the ring catches Riggs attempt of a cross body, lifts him up into gorilla press and drops him down abdomen first on the guardrail. I bet all of the air left his body.
He brings him into the ring, punches him in the gut and puts him up for the “suplex slam we’ve seen” as said by Schiavone, and he mentions that he beat Roadblock with it. So Tony went from two opponents to three by the end of the match. Post-match Tony says:
“Well he’s not talking much, but we do understand, rumor has it, that he likes to call that maneuver ‘the jackhammer’” –Tony Schiavone
So there’s the reveal that the finishing move is called the jackhammer. 3-0 to Tony, 4-0 in canon. 9-1 including Bill Gold, 10-1 including Manny Fernandez. Let’s stick with 4-0 and skip to Match 6.
Match 6 (5th match shown): WCW Monday Nitro, October 20, 1997 vs. Wrath
Bill Goldberg comes to the ring, second match of the show. Wrath comes out with Mortis and James Mitchell (Vandenberg) and his sick entrance. It’s in entirely red lighting with these blue projecting laser-lights shooting horizontally from the entranceway down the ramp. It’s sick. Match starts as he’s still wearing his entrance attire. Bill Goldberg hits him with a spear and puts him up for a jackhammer and the win. His most dominant victory yet. It got quite the pop. So that’s five canon matches under Goldberg’s belt. Fun fact: As he walks to the back up to the ramp, Bill says: “Who’s next? Who’s next? That’s all I got to say.” So here’s the debut of his catchphrase. This match vs. Wrath. Share it with your whole family. Steve Mongo McMichael comes down the ramp and says to get out of his way. There’s the football seasoning. 5-0 in canon. Five days before this Nitro, was the following Mike Anthony match.
Match 5 (6th match shown): WCW Saturday Night, taped 10/15/97, shown 10/25/97 vs. Mike Anthony
In between the 15th and 25th, the match with Wrath happened, and was shown in its entirety during Goldberg’s entrance, considering the match was pretty damn short. The Barbarian victory was big, but that match with Wrath was just as big, considering it was a 15-second squash. So here’s where we’re getting at the fact that Bill Goldberg is a monster who is going to destroy everyone.
He still is referred to as Bill Goldberg, he still doesn’t have the crazy entrance, and he still doesn’t get the crazy pop or a chant yet. But obviously I’m looking forward to when this all starts.
So he’s fighting this jobber Mike Anthony. He manhandles him the whole two minutes. He puts him into a gorilla press position for a gut-buster. He then hits him with the jackhammer to virtually no pop. The spear earlier in the match got more pop. So in TV WCW, this is 6-0.
Halloween Havoc segment: On October 26th, 1997, Goldberg interfered in Steve “Mongo” McMichael vs Alex Wright at Halloween Havoc 1997 giving Wright the win. He gave Wright the win by spearing and jackhammering Mongo in a horrible finish with Charles Robinson’s attention to Debra. He deadlifts Alex Wright and drops him onto Mongo for the win. Debra then gave Goldberg Mongo’s Super Bowl ring like it was some sort of deal they had. Alex Wright goes to shake his hand and Goldberg gives him the spear/jackhammer treatment.
Nitro segment: The following Nitro, it’s scheduled that Goldberg is going to fight Disco Inferno for the TV title. Disco seems happier than ever about it. Comes out first. Out comes Goldberg to a sizeable pop. Definitely his largest, but nowhere near sustained and overwhelming. Out comes Alex Wright to attack him on the ramp. He jackhammers him in the ring to Disco’s amusement and then goes after Disco. The bell hasn’t rung yet. He jackhammers Disco, who doesn’t extend himself, so it’s like this twisting, re-positioning type of jackhammer. I like it. He kicks him out of the ring, and out comes Mongo. Officials come out to break them up and no official match is logged. Odd. Can be debated as a no contest, but that person would be wrong.
Match 7: WCW Saturday Night, taped October 28th 1997 vs. The Renegade
Goldberg had two consecutive matches with The Renegade, this one and his next. The matches were filmed a month and a half apart, so I took random interest to what was going on in this period.
I wanted to see who The Renegade was. He was basically brought in by Hogan and Jimmy Hart in 1995 as WCW’s version of the Ultimate Warrior. Long story short, I guess management soured on this guy, who came out to Marc Mero’s old music, and didn’t think he was ready. After a Renegade match with Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart rubbed off his facepaint and called him by his first name, which quickly led to The Renegade acquiring jobber status. He was released from his contract at the end of 1998 and I say all this because he shot himself in the head in 1999 out of depression of his release. I figured I’d share my very sad learnings with you.
Goldberg runs into the ring and as the bell rings, he spears The Renegade. He picks him up and jackhammers him to win in 17 seconds. The crowd is somewhat amused and loud but it’s nowhere near pinnacle Goldberg pop yet.
*Note: November 1st and November 2nd notched two house show victories against Bobby Eaton
2nd note: The win against Manny Fernandez, his first taped for TV, non-Nitro match, airs on WCW Pro airs in December
There is then a break between now and Dec 16, 1997 that he has a match. I have read he had a groin injury. Let’s figure this out.
November 3rd Nitro, he doesn’t have a match but he comes down the ramp and costs Mongo the match just by standing there.
November 10th Nitro, all he got was a snippet package between him and Mongo.
November 17th Nitro, Mongo vs. Alex Wright, Mongo throws the ref for DQ, Goldberg doesn’t make an appearance but the announcers talk about him.
November 23rd World War III, out comes Mongo McMichael with a lead pipe and the Super Bowl ring cutting a promo and a camera cuts to the back showing Goldberg laid out cold on the ground to no reaction. Apparently the scheduled match was Goldberg vs. Mongo but since he’s hurt there was no match and he fought Alex Wright instead.
November 24th Nitro, no appearance or mention of Goldberg. He’s obviously hurt.
December 1st No mention
December 8th No mention, but December 12th, his match with Manny Fernandez airs.
*Note: 12/13/97, Goldberg gets a win against Frankie Lancaster on Worldwide. Schiavone says he’s made quite an impact in the four months and Heenan says he’ll be championship material some day.
Dec 15th Nitro: Mongo is about to come out to wrestle Meng but doesn’t come out. Cameras go to backstage. Goldberg laid out Mongo backstage and says, like only he can say, “You get the bull.. you fight the bull.. you get the horns” JJ Dillon is there and says that Mongo is scheduled to wrestle and Goldberg has to wrestle now since Mongo can’t. This whole thing happens near gorilla position, so Goldberg comes out from the backstage and this is the first time we see the camera backstage with him and then to the main stage. It gets a decent pop, as it should. Mongo comes out from behind to attack him, he no sells it, security breaks them up. No match.
Dec 22nd Nitro: No sighting of Goldberg but Mongo wins his match against Meng after two chair shots and a tombstone and tells Goldberg that’s what he has to look forward to.
Match 8: WCW Saturday Night, Dec 16, 1997 vs. The Renegade, shown 12/27/97
Finally. The re-match was exactly the same. Goldberg spears The Renegade as the bell rings and picks him up for the jackhammer and gets the three count. Before the match, Goldberg cuts what seems to be his first pre-recorded promo in the locker room about Mongo McMichael and how they both have a football past. His upcoming match is to be his first PPV match, at Starrcade against him. At the end of the match he grabs a mic and calls out McMichael. Mongo comes to the ring, he spears him, and security comes to the ring and breaks it up.
Match 9: Starrcade 1997, December 28, 1997 vs. Steve “Mongo” McMichael
This is Goldberg’s first PPV match. He comes out first to not much of a pop. Mongo comes out to his Four Horsemen music. Goldberg meets Mongo on the ramp and they go at it. Goldberg sets a table up leaned against the outside ring post. They get back to the ring and there is a faint Goldberg chant but it’s not the same intonation as the famous Gooooooldbergggg. The match goes on inside the ring and out and Goldberg sets up a table outside the apron. McMichael ends up in the spot above the table, gets punched in the face, goes through the table and an ECW chant breaks out. Goldberg picks him right up, brings him in the ring. Mongo superhumanly fights back and tries to pick him up for the piledriver but can’t because his back hurts and Goldberg jackhammers him for the 3-count. Tony calls the jackhammer a suplex-combination-powerslam. This is also one of the first realizations that Goldberg is un-defeated. No win count. but Tony says not many wrestlers can say they are. Dusty says, “none of them.”
Match 10: WCW Monday Nitro, December 29, 1997 vs. Glacier
This is the last match of 1997 for Goldberg. Solid pop for him. This is the first time he yelled and slapped his face during the entrance. Worth noting, because this is probably the starting point of him making crazy animalistic noises during his entrance. The bell rings and Glacier does his Kung fu Sub-Zero gimmick on Goldberg. Bill catches one of his high kicks, deadlifts him and slams him down. The crowd is popping pretty big and feeling his energy which keeps coming. It’s probably Goldberg’s best performance yet in the minute of match that it took after a spear and jackhammer. He looks directly into the camera with trademark intensity. This match has the biggest pops he’s gotten so far. After the match he says, “Who’s next? That’s all I gotta know.” Slightly different from the earlier “Who’s next, that’s all I gotta say.”
Thus begins 1998.
1998: The Year of Goldberg
*January 3rd and 4th of 1998 are two house show victories against Bobby Eaton and Brad Armstrong
Match 11: WCW Monday Nitro, January 5, 1998 vs. Stevie Ray
Fans rise as Goldberg’s music plays. Normal entrance through the curtain, somewhat of a pop as he arrives, but nothing too notable. Stevie Ray gets some offense in and an early two-count after a back suplex and a flying clothesline. Goldberg reverses a running attack in the corner with an elbow and then a clothesline. Picks him up, whip, powerslam. A couple minutes of going back and forth and all of a sudden, Goldberg comes hard with a tackle. He puts on the facials, no taunt, and goes right into the jackhammer for the 3. It was to a sizeable pop. They knew how to get guys over and the Harlem Heat was over. His biggest win so far. After the match, Stevie Ray gets up and argues with the ref that it wasn’t three as Goldberg stares. It’s interesting that Stevie sold the jackhammer so loose.
Match 12: WCW Thunder, January 8, 1998 vs. Steve McMichael
This is Bill’s top feud right now, because they’re both football players. Interesting to note that this is the first ever episode of Thunder. Lee Marshall is on commentary and I find him annoying. Heenan and Schiavone are also on commentary. Kidman and The Flock are ringside. Kidman has two signs. One says Kidman World Tour 1998. The other says “Katz fears Madden”, referring to WCW hotline voice Jeff Katz, & Mark Madden. Anyway, regular entrance, still Bill Goldberg. Very interesting note, Schiavone says, “Bill Goldberg, or Goldberg, as he demands we call him.” Mongo tackles him with a dive through the ropes. They then go into the ring after a squabble with stairs. So much tackling. My god. This match is mostly tackling. After a tackle, he fights Mongo into the jackhammer and it’s a 3 count. Goldberg’s been doing a rolling kneebar and it’s my favorite move of his so far. Hope it’s in WWE 2K20.
Match 13: WCW Saturday Night, January 10, 1998 (taped January 6) vs. Barry Horowitz
Literally clocked this as a 17 second match. Goldberg comes out to not much of a pop and Barry is in the ring patting himself on the back. The ref taps him and rings the bell as Goldberg hits a spear. He picks him up, jackhammer, it’s over. Average pop. 5 out of 10 pop.
Match 14: WCW Monday Nitro, January 12, 1998 vs. Jerry Flynn
Jerry Flynn, who’s not Jerry Lynn, it’s a guy with a mullet who walks down to the ramp with good heel energy. Goldberg gets his biggest entrance pop yet. Seemingly out of nowhere. Probably a 7.5 out of 10 Goldberg pop. The interesting thing is, it only happens when he appears, not when his music hits. The character generator still says Bill Goldberg but Schiavone is calling him Goldberg. Flynn comes right at Goldberg and apparently, according to Tenay, he has mixed martial arts knowledge. They have a ground game match for the first minute until he lifts him up for a powerbomb, cuts some facials, and then a spear, which is a 8 out of 10 pop. This is a very interesting match, the crowd is super hot for Goldberg, and it’s not like anything happened before this. NWO arrived in the limo and this match opened the show. Being that the crowd didn’t pop as his music hit, I could tell this energy isn’t full-fledged Goldberg-mania. It’s getting close. Real close. Goldberg bleeding a tiny bit from the mouth. Anyway, he takes a couple kicks, spears him after no-selling, jackhammer. Wins to a big pop.
(Match turned into a segment) WCW Thunder, January 15, 1998 vs Chavo Guerrero Jr:
Scheduled match between Goldberg & Chavo. Chavo comes out first and all of a sudden, Disco Inferno’s music hits. Chavo bumps him while he’s dancing, Disco cuts a promo about how nobody came to see him wrestle, they came to see Disco dance. Chavo says Disco can’t dance, his name is stupid, it’s not his match and to go away. Disco pretends to concede and leave, hits him with the Chartbuster (cool name) and Goldberg makes his way down the ramp while that happens. Disco takes the mic says he’s about to dance, Goldberg gets in his way and gets speared. Bell doesn’t ring. It’s not a match even though it was scheduled. Match databases say Goldberg wins by disqualification, it’s wrong, it’s not a match.
Match 15: WCW Saturday Night, January 20, 1998, (shown January 31, 1998) vs. Meng
Announcers hype the match as Goldberg’s toughest challenge and these are two of the toughest guys in the business. Meng comes down the ramp with Jimmy Hart. The pop for Goldberg’s entrance is the same as last. Some face twitches and growls. It’s still not a mega-pop and doesn’t happen as the music hits. Interesting note, his character generator says Goldberg instead of Bill Goldberg for the first time. Very physical match. Lots of no-selling. Also, first time I’m hearing Goldberg chants mid-match but NOT the famous Goldberg chant style. It’s quick and repeating. Commentary acknowledges it. They also acknowledge the soon to be complete failure, Boston Brawl, airing on the 31st, that same air date. Late in the match, Goldberg does a fairly elevated powerslam on Meng that would make people would cringe today. Meng landed almost completely on his head. Jimmy Hart gets on the apron, jumps off the turnbuckle, gets caught and thrown gorilla press style by Goldberg, also would’ve landed on his head but Hart put his arms down. Jimmy stumbles up in front of Meng and dodges Goldberg’s spear which hits Meng. Mike Tenay then says, “the spear hits Meng, which usually is the prelude to the jackhammer”. Interesting note because it’s what I think to be the first time the sequence is mentioned by the announce team. And it was his first main event.
Match 16: WCW Thunder, January 22, 1998 vs. Kendall Windham
This will sure be a doozy. Goldberg comes out to not much of a pop but you can sense the energy. Also, interesting note, it says Bill Goldberg on his character generator, when on the Saturday Night match with Meng nine days later, it says just Goldberg. Anyway, Heenan thinks Goldberg is un-defeated and Lee Marshall confirms it for him. Tackles him and then does a rolling kneebar. Crowd is very dead. They should never come to this venue again. Goldberg absorbs a flurry of punches, hypes up, spears him, jackhammer. Crowd pops for it. Pretty funny horizontal Goldberg is God sign across a few seats up in the rafters.
Match 17: WCW Saturday Night, January 24th 1998 vs. Mike Tolbert
This isn’t even really worth mentioning but it happens, literally one minute from entrance to finish. Goldberg gets to the ring, Tolbert hits him with a kick. Whip, spear, jackhammer, blouses. Mild reaction.
Match 18: WCW Monday Nitro, January 26, 1998 vs. Brad Armstrong
Still only a pop for when they see Goldberg and not the music. Very interesting to note, WE HAVE PYRO! This is his first entrance with any semblance of pyrotechnics. A few purple, blue, and green streamers shoot to the ceiling where the WCW logos on the sides of the entrance way are. Heenan says “Everyone’s really getting behind this guy, no nonsense. He’s just gonna get in there and tear some limbs off.” Larry Zybysko then drops some gold out of nowhere that would make some millennials cry: “When men were men, and women didn’t vote”. Armstrong goes for the attack early with no effect. Crowd pops. Gorilla press into a front powerslam. Crowd pops. Brad plays some cat and mouse with Bill. Gets speared to a big pop and then probably my favorite jackhammer yet, he leaves the suplex and catches him for the powerslam best on this specific jackhammer, so far. 8 out of 10 pop. This was a great, quick match that got the job done and a highly suggested watch. His strongest crowd reaction yet.
Match 19: WCW Thunder, January 28. 1998 vs. Yuji Nagata
“The music precedes the man. The fans begin to stand, because this man in a short span has become nothing less than legendary, and I say that because of his quick wins, the way he disposes athletes, Bill Goldberg means business, and he is here on Thunder.” – Tony Schiavone
Goldberg comes out as Bill Goldberg for what appears to be the final time and half of the crowd actually pops as his music hits and not when he appears. Another note, this appears to be the debut of the video screen, and with that, the debut of Goldberg’s entrance video, which seems like it was put together in two minutes. He gets some solid pyro again that goes for a good while. Same pyro as Monday on Nitro. The announcers talk about Goldberg being un-defeated and Schiavone actually calls him a legend. A little early in my eyes but the announcers are all hyping him up heavily. Nice leg sweep into a kneebar. It’s actually an even battle for the first two minutes. That is, until Goldberg blocks a suplex and reverses it into a Cross Rhodes, a corkscrew neckbreaker. Another first from him, I believe. Then comes the spear. Fans pop big for it. Then comes the jackhammer. Fans raise their fists in the air. Sizeable pop. Now it’s getting interesting because the fans are starting to understand that when the spear comes, it’s time for the jackhammer, and I would like to say that suspended pop becomes widely known in this match.
Match 20: WCW Boston Brawl, January 31, 1998 vs. Buddy Lee Parker
There is no footage of this event. This event was pretty one of a kind, it was a pay-per-listen event on the internet. I remember trying to figure out how to listen to it on AOL. Sound Recorder popped up but nothing played. In the match, Goldberg goes over Buddy Lee Parker, I’d presume quickly. The event is notable because everyone who paid received refunds. It started an hour late because of a Bruins game and then the stream didn’t work. 21 years later, another Goldberg match amidst a Bruins game fiasco.
Match 21: WCW Monday Nitro, Feb 2, 1998 vs. Mark Starr
Well the Nitro girls are in bikinis in the crowd dancing. Good way to jump into a Mark Starr entrance. No pop as the music hits for Goldberg, pop as he appears. Goldberg 3:16 sign view. Another cool Goldberg sign written out like it’s a definition. One of the best signs I’ve ever seen, actually. He’s back to Bill Goldberg on the character generator. Goldberg seems to get leaner every day. This is also the first match in which the face twitches, and the noises are pronounced. He even slaps his head a couple times. He’s still a few matches away from the main event of Nitro. Tony calls his spinning neckbreaker a “corkscrew maneuver”. .Starr gets some offense in until he’s gorilla pressed, caught and slammed forward. He’s then speared, deadlifted to a standing position, and jackhammered to a pop. Goldberg does some facials and crazy noises/grunts with the camera. He also looks at the camera like it’s an alien and he’s never seen it before. Big match for his character development.
Match 22: WCW Saturday Night, Feb 3, 1998 vs. Disco Inferno (aired Feb 7, 1998)
Disco sells as Goldberg’s music hits with “oh shit, it’s Goldberg” expressions on his face. The character generator says Goldberg again. Disco will sell Goldberg moves until everyone in the arena leaves. Spear, jackhammer, decent crowd pop. 6 for a Nitro, 7 for the show it is.
Match 23: WCW Thunder, Feb 5, 1998 vs. Jim Powers
A medium sized to large pop for Goldberg as his music hits and he comes out as Bill Goldberg. Single pyro strike behind him and a pretty regular titantron video. Tony has a good line, saying “he hits himself harder than most people have trying to hurt him.” He also says, “Goldberg is the man.” Lee Marshall quips, ”He is the man.” Heenan quips, ”It‘s what I said last week, he‘s THE MAN!” and then Heenan says ”YOU THE MAN” which was very very funny to me. So this is the beginning of “The Man” for Goldberg. Move over Becky Lynch. Crowd is from warm to hot for the whole minute of the match. I love Jim Powers, he’s one of the best and looks like a wrestler. Every time Goldberg looks for a pop, he gets it. Powers thinks he knocks him down with some strike, celebrates, and turns around to a spear. Crowd goes nuts. Then comes the jackhammer. Heenan says “no more power in Mr. Powers” Lee Marshall asks if anyone clocked that. 1:08, Lee. 1:08.
Match 24: WCW Monday Nitro, Feb 9, 1998 vs. Lord Steven Regal
Oh hello, Steve Regal, you are quite an unlucky bloke tonight. A video package plays highlights of Goldberg before the match which was seen by the fans in attendance. Regal comes out. Goldberg’s music hits and the crowd is pretty happy, but not full-scale mega-pop that I’m waiting for. He’s also Bill Goldberg again. Twitches and mannerisms galore. This is also the most pyro he’s gotten, he’s got about ten vertical shooters going. The match opens and here comes the quick Goldberg chant. Not the infamous one, just alternating Gold and Berg, not holding the Gooooo- or the Berrrrr-.. you get what I mean. The squabble begins. A lot of arm-twisting going on. Two minutes in, the crowd is dead for the whole thing. They want a slobberknocker. Regal getting his offense in. Crowd is actually booing a little because the whole thing has been technical arm twisting and submission wrestling. The whole match is arm-twisting until Goldberg botches a corkscrew neckbreaker he did a few matches ago. I don’t know how. He like, threw him. I actually blame Regal, he wasn’t bent forward enough. Regal’s now open hand thrusting Goldberg and headbutting him. This is actually the most competitive anyone has ever been with Mr. Goldberg so far. Spear hits, virtually out of nowhere. First pop of the match. Here comes the jackhammer which is botched turns into a simple rotating vertical suplex. Regal and Goldberg, on the record, hate this match. Worst Goldberg match I’ve seen so far and it’s a legend like Regal. Strange, but true. Tony says he passes this test with flying colors. No he did not, Tony.
Match 25: WCW Thunder, February 12, 1998 vs. Glacier
Yes. I love Sub-Zero. I mean Glacier. Honestly, I thought Glacier was cool as hell when I was 8. Still kinda do? Anyway, a mildly roaring, gradually growing pop for Goldberg as his music hits and he comes out. He pauses on the ramp, some pyro hits, and a whistler hits for the first time. Heenan, Marshall and Schiavone put him over in terms of nobody being able to beat him, and everyone’s been watching his tapes. Glacier hits him early and before the bell. Glacier shows off his Kung fu training with a jumping roundhouse, (which I haven’t seen since) that misses, Goldberg ducks under it and then back handsprings over Glacier’s back+low kick Mortal Kombat style spinning leg sweep. This is my favorite spot I’ve seen Goldberg be a part of so far. That was a character-specific spot, the type of thing that makes wrestlers unique from each other and match-ups unique from each other. Both guys get good offense in, including Goldberg with a SPINNING neckbreaker. No leg hook, so it wasn’t the Cross-Rhodes move he’s done previous. Goldberg comes off the ropes with a spear out of nowhere. He puts him up for the jackhammer and holds him up there for an extra second with one arm. Big pop at the end of the match. A fantastic two minutes of my life. Favorite Goldberg match so far. Heenan says Glacier is a snow cone now.
*Note, February 13th and 14th, 1998, two house show wins over Mongo McMichael,
Match 26: WCW Monday Nitro, February 16, 1998 vs. Hugh Morrus
Goldberg’s first televised opponent, Hugh Morrus, comes down to the ring first and Jimmy Hart comes running out telling him he’s got a deal he can’t refuse. Jimmy runs back to the dressing room. Hugh’s in the ring, Goldberg’s music hits, and people stand up and walk towards the railings. George Steinbrenner is ringside. They show the fans and a sign comes up that says “Give Goldberg the title” and you could hear Mike Tenay say, “oh boy” out of nowhere over what Zybysko was saying about Goldberg. Anyway, his pyro hits from behind the WCW’s on the sides. They’re sizzler pyro that shoot up to the sky and act like fountains. I believe this becomes more common, we’ll see. Nothing really happens in the match. A springboard clothesline from Morrus, which he did in their first match. Nothing really happens until the spear, which gets a pop, and then a jackhammer that he holds for an extra two seconds for a bigger pop. Signs in the crowd are getting more creative. 1998 was phenomenal.
Match 27: WCW Saturday Night, February 17, 1998 (shown Feb. 21, 1998) vs. Jerry Flynn
Goldberg comes out as Goldberg on the character generator. He doesn’t have pyro, but neither does anybody on this show. A lot of ground strikes going on. Flynn gets Goldberg in a head scissors and Goldberg lifts him up, as he stands up with Flynn’s legs wrapped around his head. He slams him forward. They then go to ground game again. Gorilla press into a front powerslam, spear, and then a jackhammer, a little more than 2 seconds. Decent pop for the venue size, three count.
Match 28: WCW Thunder, February 19, 1998 vs. Fit Finlay
They spelled it Fit Finley. Maybe that was his WCW name instead of Finlay. Anyways, his ring attire is horrible: half of a Chris Jericho spiked leather jacket and his classic unitard. Goldberg’s music hits. He gets quite a big pop. An 8 for Nitro, a 9 for Thunder. This one might be a good one. He gets some pyro and a whistler. The announcers are going in about how he’s the most talked about wrestler everywhere and he’s unbeatable. The signs are all over the place. This crowd is hot. Power strikes. A gorilla press into a gut-buster. That move where other guy graps the top rope and you lift him by his legs and throw him up in the air. I was looking up the name and couldn’t find it. Finlay puts on a sleeper hold and Goldberg biel throws out of it. Lee Marshall brings up Goldberg’s success in the Regal match. LOL, why. They run ropes, he misses the clothesline, they meet again, he spears him. Big pop. Jackhammer. Bigger pop. Three-count. Good match.
Match 29: Superbrawl VIII, February 22, 1998 vs. Brad Armstrong
David Penzer introduces the match as an added contest. So fans apparently have no idea Goldberg is on the card for this one. Heenan says watch, wait, and listen for the roof to go off the compound as he says the surprise here is not Brad Armstrong. Music hits for Bill Goldberg. Underwhelming pop for a pay-per-view of this magnitude. Gets some quiet, vertical fountain pyro. He’s upped the twitching a little bit. Brad Armstrong acting like he has a chance. Gorilla press into a front powerslam. Heenan brings up how Goldberg flips a switch and becomes an even stronger Goldberg during matches. Belly-to-belly from Goldberg. That’s a new one. Armstrong fights back and successfully Russian leg sweeps him. Surprised at that. That’s his finisher apparently, according to Mike Tenay. He taunts. Goldberg gets right up, puts him in a gut-wrench, into a fallaway slam? Another new one from Goldberg. Heenan comments he’s never seen that and Schiavone says nobody has ever done it, that’s why. That sets him up for the spear and the jackhammer. Big pop. He looks bigger than last week.
Match 30: WCW Thunder, February 26, 1998 vs. Rick Fuller
Some weird stuff going on with the NWO at the time. Rick Fuller, a strange burly man who is unlockable in WCW/NWO Thunder for PS1, comes down to the ring with NWO’s music intermittently over it. Goldberg’s music hits and it’s a gradually growing roar. This is important to me, I didn’t notice at first, but on second listen, Goldberg has new music. The music we all know him by. He’s had slightly different music all along until this match. So that’s the biggest development of this match. Goldberg has new music. He pauses on the ramp and big pyro hits behind him with smoke. The lame Goldberg chant is going on again, not the real one we all know and love. Heenan wants to know how many matches Goldberg has won so far. So do I. (43, including house shows and D shows at this point) Ground game for the first minute. Fuller hits him with a boot right to the face and Goldberg no-sells it and spears him to a big pop. Then the jackhammer, which he holds him up a second for. NWO shirts are getting big.
Match 31: WCW Nitro, March 2, 1998 vs. Sick Boy
Sick Boy, AKA, late attitude era dark match staple Scott Vick, comes down the ramp to no music. Lodi holds up a sign with a phone number in the crowd. I’m calling it now. Disconnected or out of service. Damn. I googled the number and it’s the WCW Power Plant. That’s hilarious. Flock sits at ringside. Big pop as Goldberg’s music hits and he appears. He’s still Bill Goldberg on the character generator. Same pyro and whistler he’s been getting. Starts with a gorilla press as Goldberg walks under it. Sick Boy gets up tries to springboard elbow off the ropes and is caught for a Rock Bottom. Sick Boy gets some strikes in, goes for a springboard something from outside the apron and totally slips on the rope and botches it. It’s really funny. Crowd thinks it’s funny too. Goldberg toys with him, spears him, (crowd goes nuts), picks him up. Jackhammer. Big pop. Still not a God, but a decent pop. Philly crowd popped huge for the spear.
Match 31: WCW Saturday Night, March 3, 1998, (shown March 14, 1998) vs. Chase Tatum
A personal assistant to Big Boi of Outkast and a former Mr. Georgia bodybuilder, the late Chase Tatum was Goldberg’s next challenge. When you put the two next to each other, it’s definitely a credible battle. Chase Tatum is probably the strongest looking guy Goldberg has faced so far, but obviously we know what’s going to happen. Goldberg gets a pop as his music hits that rises in volume until the bell rings. Pretty much a 9 in terms of WCW Saturday night pops. Mike Tenay proceeds to completely piss me off by giving some calculations he did. He says Goldberg debuted in September 1997, (true for most intents and purposes). He says that Goldberg is on a 53 match winning streak. If you add the six matches in between this is recorded and it airs, this match becomes his 51st win, with all wins of the Goldberg run accounted for. Maybe this is the match that they wanted to etch a number in concrete. THEREFORE, the match after March 14th, I will skip to match 54, for the purposes of lore. Match starts. Strong grapple into the ground game. Pure battle of strength. Mike Tenay says Goldberg is well-versed in the Russian Sambo fighting style. I can’t with this dude. Crowd does the crappy Goldberg chant. Not the good one. Straight into a whip and a spear. Then the jackhammer. Decent pop. Match ends in less than a minute.
Match (…) : WCW Thunder, March 5, 1998 vs. Vincent
Freaking Virgil takes a minute or two to come to the ring. Crowd pops for the NWO music and when they see it’s Virgil (Vincent) it dies down. Goldberg’s music hits, crowd pops right away. This match is safe to mark as the Goldberg entrance music instant recognition pop. The Asian drum at the beginning of the theme really did the trick. A “Goldberg is God” sign is shown and this is the second consecutive match the crowd has popped when the music hits. Big pyro. Thunder had some good pyro. His character generator still says Bill Goldberg but Lee Marshall talks about how Goldberg already has that one-name effect, where you say Goldberg and everyone knows who you’re talking about. He spears Vincent ten seconds in after exchanging strikes and hits him with a jackhammer. Keeps him in the air about three seconds. Run time, 31 seconds. Crowd was popped the whole time.
*Note, from March 6-8, 3 wins over Yuji Nagata in house shows, 1 win over Jerry Flynn on Worldwide
Match (…) : WCW Monday Nitro, March 9, 1998 vs. Barry Darsow
Barry Darsow, Smash of Demolition, Repo Man is up next. Goldberg’s music hits. Crowd pops right away. Quick pyro, and he does his signature uppercuts like he’s going to do them from now on. First time I noticed this as a staple of his walk to the ring. I expect it to become more common. They’re still doing the really stupid quick Goldberg chant. This match features a gut-wrench suplex and a back body drop so far. New moves to the arsenal. He tried a drop toe hold into an STF which didn’t fully work. They go outside the ring. Darsow is against the ring post and actually counters and Goldberg punches the post and Darsow goes to work on the arm. He gets whipped into the turnbuckle arm-first, hulks up out of nowhere, and turns around for the spear. Beautiful jackhammer. Quick match, but beautiful.
Match 54: WCW Monday Nitro, March 16, 1998 vs. Lodi
I’m looking forward to this. I love Lodi, and it’s 3/16 in 1998. I could imagine the RAW on this day being pretty sweet. Awesome, this Nitro is outdoors at Panama City Beach, FL. There’s a pool. Lodi comes out with everyone in the Flock besides Raven, and Kidman is riding Reese’s back. God, I love Raven’s Flock so much. Saturn is wandering around and sits on a random chair. I’m laughing. Lodi has a bunch of signs and one of them is for RF Video. Breaking third wall in 1998 and nobody has a clue. Or they do, but we don’t have Twitter to shame him for it. Goldberg is a meathead sign is Lodi’s last sign. He’s also wearing a pelican raft around his waist. Goldberg’s music hits. Decent pop. Finally says just “Goldberg” on the character generator. Crowd still doing the crappy Goldberg chant. Goldberg immediately gets Lodi in a gorilla press slam, whips him and spears him to a huge pop. Possibly the hardest spear he’s given. Wonderful jackhammer. Flock tries to get some of Goldberg after the match and he takes care of them all.
Match 55: WCW Thunder, March 19, 1998 vs. Wayne Bloom
Here comes Wayne Bloom, Beau Beverly. Anyways, here comes Goldberg. His music hits with a big pop. His name says Goldberg on the bottom. He pauses on the ramp as different kinds of pyro behind him than he’s ever had goes off behind him. Still not breathing the pyro at this point. It’s some vertical sprinkler pyro, shooter pyro, and the extended sparkle kind. Red and yellow. It’s pretty. Full nelson slam to start the match. Another new move. Pump handle slam. Wayne Bloom then gets in some offense, until Goldberg just runs through him with a spear. Crowd pops, jackhammer, 3-count. They claim he’s 56-0. Perry Saturn hops the railing all mad because he wants to beat the undefeated Goldberg and Raven stops him from fighting him.
*Note, March 20-22 features three house show wins vs Brad Armstrong. Let’s see what kind of stretch provision numbers Tenay comes out with next
Match… 57: WCW Nitro, March 23, 1998 vs. The Renegade
He’s back to The Renegade again. Goldberg is the semi-main. This is the highest Goldberg’s been on a Nitro card. A clip airs from the last Thunder, during one of NWO’s matches, there was a beat-down on Rick Steiner by Brian Adams, Hennig, and Norton, and Goldberg took care of all of them. I believe this was his first confrontation with the NWO. Renegade comes out looking like a bloated Ivan Putski and says he’s fought Goldberg twice, knows how to beat him and guarantees a win. It appears the number of victories Mike Tenay has conjured up is 59. Four wins in the past three days. Alright. 59 wins it is. So this is Match 60. Decent pop as his music hits. He’s got 3 pyro shooters that shoot six times each in unison. Trying to provide the pyrotechnic visuals here, as we all know it changes. Renegade somehow gets Goldberg into the corner to start the match and connects with a cartwheel into a handspring back elbow. Okay. Goldberg follows that with a, you guessed it, spear. He holds him up for the longest he’s held anyone up in the jackhammer, about 5 seconds and rotates him. Three-count. Strangely slow three-count. Schiavone says he’s victim number 60 and Heenan says he tied Babe Ruth. Which I find hilarious. Some lady front row is booing, I don’t think she understands. Maybe she dates Renegade.
*Note, from March 25th-29th, Goldberg gets five house show wins over Jerry Flynn (wish I was there) and a Worldwide win over Johnny Swinger. So that’s 6 matches. We’ll see what Tenay does with it.
Match…62: WCW Thunder, March 26, 1998 vs. Jerry Flynn
At this point, if Jerry Flynn comes out, you can basically assume he’s fighting Goldberg. Goldberg’s music hits and strangely, the crowd pops about three seconds after. Tenay says Goldberg won his 61st at a house show the day before this. Shooters, fountains, and sparkly pyro light up behind him. Thunder has a great pyro set up. They’re still doing the quick Goldberg chant and not the cool one. Tenay says both of these guys are martial artists and Jerry Flynn wanted this rematch. They’ll be wrestling all week. So they go back and forth for two minutes doing typical moves, nothing special. Some ground game, some counters, nothing of note. No new moves besides maybe a cross-armbreaker. So he just hulks up after getting hit with an assisted (grabbed the rope) spinning wheel kick and spears him then hits the jackhammer. Crowd pops big. They’re really putting over the 62 wins.
Match…67: WCW Nitro, March 30, 1998 vs. Ray Traylor
Out comes the Big Boss Man, completely underutilized with no affiliation or nightstick as Ray Traylor. Shame, one of the greatest heels of all-time going by shoot name and jobbing. Anyway, Goldberg’s music hits. Initial pop is a 7 that grows to about a 8.5. The pyro is the most elaborate it’s been. We got one above the entrance way and two on the sides all going off, shooting into the air and sparkling. Guy in the crowd has a 63-0 sign. We’re now up to 66 wins, says Mike Tenay. So this is the 67th win. Heenan asks if he’s going for 66, and Tenay says he’s going for 67. Heenan also says “Step aside, Karl Malone, Bill Goldberg delivers.” LMAO, Heenan than says, “that’s Gretzky’s number isn’t it? 66?” (implying dyslexia, because Gretzky wore 99). but I guess Tony and Tenay don’t get the joke. because they say it used to be, The crowd pops as Goldberg and Boss Man circle the ring and break out into the crappy Goldberg chant. It’s the loudest Goldberg chant yet. They’re having a test of strength. I think this might be the most that the crowd has been into an actual Goldberg match so far. They run the ropes and Boss Man spinebusters him. Goldberg gets up in two seconds and the crowd pops crazy. Traylor realizes it, gets speared, gets jackhammered, gets three-counted, and leaves WCW. Just kidding about that last part, but he does. Saturn hops the rail again and gets held back by The Flock. The announcers think Boss Man is the biggest guy he’s jackhammered so far, but according to my notes, that man technically is Roadblock. 67th win.
Match 68: Malice at the Palace, April 2, 1998 vs. Jerry Flynn
This match was on a listen-only PPV in which I found actual arena reports on so I will paraphrase. It was a four-minute match which featured the corkscrew neckbreaker Goldberg sometimes does, a spear, and a jackhammer. Happy #68.
*We have four wins at two days of Worldwide tapings from 4/3-4/4 against Bobby Blaze, John Nord (HUSS), Terrence Black and Leroy Howard (who are the same guy). Real number is 74, but these matches don’t air for a while. Let’s see what number Tenay gives us next.
Match 69: WCW Monday Nitro, April 6, 1998 vs. Hammer
Hammer comes out to no music. His shirt is mesh, cut out where his nipple is because he has a nipple ring. Hammer had a great understanding of character. Goldberg’s music hits and the crowd pops and stands. Some people are spelling his name wrong on signs still. Schiavone asks Tenay what the streak is at and he says 68. The crowd is popped. He gets a new type of pyro which is basically a ball of fire and leaves two clouds of smoke and all the other pyro he’s been getting so far. Most of the signs are for Goldberg. I hear an extremely faint correct Goldberg chant in the crowd. Like the smallest of small. It sounds like two people trying to do it. They have a strong man battle and eventually Hammer catches him with a jawbreaker and then a spinebuster. He actually spinebustered him clean. Hammer goes for a double ax-handle and gets speared in mid-air. Jackhammer and three-count. Hammer becomes victim number 69. Flock teases coming in the ring and is scared off. Zybysko says, “Goldberg chalks up victory number..” and Tenay goes “69” in a robot voice. I guess that’s funny. The Flock attacks Hammer for losing. Perry Saturn is all sorts of mad. Building to Saturn-Goldberg without Goldberg. What a time.
*Note: April 10-11, two house show wins vs. Fit Finlay. Let’s see what Tenay says.
Match..72: WCW Monday Nitro, April 13, 1998 vs. Rocco Rock
Rocco gets a decent pop, which isn’t mindboggling because ECW was on fire. He sets up a wooden table beside the ring. People are doing the arm wave. Goldberg’s music hits, crowd pops and the volume rises when he hits the ramp. Tenay says the current tally is 71-0. First he gets shooter pyro from the sides of the ramp, then. he gets this new pyro, these two tri-sprinkler pyros that go off behind him creating a fizzling wall of fire. That’s his most pyro so far. The bell rings and the crowd pops. Some asshole has a Goldberg = Steroid sign. That doesn’t even make grammatical sense. Tenay reveals Goldberg was drafted in 1990 by the Rams. Rocco gets no offense in on Goldberg until he gets the move that perhaps has been the most offense against Goldberg yet. He goes out of the ring, dodges a punch and as Goldberg is staggered, dropkicks him into the steel steps. First time he ever hit the steel steps. Rocco brings in a table and sets it up against the turnbuckle like an idiot. Spear through the table is imminent. Yup. Vicious. He picks him up for the jackhammer and the pin. Perry Saturn comes down the ramp and is stopped by Raven again. Kidman’s coming off the turnbuckle now, gets caught and slammed. Sick Boy speared. Kidman speared. Crowd is popped. The horrible quick Goldberg chant erupts. Goldberg says Saturn is next.
*Note, win against Hammer on a house show on the 14th
Match 73: WCW Thunder, April 16, 1998 vs. Barry Darsow
Goldberg vs. Smash again. His music hits and the crowd pops about a 7. He appears and the crowd pops an 8. Tenay says he’s 72-0. Hammer’s house show match is ignored. Probably gets counted later. Goldberg going by “Goldberg” is pretty much permanent now. It says Goldberg on the Thunder character generator. He gets all sorts of pyro here. All the same type of fire, but just shot in a variety of different ways. Fountains and shooters in different directions. Tenay says Goldberg’s roommate was Kevin Greene the football player at one point. That’s cool. Darsow actually throws Goldberg out over the top rope. He comes right back in and spears him. Jackhammer. Three-count. Crowd’s popped about a 9. The announce team is pushing the Who’s Next thing. I miss Cinn-a-Burst gum. Specifically, Fruit-Burst. Flavor crystals. We got a great match coming up.
Match 74: WCW Spring Stampede 1998, April 19, 1998 vs. Saturn w/ Kidman
Out comes Saturn and Kidman. I loved Billy Kidman in this era. There was such darkness to his character. He would itch on his way to the ring like he was fiending for drugs. This pay-per-view set is fantastic. The Flock is ringside. Goldberg’s music hits to a growing pop which hits a solid 8.5 out of 10. The announcer announces him from Dawsonville, Georgia. I’m pretty sure this is the first time he’s getting a drawn out ring announcement. The ring announcer mentions that tonight he tries to maintain his un-defeated professional record. The set looks awesome. He’s got about 12 pyro things shooting in tri-directional clusters. Onto the match, which opens with a gutwrench suplex on Saturn that gets a huge pop. Then a belly-to-belly. Then Goldberg does his rolling leg-lock takedown I’ve seen a few times so far. Kidman tries to break it up and pulls Saturn out of the ring. Goldberg then pulls Kidman in the ring, gorilla press and throws him onto Saturn. It was a good decision to open the PPV with this match. Saturn gets some offense in, including a springboard leg drop. I forgot how much I love Saturn’s leg drops. Goldberg reverses a suplex into a corkscrew neckbreaker. Goldberg goes gorilla press into a front mat slam. They go back and forth and Saturn hits Goldberg with a T-Bone suplex. Saturn knees him through the ropes, then drop kicks him off the apron into the stairs. He then places Goldberg’s arm behind the stairs and shoves the stairs into his arm. Head scissor takedown off the apron by Saturn. A botched back elbow off the ropes by Saturn. He was on a roll for a while. Spinning heel kick off the top rope by Saturn hits. A pin gets a one-count. Some back and forth fighting until Goldberg waits for Saturn to stand up to spear him. As the jackhammer starts, Kidman distracts the ref and Saturn low blows Goldberg. First time the jackhammer has been blocked. Saturn puts Goldberg up on the turnbuckle and Goldberg counters into a body slam off the turnbuckle. Out comes the rest of the Flock. I guess there’s no DQ. He takes them all out until Kidman and Saturn pounce on him and Saturn gets him in the rings of Saturn. Goldberg breaks out by standing up. As he stands, he has him in Argentine neckbreaker position, working it pretty badly into a makeshift jackhammer with which he gets the 3. His first decent length match. He faces whoever has the US title tomorrow on Nitro.
Match 75: WCW Monday Nitro, April 20, 1998 vs. Raven for the WCW United States Title
The Goldberg hype train is running at full speed. Michael Buffer is on hand as ring announcer for this. Commentary is talking about Goldberg all throughout the show. Goldberg’s working out and making alien hissing noises before the break prior to the match. Raven comes out to no music. Goldberg comes out to about a 7.5 out of 10 pop. Good amount of pyro. Buffer announces his hometown as unknown and his weight as unknown. It was just told to us that he’s from Dawsonville and he’s 285 at Spring Stampede. Funny. There’s been a lot of Goldberg signs lately but not this many. They’re still doing the crappy quick Goldberg chant. Raven puts the belt down in the center of the ring. They come face to face and go at it. Raven hits him with an awesome dropkick. They go outside and Raven gets whipped into the rails. Schiavone says the match is Raven’s Rules which means no DQ. They go back in the ring. Goldberg hits his rolling kneebar. Goldberg picks him up, whips him and hits a spinning roundhouse which gets a sizeable pop. Raven rolls outside and gets a chair and hits him with it. Raven sets up the chair in the middle of the ring, whips him, and drop toe holds him head first into the chair. Cool spot. Goldberg kicked out before 2. Raven hits him with the busted chair. Raven tries to lock a sleeper on him and they fight between the turnbuckles. Raven strikes him a bunch of times and Goldberg snaps out of his funk and the strikes have no effect. He hits him with a spear out of nowhere to a huge pop. The Flock emerges from the crowd. Sick Boy missile dropkicks Goldberg. Kidman then comes in and gets thrown out by Bill. Sick Boy gets thrown out. The newest member (currently no name), Horace, comes in with a stop sign and hits Bill. It has no effect and he spears him. Then Reese comes in and Goldberg hits him with a “jackhammer” (vertical suplex). Schiavone says Reese is 500 pounds.Raven hops the rail and tries to leave and a group of four “fans” stop him and throw him back over. Never seen that before. Goldberg hits Raven with a spear and then the crappiest jackhammer, or top 3 crappy that I’ve seen so far, onto the stop sign for the 3-count and the US title. Goldberg train is running full speed. Biggest pop he’s gotten so far. Still no iconic Goldberg chant, still doesn’t eat the pyro. Tenay says it’s the 75th win. Everything’s good.
Match 76: WCW Thunder, April 22, 1998 vs. Mike Enos
So Goldberg is defending the title. The pop is about a 7. Not that crazy. The pyro is thunderous though. He’s currently 75-0. Goldberg talks some trash, bell rings, and match opens up hot. Enos ripped up a sign from the crowd on the way to the ring, by the way, and I’d love to see a WWE wrestler do that today. Rolling kneebar. Enos actually gets a powerslam on Goldberg. Then some strikes, whips, suplexes, clotheslines, you know, things that make a match a match. Unlike forearms and suicide dives constantly. One whip leads to a spear. Next thing you know, jackhammer, 3-count. Match went about 2 or 3 minutes. Schiavone puts over a new Goldberg shirt that says “Who’s Next”.
Match 77: WCW Monday (Tuesday) Nitro, April 27, 1998 vs. Scott Norton
Interesting, this Nitro was divided into two days and Goldberg has two matches taped today due to the NBA playoffs. Scott Norton is out first and it’s about to be a real hoss battle. Goldberg’s music hits and the crowd pops on cue as usual. He’s got pyro scattered everywhere. There’s a Goldberg sank the Titanic sign every week. The movie was quite popular at this point. I love studying the signs from this perspective. Lots of trash talk. I love it. Bell rings and so do the strikes. Shoulder tackle by Norton. Goldberg kicks out. They stand off. Corkscrew neckbreaker by Goldberg. Rolling kneebar after some fighting outside and back in the ring. The crappy Goldberg chant emerges again. Goldberg runs into the turnbuckle to drive his shoulder into Norton and Norton quickly recovers and lifts him over his head in almost crucifix position and hits him with a shoulderbreaker which is his finisher at the time. It used to be a powerbomb but I bet Kevin Nash had him using a shoulderbreaker. Goldberg kicks out at 2. Goldberg’s first two-count. Norton goes for another one and Goldberg counters and runs the ropes for a spear. Huge pop from the crowd. About a 9. Hits him with the jackhammer. Successful title defense and the crowd is hot.
Match 78: WCW Tuesday Nitro, April 28, 1998 (taped April 27, 1998) vs. Jerry Flynn
Jerry Flynn comes out looking like a jackass to lose to Goldberg for like the 10th time. Goldberg is 77-0. Crowd pops when he hits the stage. Pyro hits. The common one. Jerry Flynn goes for a bunch of kicks and misses the wheel kick off the ropes and lands awkward. Goldberg picks him up, puts him in DDT position but then hooks his arm and does what seems like a double underhook suplex. He spears him when he stands and Goldberg hits the jackhammer. Probably holds him up for about 6 or 7 seconds. Definitely the longest someone’s been held up there. 3-count. 78 wins.
Match 79: WCW Saturday Night, (taped May 5, 1998) aired May 9, 1998 vs. Hammer
This match is real quick. Hammer comes out with some strikes and whips him and Goldberg hits the spear and then he hits the jackhammer and it’s over. About a 45 second match.
Match 80: WCW Saturday Night, (taped May 5, 1998) aired May 16, 1998 vs. Yuji Nagata
Yuji comes out with Sonny Onoo. Decent pop for Goldberg, I guess. No pyro, being it’s the C show. Yuji hits him with some kicks and Goldberg counters with the rolling kneebar/ankle lock thing. Then a gorilla press slam into a controlled mat slam. He whips Yuji into the corner and catches Yuji’s boot for a dragon-screw leg-whip. I can confirm that move has not been seen yet. Tenay sells it too. Then comes the spear, then jackhammer, then the 3-count. He held him up there for a while. And he’s up to 85-0 because this aired on the 16th, so I’ll catch up the tally after the 16th.
I was wondering why Goldberg had no match on May 4th, so I had to check it out. The Flock was beating up Juventud Guererra and Goldberg came out for the save. He jackhammered Reese successfully this time. Reese sold it by twitching his leg which was hilarious. Goldberg left the ring by catapulting over the rope in seated senton form which I found interesting.
Match 83: WCW Monday Nitro, May 11, 1998 vs. Len Denton
Here’s a landmark match. Something I’ve been waiting for finally happens in this match. Goldberg pauses on the ramp and there’s a wide shot. The pyro hits all over the place and he…WALKS THROUGH IT! This is the first match that Goldberg walks through the pyro for. The funny thing is that the announcers didn’t say a word about it. Len Denton didn’t even get an entrance, he’s in the ring already. Goldberg hits him with a boot. Denton gets up and hits him with a jawbreaker that Goldberg shrugs off. I’m calling him Dale Denton. Dale Denton gets Thesz pressed and punched, picked up, whipped, speared, jackhammered, three-counted. One minute. Holds him up there a while. Announcers say 83-0.
Match 84: WCW Thunder, May 14, 1998 vs. Sick Boy
The whole Flock comes out for this. Tenay says that at the upcoming PPV, Goldberg is going to fight the entire Flock in a gauntlet match and the order will be determined by Raven. Not much of a pop but a crazy amount of pyro and he walks through it again. Which they avoid talking about or mentioning again. This is the longest I’ve heard his music go for. Bell rings. Sick Boy is in control. Crappy Goldberg chant emerges. Goldberg eventually catches him after Sick Boy attempts a back elbow and slams him. Then, he gorilla press slams him, walking under him, Warrior style. He hypes the crowd and then comes the most awkward spear I’ve seen Goldberg do so far. Jackhammer, three-count, Riggs sneaks in and gets taken care of. Everyone retreats.
Note: Four house show victories between the airings of the WCW Saturday Night tapings, all against Perry Saturn. Tenay gives the win total at the end of this match as 84-0. I guess between Hammer and Denton there were two, and between Denton and the next match, there were two. 86-0.
Match 87: WCW/nWo Spring Slamboree 1998, May 17, 1998 vs. Perry Saturn, US Title Match
Perry Saturn has shaved his head. The main chant hasn’t caught on yet. Long delay before Goldberg comes to the ring, big pop for his appearance. Tons of Goldberg signs. Schiavone has some good words:
“It’s quite a phenomenon how Bill Goldberg has captured the imagination and adoration of fans around the world. We never thought we’d see anything like this, and you never know who is going to be the man to fill the shoes to lead professional wrestling into the millennium. but Goldberg has done just that in a near record span.”
Pyro shoots right at him, traditional Goldberg entrance, the common pyro scheme is set at this point and so are the mannerisms. Interestingly enough, the chant is still the quick Gold, Berg, Gold, Berg. I can’t believe it’s taking this long. Match goes on, gorilla press into front powerslam is first big spot. The second gorilla press, he just drops him. Goldberg hits him with a back spin kick in the turnbuckle that looked cool. Martial arts Goldberg is my favorite Goldberg. This is the third time I’ve seen the Goldberg missing the lariat and hitting his arm on the steel post spot. But whatever, I like it. Saturn hits some spinning wheel kicks. Belly to belly, Goldberg fires himself up. Saturn’s swinging neckbreaker shuts it up. Goldberg gets out of a sleeper, and hits a botchy spinning neckbreaker. Saturn hits a Tazplex and goes to get a chair which is illegal. Step-up dropkick off the chair by Saturn. The crowd all stands up to look at an unknown something. Saturn tries it again and Goldberg hits the spear. Wild timing because the crowd is pre-occupied with whatever they saw. Jackhammer, pin. Mild pop because of the distraction in the crowd. Zybyszko says it’s his 88th victory. We’ll see about this. If it is, it has something to do with all the recent Saturn house show victories.
Match 89: WCW Monday Nitro, May 18. 1998 vs Glacier, US Title Match
Goldberg is officially 88-0, via the commentary team, who says the Lakers vs Jazz is coming up after the show. I wish WWE could build some more bridges between wrestling and sports. Goldberg comes out and his signature pyro hits that he walks through. It’s odd they haven’t mentioned how he stands in the fire yet. Still not breathing in the smoke. Still no security team. Glacier is in the ring, Glacier opens with a bunch of kicks. Most of them hit, but he’s countered with a vicious standing lariat. Goldberg catches a kick and turns it into a leg whip. He counters a punch with an over the shoulder throw. Glacier barely plants a kip-up and gets speared immediately. Crowd seems like they know what’s coming, Glacier is held up there a long time, partially with one arm, Goldberg wins, 89-0. Schiavone doesn’t remember one Goldberg win he hasn’t run away with. I’d say the two Saturn matches, the Meng match, and the Norton match weren’t 100% runaways, but they were close.
Match 90: WCW Monday Nitro, May 25, 1998 vs Johnny Attitude, US Title Match
Johnny Attitude imitates Goldberg in his entrance. He even shaves his head and does all his mannerisms. He doesn’t have any pyro. Imitation is flattery and what an honor it is. This is easily Attitude’s biggest match of his career. Attitude passed away in 2018. Goldberg’s music hits. Heenan says “THE MAN” four times and then says he’d take Goldberg over Godzilla. Goldberg’s pyro hits and Heenan says “HIT THE DECK”. Truly the greatest commentator who has ever lived. Goldberg literally spent 16 seconds in the pyro. I wanna know how that feels. He also spits something as he walks up the steps and I don’t know if it’s smoke or water. Attitude still mimics Goldberg. He tries to spear him, gets gorilla press dropped, some knees to the gut, and speared. Goldberg chant is still on the simple spectrum. Here comes the jackhammer. He walks him to the turnbuckle in the jackhammer and back to the middle of the ring.90th win. Heenan called it a running, flying jackhammer. Little bit of a stretch.
*Note 5/26, win over Perry Saturn at a house show
Match 92: WCW Thunder, May 27, 1998 vs Barry Horowitz, US Title Match
Enhancement talent spectacle Barry Horowitz pats himself on the back and comes out to the ring. Goldberg’s drum hits to an audible pop. The majority of signs for this show are for Goldberg. The signs say 91-0. They seem to all be aware that he won at a house show against Perry Saturn yesterday. Big pyro for Goldberg. You can see him breathe out the smoke but it’s not in a pronounced, deliberate way, Match starts at the opening bell, powerslam within a few seconds, spear a few seconds later, jackhammer. A very nice jackhammer. 92nd win. Heenan brings up Mark McGwire’s home run record paling in comparison and Schiavone says if you go back through all the wins only about ten guys got any offense in. I guess to an extent, that’s a fair assessment.
Match 94: WCW Monday Nitro, June 1, 1998 vs La Parka, US Title Match
Man, I love La Parka. However, more interesting things are afoot. As they return back from break, Schiavone explains that the fans have been chanting Goldberg in unison. Heenan says he’s never seen anything like it. I think today’s the day it finally happens, where the fans come together to chant Goldberg correctly. Back to La Parka, who comes out playing some air chair. And, yup. Here it is. Today’s the day. To be honest, the main reason I started this project. The Goldberg chant is the one piece of his legacy that stands the strongest today. Schiavone says: “You can’t pin him, you can’t blow him up, you can’t set him on fire” and I’m sure a lot of people believed that at the time. Huge Goldberg chants before the bell. Goldberg dares La Parka to hit him over the head with a chair, which he does, and Silverman rings the bell. to start the match. La Parka turns around and dances, turns around, gets speared, huge pop. Great jackhammer. They say 94-0, which means they either messed up or I skipped something. There was probably an earlier match that aired this week on Worldwide or Saturday Night. Advertisement for the Goldberg shirt after the match for 20 bucks. This is the Goldberg match you should show people when they ask what Goldberg was like.
Match 95: WCW Thunder, June 4, 1998 vs Hugh Morrus w/ Barbarian & Jimmy Hart, US Title
Morrus, Barbarian, and Hart come down the ramp. Odd combination. Mike Tenay confirms he’s at 94-0. They acknowledge the passing of Junkyard Dog. Heenan gives a “He’s Here” which later becomes a pretty signature phrase. Traditional Goldberg entrance, Schiavone says, “it’s actually like he’s breathing fire and the flames and smoke are shooting out of his nostrils” so there’s the first allusion to that. The crowd is chanting Goldberg wrong before the match. For some reason both Barbarian and Morrus attack Goldberg as the bell rings and Mickey Jay does nothing about it. Jimmy Hart tries to get involved. He goes to the top turnbuckle, gets thrown off by Goldberg, caught by both Morrus and Barbarian and speared down. Odd segment, but an official title match victory versus Hugh Morrus as he hits the jackhammer on Barbarian and Morrus, and pins Morrus. 95-0. Schiavone asks if it should be 96 because it was two guys. Don’t you dare test me, Schiavone.
Note: June 5th, 6th, and 7th had three house show victories over Perry Saturn. Real record is 98-0, let’s see what Tenay says.
Match 99: WCW Monday Nitro, June 8, 1998 vs Chavo Guerrero
The segment opens with a black and white trailer of Goldberg’s success featuring the good Goldberg chant and when it ends, the crowd chants it with the famous intonation. Chavo is working some sort of gimmick that he’s sad and whiny. Goldberg catches a running Chavo as the bell sounds. Chavo gets a fallaway slam that Tenay calls a rollaway slam. Then he gets a gorilla press. This format must be what people remember, the whole five moves a match. Eddie is standing at the ramp and laughing. He must have set this match up for Chavo as a rib. Spear, jackhammer, 99 wins for Goldberg.
Match 100: WCW Great American Bash, June 14, 1998 vs Konnan w/ Rick Rude, Curt Hennig
Fun fact, this isn’t Goldberg’s 100th victory. In between the 8th and 14th, Goldberg has matches on the 9th, 11th, 12th and two on the 13th. In wrestling lore, this Goldberg victory vs Konnan is his 100th victory. However, a WCW Saturday Night taping that never aired, taped June 9th, which was a US Title defense vs. Raven was Goldberg’s 100th victory. This match was followed by a Thunder dark match vs Konnan, two days later, a house show victory vs Konnan on the 12th, and two title defenses vs both Konnan and STING on a house show on the 13th. Therefore this match is really win 105, but they obviously want this as the 100th win. So, here we go. Konnan, Rude, and Hennig come out to Wolfpac music, which has become the next hottest thing at the time. Goldberg 100 signs in the crowd as commentary touts the possibility of going 100-0. Big pop for Goldberg’s appearance, thunderous Goldberg chant, pyro shoots at the man we all call “DA MAN”, mannerisms, uppercuts, and blowing out the smoke. Konnan was given this match by Hennig because Hennig says he’s hurt. Petty back and forth until Goldberg hits Konnan with a standstill spear. He then goes straight for the jackhammer. Couldn’t have been longer than three minutes. Commentary touts 100 wins in a row. After the match, Hennig and Rude turn on Konnan. Out comes Luger and Nash in Wolfpac gear for the save. Hennig had a black and white shirt underneath. A nice landmark moment to Stage 2 heel two of the greats.
Here we are, twenty pages later, Goldberg has 100 victories in lore. Use this Goldberg report as a point of reference to find the stage of Goldberg that you miss the most. In a month from now, Goldberg has the biggest match of his career, and I’ll be doing more with this when he has his next match. Thanks for reading. I did this because I knew someone would appreciate it. Enjoy Goldberg vs Undertaker.
Ballers and Brawlers 