My new column on Upgruv.com looks at Goldberg returning tonight on RAW. Here’s an excerpt:
Goldberg returns to WWE tonight on Monday Night RAW for the first time in over 12 years. He’s the only talent left from his era who needed his final return and closure.
It’s the era when WWE and WCW were at the height of pop culture popularity and their television ratings war. When WWE bought WCW, we got all the WCW names either returning back to Vince McMahon or finally working for him.
The only one we never got was Sting. It would take until 2014 for that to finally happen. Of course since then, Sting has gone on and done the entire legends tour complete with WrestleMania match, Hall of Fame and DVD documentary.
Goldberg was the last name to pull out for the big surprise return. He was a name who jumped over to WWE after they acquired WCW. He might have been the biggest name especially considering he was the top star for WCW for a time and he had never worked for WWE, unlike Hogan, Flair, Hall, Nash and so many others.
But in being the biggest name, he was the biggest disappointment.
Goldberg’s 12 month run in WWE from March 2003 to March 2004 was bad. Did I say bad? I meant to say sucked.
His first appearance was exciting and memorable for all the right reasons.
After that, it all went trickled down like piss in a urinal being flushed. His final appearance was exciting and memorable for all the wrong reasons.
It was the biggest disaster from a marquee WrestleMania match from a PR standpoint. You had two guys in the ring who hated the company at the time, could care less about the fans and the fans knew it (as they made very clear after the match to both participants). The only guy anybody liked who was in the ring was the special referee played by Stone Cold Steve Austin. And the irony there is Austin never got to fight Goldberg or Lesnar, so he’s the ref but everyone wants him to be part of the match.
CLICK HERE for what that bad final match in 2004 means for this upcoming run AND how I think the fans will treat him.
