Goldberg Describes Meeting With WWE Before Signing With WCW
There are few names as synonymous with World Championship Wrestling as Goldberg, but the WWE Hall of Famer almost began his career with the competition.
"I flew up to WWE and I met with them first," Goldberg told the "RomanAtwoodPodcast" recently. "Jim Ross, who was a commentator, who was also living in Tulsa, Oklahoma when I was growing up and he covered me in High School Football. He worked for WWE and I picked up the phone and called him and said 'Please, just get me an introduction.' I went up and it was completely foreign to me.
"I lived in Atlanta," Goldberg continued, "where WCW was and it was based and all those guys I knew." Goldberg describes WWE as "the big 800 lbs. gorilla." Noting that he flew to Stamford, Connecticut without an agent to meet with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon. "'Oh no, Mr. McMahon hates agents,'" JR told Goldberg. "So I immediately thought 'Ok, I gotta get one, right now.' So I go in there and I meet with [Vince] and Jim Ross, and they offer me a training deal, and I flew back to Atlanta and I called the owner or the President of WCW." It was Eric Bischoff.
'I'm not gonna be one of those $500 throw-around-the-ring punks'
Goldberg says that he had a pre-existing relationship with Bischoff. "Our paths had crossed, I'm not gonna tell you how, but we had seen each other a number of times in a number places." Goldberg essentially pleads the 5th amendment about where he met Bischoff, citing the "statute of limitations" and the fact that the establishment is closed down now, "but I called him and said 'Listen, here's the deal. I want to do this wrestling gig. I'm not gonna be one of those $500 throw-around-the-ring punks, I'm gonna make a difference in this business. And that's just the confidence that I had."
Goldberg went on to train in the WCW Power Plant, and go on to being a WCW World Heavyweight Champion, accumulating an impressive win streak in the process. Goldberg and WWE's paths eventually crossed. Goldberg wrestled for WWE throughout the 21st century, going on to be a multi-time WWE Universal Champion and WWE World Heavyweight Champion.