Goldberg Talks About Ideal Opponent, Brock Lesnar Match, Why He Never Clicked With WWE, Donald Trump
Former WCW Champion Goldberg appeared on Ring Rust Radio this week to talk about his time in WWE, his acting roles, and much more. You can check out highlights below, and the full podcast at this link.
You are staring in the upcoming film Check Point. You play TJ, a major character who requires you to bring both acting skill and fighting skill. Tell the fans what they can expect from your character and the movie as a whole?
The movie as a whole is in modern times, end of days, the possibility of home grown insurgence this day and age of terrorism. It's about never letting our guard down cause it could happen on U.S. soil and in our own back yard. My character is a hand-to-hand combat veteran with a couple of tours now finds himself as a delivery man in a small town in North Carolina. Among the other civilians in town, there are a plethora of veterans strewn throughout. Ranging from the Vietnam War to the Afghanistan War with all sorts of different types of specialties. At the end of the day, they find out the terror cell is in their own back yard and they band together in a rag-tag team of veterans that try to take them down.
Earlier this year, you had the chance to step into the ring for another spear and jackhammer at Citi Field. How did hitting your moves feel after so long away from the ring and did it give you the itch to consider another run as a competitor?
The itch will always be there because I am always a competitor and my wife and son have never seen me wrestle. Let me be clear though, that itch won't supersede my ability to be a businessman. The itch is always there, it's there three times a week when I walk into my Muay Thai gym and put the gloves and shin pads on. It was a very special circumstance at Citi Field and ironically now the Mets are in the World Series. It was something I chose to do and thought was appropriate at the time. It was not me coming out of retirement by any means. I am a part owner of Legends of Wrestling so if I want to go out there and pick and choose my spot to do something interesting, then that's what I do with no motives behind it. I am a competitor and always have that itch until the day I die, but I won't let the itch supersede being a businessman.
If you could choose your ideal opponent for a final match, who would it be and why?
It would be Austin for sure. Brock would be a good one since we have unfinished business. At the end of the day that everyone clamors for, and I even clamor for, would be Austin and me. There will always be a question mark there unless we were to do something one on one. It's kind of a match made in heaven.
Brock Lesnar is the biggest draw in WWE today, and you had the opportunity to lock horns with him in a dream match at WrestleMania 20, but it wasn't necessarily received as well as expected by the live crowd since they knew both you and Brock were leaving WWE afterward. How do you view that match looking back? Were you happy with it? Is there anything you would've changed?
No, I mean you play the cards you are dealt. At the end of the day, we were up against an impossible task to entertain a group of people that 100 percent know you are both leaving after that match. Utter distain is what we received from the fans. Would I change anything about? Yeah, I would change everything about it. At the end of the day, if you take it for what it was, it was an interesting match. The overtone was so skewed, it was just such a weird situation and insurmountable task. Would I change anything? Yes. Would I change everything? Yes.
Mike mentioned the negative crowd reaction from WrestleMania XX and crowds of recent years have become very hostile and can throw out some pretty harsh chants. As a performer, what is typically the reaction to the crowd, do you just take it in stride or do you find it disrespectful?
It's a totally different crowd these days. I can't speak to it since I don't have much experience with them. Coming out at Citi Field and doing my thing and certain appearances, I interact with them. It's a total different information age with the crowd out there now. It seems as if they kind of dictate things, but at the end of the day you go out and do your job and follow your directions.
You've said in previous interviews that you never truly felt welcomed in WWE and never felt like you were "one of them" after making the leap from WCW. In your opinion, why did you and WWE never truly click? Why wasn't the relationship as fruitful as it could have been?
Because I was a football player and competitor in life and those were a bunch of fraternity boys.
You appeared on Celebrity Apprentice in 2010, which is a show I'm a big fan of. What are your thoughts of Donald Trump running for president and if he won, do you think he would make a good president?
I think if he won, I would move to Canada. I think he would be a horrible President. At the end of the day, when you are in the front office, your tenure is dictated by the people surrounding you. To think that Donald Trump could have his finger over the big red button is absolutely terrifying.