These Goldberg Matches Were Actually Pretty Good, But Wrestling Fans Won’t Admit It
By Tomas Cunha on 21 July 2025
On July 12, at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, Goldberg competed in his retirement match when he unsuccessfully challenged Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg might be “pissed” about a lot of things from his final WWE match, as we found out in his recent interview with Ariel Helwani:
But if there’s one thing that Da Man should be proud of is the actual match itself. I mean, the action wasn’t bad at all from bell to bell, especially considering some of the other terrible matches that Goldberg had during his second wrestling run (2016-2025).
During that time, Goldberg developed a bad reputation as an awful in-ring worker, someone who’s always been incapable of delivering the goods under any circumstances. But, as I always ask, can one become that successful without having any kind of skill? We can credit every single opponent Goldberg’s had in his career, but it does take two to tango after all… or is it just in some convenient cases!?
Now, with this, I’m not saying Bill Goldberg is the greatest wrestler of all time. He’s not even close. But Goldberg has had good matches over the years, both in WCW and WWE. In this article – written by a massive Bret Hart fan, believe it or not(!) – we’ll be covering a number of Goldberg matches that were actually good… at least for his standards!
| Company | Run | Accomplishments |
|---|---|---|
| WCW | 1997-2001 |
|
| WWE |
|
|
Note: singles matches only; short squashes won’t be included (not even great glorified squashes such as Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2016 or Goldberg vs Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam 2019)
Goldberg Vs. Saturn (WCW Spring Stampede 1998)
When he debuted in WCW, Goldberg became popular thanks to his explosive two-minute squashes. At Spring Stampede 1998, Goldberg finally found himself in unfamiliar territory: a match that didn’t end in two minutes! It was the first time fans really saw Goldberg actually working an actual match, and he faced off against Perry Saturn, one of WCW’s most underappreciated wrestlers.
Saturn did just enough to get some offense and look like a somewhat credible opponent without exposing Goldberg or killing his mystique that early into his career. The result was a pretty good matchup, even if it wasn’t a classic by any means. Still, this was the first sign that the hype around Goldberg wasn’t entirely smoke and mirrors, and that this feud with Raven and his Raven’s Flock members would take Goldberg to the next level. For someone as green as he was at the time, this match aged surprisingly well.
Goldberg Vs. Raven – Raven’s Rules, WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (WCW Nitro, April 20, 1998)
- Cagematch Rating: 6.89
- Scott Keith’s Rating: N/R
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: N/R
Goldberg’s streak had been fun up until April 1998, but the night he ran through Raven and The Flock to win the United States Title was nothing short of electric. This isn’t on the list because it was a wrestling clinic… it was chaos, and that’s exactly what made it work. Under Raven’s Rules, anything went, and Goldberg used that stipulation to run over everyone who stood in front of him. The crowd ate it up, and honestly? So did I.
This was Goldberg’s first championship win, and WCW deserves all the credit for making it such a huge moment. Raven tried to escape through the crowd, The Flock interfered and did everything they could to stop Goldberg, and yet none of it mattered. When Goldberg finally got his hands on Raven, the match was over and we had an undefeated WCW United States Heavyweight Champion.
Goldberg Vs. Hollywood Hogan – WCW World Heavyweight Championship (WCW Nitro, July 6, 1998)
- Cagematch Rating: 6.66
- Scott Keith’s Rating: N/R
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: N/R
This was less of a five-star classic and more of a moment, but Goldberg vs Hollywood Hogan on Nitro is one of those rare matches where the atmosphere alone makes it a great viewing experience. Over 40,000 fans packed the Georgia Dome, and when Goldberg nailed that Spear/Jackhammer combo, the roof nearly blew off. Sure, the match itself was extremely basic – Hogan did his usual heel stalling, Goldberg made the comeback leading up to nWo’s interference, Goldberg made the big comeback and won the title – but it didn’t matter.
Goldberg played the underdog well in front of his hometown crowd, sold Hogan’s attacks, fought through the usual nWo shenanigans and earned the win to become the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. For someone less than a year into his career, that’s impressive. And yes, it should’ve taken place on a big pay-per-view instead of an ordinary episode of WCW Monday Nitro, but that’s a topic for another article!
Goldberg Vs. DDP – WCW World Heavyweight Championship (WCW Halloween Havoc 1998)
If there’s one Goldberg match that fans actually are willing to admit was good, it’s this one. At Halloween Havoc 1998, Diamond Dallas Page pushed Goldberg harder than anyone had to that point. For once, Goldberg wasn’t just bulldozing through someone. They had a true back-and-forth match, with some hot nearfalls and actual drama. The crowd being white-hot and fully into both guys surely helped.
SCOTT KEITH REVIEWS: WCW Halloween Havoc 1998
The best part? That Diamond Cutter out of nowhere that made the entire audience gasp. For a split second, it looked like Goldberg’s streak was actually about to end, and that tension made the final stretch electric. Goldberg kicked out and would eventually hit a Jackhammer to retain the WCW Title. This was one of the best matches of Goldberg’s career and one of WCW’s best main events in 1998, even if many people missed it due to the infamous PPV overrun.
Goldberg Vs. DDP – WCW World Heavyweight Championship (WCW Nitro, April 19, 1999)
Speaking of Goldberg vs DDP, everyone remembers their aforementioned battle in the main event of Halloween Havoc 1998, but their rematch on the April 19, 1999 episode of Monday Nitro was another pretty good matchup. By this point, Page was starting to lean heel, and he played the role to perfection, working the leg and even trying to break Goldberg’s ankle with a steel chair! It wasn’t the clean babyface vs babyface showdown we saw months earlier, but it was just as compelling in a completely different way.
This match also gave us a rare sight: Goldberg in real trouble, selling for an extended stretch while DDP destroyed him. The finish (a no-contest after Kevin Nash ran in) was classic WCW nonsense, but up until then, the action was exciting. It’s a shame this one gets lost in the shuffle, because it showed that Goldberg could thrive without simply destroying an opponent from pillar to post.
Goldberg Vs. Scott Steiner – No DQ Match (WCW Fall Brawl 2000)
As everyone knows, 2000 was a horrible year for WCW in every way. But somehow, in the middle of all the creative and business chaos, Goldberg and Scott Steiner went out there and put on a genuinely awesome hoss fight at Fall Brawl. This No DQ match is one of Goldberg’s most brutal performances, with both men beating the absolute hell out of each other for nearly 14 minutes.
SCOTT KEITH REVIEWS: WCW Fall Brawl 2000
Sure, the interference from Vince Russo and Midajah was your typical WCW 2000 mess, but it didn’t take away from the violent, hard-hitting war that Goldberg and Steiner had. Goldberg fought out of the Steiner Recliner twice, got wrecked with pipes and bats, and still kept coming back for more. However, a Russo distraction allowed Steiner to knock him out with the pipe, and a third Recliner finally got the job done.
Goldberg Vs. Christian – Steel Cage Match (WWE Raw, May 12, 2003)
- Cagematch Rating: 6.35
- Scott Keith’s Rating: N/R
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: N/R
Goldberg’s first WWE run (2003-2004) is still talked about today for all the wrong reasons. Whether it was the controversial loss to Triple H in the end of SummerSlam 2003’s Elimination Chamber Match for the World Heavyweight Championship, or the infamously bad WrestleMania 20 clash with Brock Lesnar, it’s easy to forget that Goldberg had any good matches during that time. But he actually did. An example of that is a steel cage match with Christian on the May 12, 2003 episode of Monday Night Raw.
Christian was perfect in his role: a smug, cowardly heel who did his best to avoid Goldberg. The cage gimmick added just enough tension, as it wouldn’t have been totally impossible for Christian to pull off an escape win after Chris Jericho interfered, for example. To Goldberg’s credit, he let the match breathe, sold a bit, and then destroyed Christian in style. They had good chemistry (Christian took those Spears beautifully) and Goldberg’s win actually got a pop from WWE fans in the end!
Goldberg Vs. Chris Jericho (WWE Bad Blood 2003)
Fans love to dunk on Goldberg for his lack of in-ring technique (rightfully so!), but at Bad Blood 2003, he proved he could hang in a smartly worked match with someone like Chris Jericho when the story had real heat behind it. This was the showdown that never happened in WCW, and while it came years too late, it still delivered. Jericho played his heel role to perfection, targeting Goldberg’s injured shoulder and nearly stealing the win at different points.
What makes this match stand out is that Goldberg actually sold… and sold well! After crashing shoulder-first through the barricade on a missed Spear, he spent the rest of the match fighting from underneath, something we rarely saw from him. When Goldberg finally hit the Spear inside the ring, he couldn’t capitalize because the move damaged his own injured shoulder. That made the final sequence more dramatic. In my opinion, this was Goldberg’s best match during his first WWE run.
Goldberg Vs. Brock Lesnar – WWE Universal Championship (WWE WrestleMania 33)
After their trainwreck at WrestleMania 20, no one expected Goldberg and Brock Lesnar to ever redeem that disaster, even after the shockingly awesome squash at Survivor Series 2016. But they actually had a really good bout at WrestleMania 33. Their Universal Title clash was only five minutes long, but that’s why it worked: no filler, no stalling, just two heavyweights spamming finishers like it was the final boss fight of a video game.
SCOTT KEITH REVIEWS: WWE WrestleMania 33
Spears, Jackhammers, Suplexes, F5s… every move meant something, and the crowd was into it the whole time. That said, let’s be honest: this feud didn’t need to take the Universal Championship away from Kevin Owens vs Chris Jericho. But when you take that away and see Goldberg vs Lesnar in a vacuum, it played to Goldberg’s strengths instead of exposing his weaknesses. And the two men more than made up for their previous ‘Mania sh-tfest. Admit it… this ruled!
Thanks for reading. Have fun in the comment section!