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Post by BJ Sturgeon on Dec 24, 2011 23:59:04 GMT -5
Depends on how you define a legend. If lonevity is a factor then certainly not. But he was obviously huge for a certain amount of time and people remember him (fondly or otherwise) to this day.
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Post by lildude8218 on Dec 25, 2011 0:59:45 GMT -5
he's the Midth
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Dave at the Movies
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Post by Dave at the Movies on Dec 25, 2011 5:00:07 GMT -5
He was the Warrior of his generation and even than Warrior accomplished more and is more recognizable to this day than Goldberg. Warrior may have had the better gimmick but at least Goldberg was well liked by others and didn't try to hold up a company for money like a douche. I also think Goldberg is a very underrated wrestler. The guy could do a freakiing backflip.
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Dec 25, 2011 12:55:41 GMT -5
he's like Lex Luger with more world titles. was big in his day but completely forgettable.
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Post by Feyrhausen on Dec 25, 2011 13:06:05 GMT -5
he's like Lex Luger with more world titles. was big in his day but completely forgettable. If you count the WWA World Championship then Luger has one more world title than Goldberg (Luger 2 WCW and 1 WWA, Goldberg 1 WCW 1 WWE WHC).
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Post by chunkylover53 on Dec 25, 2011 13:08:44 GMT -5
Revisionist History aside, few were ever as over as he was. Completely agree. John Cena has nothing on Goldberg(or Ultimate Warrior) when compared to peak in popularity. You can also add to the fact that when Goldberg came onto the scene, WCW was beating WWF in the ratings, or at the very least, were competitive against them.
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Post by hughgrection on Dec 25, 2011 14:29:43 GMT -5
No, but he ended the career of one. I was kind of shocked when I first when on wrestling message boards and saw all the praise this guy got from the "IWC". He wasn't a good worker and was pretty terrible on the mic. I got bored of his 10 second squash matches and spitting after the second week. I know the crowd loved him but I never got it.
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Post by repomanfan on Dec 25, 2011 14:45:27 GMT -5
He was the Warrior of his generation and even than Warrior accomplished more and is more recognizable to this day than Goldberg. Warrior may have had the better gimmick but at least Goldberg was well liked by others and didn't try to hold up a company for money like a douche. I also think Goldberg is a very underrated wrestler. The guy could do a freakiing backflip. He could also injure guys. I can do a back flip to. Does that make me a good wrestler? Like I said nothing against Goldberg. I haven't seen anyone as over as him, since Warrior in his prime, but a legend he is not. If Goldberg is a legend, than what does that make Warrior; the greatest wrestler ever?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2011 16:08:08 GMT -5
To elaborate a bit on what I had said prior, I remember Goldberg for one primary thing: Squash matches. The analogy I would use is, he's the wrestling equivalent of a pop star that had one hit album. Granted, that's a single step higher in prestige than being a one-hit wonder, but not by much. Vanilla Ice had a hit album in "To the Extreme". "Ice Ice Baby" was the breakthrough hit, but "Play That Funky Music" and "I Love You" were also hits off of that album. Later, he would release other albums, but none of them were as successful as "To the Extreme".
Goldberg had his streak, and that will always be the thing he's most remembered for. "The Streak" was his "Ice Ice Baby". And yeah, he was around for a bit after the streak was(rather foolishly)ended, and fans still cared, but there was really no chance of him maintaining his(rather sizeable)momentum idefinitely. Then, a couple of years later, he resurfaces in WWE. And you can blame whatever you want: The bit with Goldust's wig, a deliberate attempt to bury him by Vince and/or HHH, a creative staff that didn't know how to use him. Whatever. Regardless, he wasn't the runaway train of overness that he was during "The Streak" in WCW. He was incredibly over for a relatively short period of time. That period of time happens to be a period of time that the wrestling industry was incredibly sucessful, and incredibly visible in mainstream culture. A period that will go down, to many, as one of the(if not THE)golden era(s) of wrestling. And Goldberg's "Who's Next?" streak was a highly sucessful angle for that era. But to me, at least, that does not a legend make.
In my mind he was a guy that got over on a good look, and(oddly for that era in WCW)good booking. He did some squash matches, ended Bret Hart's career, disappeared, came back, had a mediocre run on Raw, took part in one of the worst Wrestlemania matches ever, and disappeared again.
Lou Thesz is a Legend. Bruno Sammartino is a legend. Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan are legends. Goldberg, to me, is a pop star with one hit album.
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Post by baronmordo on Dec 25, 2011 20:52:56 GMT -5
Nice summation, britishin'. I agree. Absolutely not a legend.
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sfvega
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Post by sfvega on Dec 25, 2011 23:01:54 GMT -5
A major reason Goldberg was as over as he was was because he was a local boy from Atlanta who wrestled in front of a mostly Southern audience. People claim his WWE run was poorly handled, but I think it was more a case of his lack of overness was exposed once he started wrestling in front of audiences outside his regular fanbase. I don't think that's even close to true. Unless your idea of his "regular fanbase" was WCW. This is brought up for Goldberg packing the Georgia Dome, and with good reason. Atlanta and Georgia as a whole loved the guy. But people in southern states are hardly going to root for a guy just because he played near there. And if you think fans of Bama, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, and Florida are going to pop for the guy BECAUSE he was a good player for Georgia, I really gotta question your logic. SEC fans are pretty rabid, which is why he was over in Georgia in the first place. But by your logic, Ron Simmons should have been HUGE on the East Coast, because he was a 10x better player for FSU. Not to mention that, like another poster mentioned, Goldberg was huge outside of the South. And plenty of the other WCW guys lost steam in WWE. It's pretty well documented at this point. DDP, for instance, was ridiculously more over in his WCW prime than he ever came close to being in WWE. But yeah, he's not a legend. He was hugely over for a relatively short amount of time. He's still remembered by a decent number of fans because he reached such heights at the peak of pro wrestling popularity. But that doesn't make him a wrestling legend. Certainly historically noteworthy, but let's not go overboard.
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Post by Hit Girl on Dec 25, 2011 23:07:08 GMT -5
A major star, but not a legend. I would apply that term only for a select few. Hogan, Flair, Austin, Rock etc....
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hughmorris
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Post by hughmorris on Dec 26, 2011 0:12:59 GMT -5
Not a legend.
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Madagascar Fred
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Post by Madagascar Fred on Dec 26, 2011 5:26:57 GMT -5
Goldberg was a fad. He was money for a few years but after that his limitations became obvious and he couldn't sustain himself. It also didn't help that WCW didn't have any real plans for him after the streak gimmick ran it's course. he wasn't $ even for 1 year in WCW - he became hot in early 1998, sold tickets until approx. the Fingerpoke of Doom, after that he was just another guy that didn't sell tickets (Death Of WCW book was absolutely on point here)!
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Madagascar Fred
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Post by Madagascar Fred on Dec 26, 2011 5:30:33 GMT -5
A major reason Goldberg was as over as he was was because he was a local boy from Atlanta who wrestled in front of a mostly Southern audience. People claim his WWE run was poorly handled, but I think it was more a case of his lack of overness was exposed once he started wrestling in front of audiences outside his regular fanbase. I saw him wrestle in central Pennsylvania in 1999. At least 2/3 of the building left after his match, indicating they were only at the show to see Goldberg. He was over everywhere. maybe people weren't exactly hot for the Stevie Ray vs. Scott Norton main event?
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Post by lemonyellowson on Dec 27, 2011 19:23:26 GMT -5
naa. but there are very few true legends. wwe hall of fame does not a legend make.
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Squirrel Master
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Post by Squirrel Master on Dec 27, 2011 19:35:15 GMT -5
I think the naysayers are forgetting that Goldberg could get the pin on ANYONE.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Dec 27, 2011 19:44:20 GMT -5
About as much a legend as Lex Luger and Edge. I consider him one, but he's sort of on the outside of it.
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DragonMasterP
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Post by DragonMasterP on Dec 28, 2011 9:36:24 GMT -5
No, not really.
A big deal for a while, but nothing special.
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BHB
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Post by BHB on Dec 28, 2011 11:54:53 GMT -5
He's one of the most memorable WCW wrestlers, and one of the most over wrestlers of all time. Yes, he's definately a legend IMO.
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