The Goldberg WCW Heel Turn

[The Rick Jericho]

22 years ago today, Bill Goldberg, turned heel.

We know who was behind this. The question is, was there potential here?

He had a fresh slate of opponents as a heel than a face.

Booker T even pinned him CLEAN when he was a heel, so he was putting people over.

So did Goldberg turn face too soon after building some momentum as a heel?

[CMWaters]

Besides Booker beating him, all I remember of him as a heel was eating Scott Hall's WCW contract.

[Starshine]

Jun 11, 2022 17:35:22 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Besides Booker beating him, all I remember of him as a heel was eating Scott Hall's WCW contract.

He also infamously “refused” to go up for Nash’s powerbomb leaving him and Scott ‘The Pro’s Pro’ Steiner “improvising” the finish of the match.

[Jindrak Mark]

I remember them openly describing Goldberg's heel turn on TV as "so big that even Vince McMahon himself couldn't stop it from happening" or something like that and it was like okay, weird flex.

On paper a Goldberg heel turn could’ve work sometime down the line. Big scary dude killing people until you build someone up to take him down. The problem was Goldberg had absolutely no desire to be the bad guy. After money, his only passion for wrestling lay in being a hero to kids. You could tell he despised Russo and hated having to go along with it and they scrapped it after a month or two.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

The online chatter at the time was who was going to be the first to turn heel: Austin or Goldberg? The thought was that Hogan’s turn was so huge that either one would be the next blockbuster storyline in wrestling. So Russo and/or Bischoff thought, “Hah, we can totally get ahead of this and stick it to the WWF, so when Austin turns, everyone will say they’re ripping us off!”

Well, Goldberg turning wasn’t the next big storyline in wrestling. WCW died 10 months later. Austin turned heel six days after that, and that ended up severely hurting what should have been the next big thing: the Invasion. Nobody won from this decision making.

[Allie Kitsune]

Jun 11, 2022 17:35:22 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Besides Booker beating him, all I remember of him as a heel was eating Scott Hall's WCW contract.

Scott Hall's status as a bizarre offscreen running gag is one of the most "Why is WCW doing this?" things ever.

I mean, I get it, it's because Nash had the book, but...

[ppl591]

Jun 11, 2022 17:57:16 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

I remember them openly describing Goldberg's heel turn on TV as "so big that even Vince McMahon himself couldn't stop it from happening" or something like that and it was like okay, weird flex.

I have always wondered if there was something that fell through and they pivoted to the heel turn

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Jun 11, 2022 17:35:22 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Besides Booker beating him, all I remember of him as a heel was eating Scott Hall's WCW contract.

And Goldberg actually beat Booker earlier in the show by corner stoppage where he somehow didn't win the world title. It was one of those situations where he ultimately did the job to Booker but the dude got very little out of it.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Jun 11, 2022 17:33:14 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

22 years ago today, Bill Goldberg, turned heel.

We know who was behind this. The question is, was there potential here?

At that point in time? Nope.

WCW was falling massively behind WWF, he hadn't held the World Title since 1998, and fans were pumped for Goldberg's return. The main event face side outside of Booker was weak, Sting was stuck doing a whole lot of nothing, and DDP moved to the tag scene. WCW needed Goldberg as a face.

[Jindrak Mark]

Here’s a challenge: name as many WCW wrestlers as you can who went through 1999-2000 without turning heel/face. That shouldn’t be too much to ask. It’s only 2 years so you’d think there would be a decent amount. If you look at the WWE/AEW/NJPW rosters in the past 2 years for comparison sake there are plenty of people whose alignment hasn't changed. WCW during that time though turned almost everyone, many of them multiple times and for no good reason. They even turned REY MYSTERIO.

[Starshine]

Jun 11, 2022 21:57:46 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Here’s a challenge: name as many WCW wrestlers as you can who went through 1999-2000 without turning heel/face. That shouldn’t be too much to ask. It’s only 2 years so you’d think there would be a decent amount. If you look at the WWE/AEW/NJPW rosters in the past 2 years for comparison sake there are plenty of people whose alignment hasn't changed. WCW during that time though turned almost everyone, many of them multiple times and for no good reason. They even turned REY MYSTERIO.

...I can think of Jarrett.

Also Booker T maybe? Though he was in the New Blood, he was still kind of presented as a babyface to the point that IIRC he was kicked out of the group and reverted back to G.I. Bro for like a minute.

Besides those two, and some of the Natural Born Thrillers, there's no one else I can really think of.

[thegame415]

To me, this is the final nail in the coffin for WCW. The one guy fans were dying to see comeback, and you turn him heel. Stupid.

[tirtefaa]

Jun 11, 2022 18:50:17 GMT -5 Cry Me a Wiggle said:

The online chatter at the time was who was going to be the first to turn heel: Austin or Goldberg? The thought was that Hogan’s turn was so huge that either one would be the next blockbuster storyline in wrestling. So Russo and/or Bischoff thought, “Hah, we can totally get ahead of this and stick it to the WWF, so when Austin turns, everyone will say they’re ripping us off!”

Well, Goldberg turning wasn’t the next big storyline in wrestling. WCW died 10 months later. Austin turned heel six days after that, and that ended up severely hurting what should have been the next big thing: the Invasion. Nobody won from this decision making.

They clearly made a large mistake by turning Goldberg. However, I get the thinking, considering they turned Hogan heel at a time when people thought Hogan was over the hill, and I'm guessing that they felt that they didn't know what else to do with Goldberg or they were panicking over losing viewers, they figured this might get interest back. Clearly it didn't work and it serves as an example of what to never do in a situation where you are desperate....but at the same time, I kind of get why.

At the same time though? The Austin heel turn was complete ego. Vince and company felt they could do whatever and the viewers would continue to watch, no matter what. Well, they should have seen the writing on the wall immediately considering your two top faces are now a heel and the other is gone, the decision to not turn Triple H immediately, making Undertaker the de facto number one face...at a time when he was probably at his most polarizing in terms of match quality. When you're at the absolute top of the mountain, that is not the time to book by the seat of your pants.

So while Stone Cold turning heel was more memorable and more entertaining, there's less sense in how it went about.

[Pipe_Bomb2k13]

Jun 11, 2022 17:35:22 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Besides Booker beating him, all I remember of him as a heel was eating Scott Hall's WCW contract.

There was a match with Duggan where they built it up as Duggan's comeback from cancer and in the end Goldberg kept repeatily punching in the kidneys after the bell, I saw it on Youtube a while ago no idea if it's still on there.

[nakedmideon]

What was the feeling of from wcw fans at the time of the turn?

[Mozenrath]

I loved the suggestion that even Vince couldn't stop this development. I'm sure it broke his heart that they'd turn one of their top faces, if not their top face period, heel.

[XaviersSS2015hair]

I didn't know anything about this until one of those WWE documentaries that came out years after the fact. I like most fans had stopped watching WCW years before this happened, (serious question, when did this happen?) I don't remember anybody I knew that still watched WCW even mentioning that Goldberg turned heel so it seems the wrestling world viewed this with a massive shoulder shrug. Another Nitro, another random heel turn. Because BRO! Sting, Rey, Goldberg, turn them all heel bro!!! That'll get the fans back bro!!!
How did Goldberg switch back to face?

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Jun 11, 2022 19:48:24 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Jun 11, 2022 17:35:22 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Besides Booker beating him, all I remember of him as a heel was eating Scott Hall's WCW contract.

Scott Hall's status as a bizarre offscreen running gag is one of the most "Why is WCW doing this?" things ever.

I mean, I get it, it's because Nash had the book, but...

What were they doing with Hall? When did Hall finish with WCW? Was there some type of send-off or he was just gone one week and WCW continued to make random references to him?

[Ryushinku]

Hall's final WCW appearances were in February 2000, a few months before this. He got injured/got 'injured' at the Souled Out PPV and that was it.
Them referencing him a few times after definitely feels like a Nash influence, and the inmates really running the asylum by then.

Jun 11, 2022 17:35:22 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Besides Booker beating him, all I remember of him as a heel was eating Scott Hall's WCW contract.

The thing I like best about that is that it was a total ad-lib by Goldberg.

Which lead to the contract appearing magically intact and fine when the match for it came around.

[cjh]

Jun 12, 2022 4:18:22 GMT -5 XaviersSS2015hair said:

Jun 11, 2022 19:48:24 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Scott Hall's status as a bizarre offscreen running gag is one of the most "Why is WCW doing this?" things ever.

I mean, I get it, it's because Nash had the book, but...

What were they doing with Hall? When did Hall finish with WCW? Was there some type of send-off or he was just gone one week and WCW continued to make random references to him?

WCW didn't use Hall again after SuperBrawl in February 2000.  There was a Nash/Goldberg match at Bash at the Beach in July where if Goldberg won, which he did, Hall would be "fired."  WCW fired for him for real in October.