106 Facts About Bill Goldberg

1.

Bill Goldberg is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and WWE.

2.

One of the most popular figures of the professional wrestling boom during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bill Goldberg is widely regarded as one of the most intense wrestlers of all time.

3.

Bill Goldberg is credited with inventing the spear signature move in wrestling, which he popularized, and for which he gained a reputation for being the best at executing the move.

4.

Bill Goldberg rose to fame in WCW with a lengthy undefeated streak in singles competition from 1997 to 1998, became the highest paid WCW wrestler, and led the company as its franchise player and public face until it was sold to WWE.

5.

Bill Goldberg has headlined multiple WCW and WWE pay-per-view events, including WCW's premier annual event Starrcade.

6.

Bill Goldberg headlined the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018 and is a five-time world champion in his career between WWE and WCW, with WWE counting his world title win at the 1999 Halloween Havoc.

7.

Bill Goldberg is the only wrestler to have won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, WWE's World Heavyweight Championship, and the WWE Universal Championship.

8.

Bill Goldberg hosted 26 episodes of Garage Mahal on the DIY Network from 2009 to 2011 and has acted in various films and television shows, including Universal Soldier: The Return and NCIS: Los Angeles.

9.

William Scott Bill Goldberg was born into a Reform Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on December 27,1966, the son of classical violinist Ethel and OB-GYN Jed Bill Goldberg.

10.

Bill Goldberg is of Russian-Jewish and Romanian-Jewish descent, with his Romanian-born great-grandfather having relocated to the US from Bucharest through Ellis Island.

11.

Bill Goldberg's father was a graduate of both Harvard and Johns Hopkins University.

12.

Bill Goldberg had his Bar Mitzvah at a Reform synagogue, Temple Israel, in his hometown.

13.

Bill Goldberg acquired a love for football early in his life and, due to his large stature, began working as a nightclub bouncer at the age of 16.

14.

Bill Goldberg earned a scholarship to attend the University of Georgia and play college football for the Georgia Bulldogs as a defensive tackle.

15.

Bill Goldberg was taken by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1990 NFL draft, with the 301st overall selection.

16.

Bill Goldberg played for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1990 NFL season, followed by a stint with the Sacramento Gold Miners of the Canadian Football League in 1992 and the Atlanta Falcons from 1992 to 1994, where he became close with Deion Sanders.

17.

Bill Goldberg was cut from the Falcons in 1995, so he was selected by the new expansion team the Carolina Panthers in the 1995 NFL expansion draft.

18.

Bill Goldberg never played a game with the team, as he was the first player to have been cut by the Panthers.

19.

Bill Goldberg explained that he hoped to return to the league after rehabilitation but was not considered a major asset due to his lack of success.

20.

Bill Goldberg faced and defeated Buddy Landell, Hugh Morrus, Chip Minton, and John Betcha.

21.

Bill Goldberg had a succession of wins, and he advanced up the card and was pushed as a singles wrestler.

22.

Bill Goldberg made his first pay-per-view appearance at Halloween Havoc by helping Alex Wright defeat Steve McMichael and then received McMichael's Super Bowl XX championship ring from McMichael's wife Debra.

23.

In early 1998, Bill Goldberg squashed Brad Armstrong at SuperBrawl VIII and pinned Perry Saturn at Spring Stampede.

24.

Bill Goldberg interfered from Raven's Flock; ironically he overpowered them all and defeated Raven to win his first professional wrestling championship.

25.

Bill Goldberg then started a feud with Raven and his Flock.

26.

Bill Goldberg continued to make successful title defenses against Konnan at The Great American Bash and Curt Hennig.

27.

Bill Goldberg was getting over as a main eventer, and he continued to defend the United States Heavyweight Championship and slowly became a contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship that was held by New World Order leader Hollywood Hulk Hogan.

28.

Bill Goldberg won and able to defeat Hogan later in the evening to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, in turn vacating his United States Heavyweight Championship.

29.

At Road Wild, Bill Goldberg won a battle royal, consisting of nWo members.

30.

Bill Goldberg got his revenge at Souled Out, when he defeated Hall in a ladder taser match.

31.

Bill Goldberg won when he used the taser which was hung high above the ring, requiring the ladder to obtain it.

32.

At Spring Stampede, Bill Goldberg gained his revenge against Nash by defeating him.

33.

Bill Goldberg returned two months later and defeated Rick Steiner at Road Wild.

34.

Bill Goldberg then restarted his feud with DDP involving Page's allies, The Jersey Triad, which culminated in a match at Fall Brawl that Bill Goldberg won.

35.

Bill Goldberg defeated Sid via referee stoppage and thus won his second United States Heavyweight Championship.

36.

Later that night, Bill Goldberg wrestled against and lost to Bret Hart on the same Nitro in the first round of the tournament in a match that served as the first defense of his newly won United States Heavyweight Championship.

37.

Shortly thereafter, Bill Goldberg joined forces with Hart, teaming with him to defeat Creative Control for the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

38.

At Starrcade, Bill Goldberg challenged Hart for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship; in the course of the match, Bill Goldberg delivered a stiff kick to Hart's head, legitimately giving him a concussion and tearing a muscle in his neck.

39.

The match ended when Roddy Piper, the special guest referee for the contest, declared Hart the winner despite Bill Goldberg never having submitted to the Sharpshooter.

40.

Bill Goldberg was defeated again due to outside interference from Hall and Nash, who came to the ring brandishing baseball bats which they used to attack Bill Goldberg.

41.

Shortly after his title match loss, Bill Goldberg injured himself on the December 23,1999 episode of Thunder, during a sequence where he chased the nWo limousine into the parking lot.

42.

Bill Goldberg then got aggressive, dropping the pipe and putting his forearm through the third window.

43.

Immediately after the cameras stopped rolling, medical personnel rushed in to assist the injured Bill Goldberg, who was eventually transported to the hospital for emergency surgery.

44.

Bill Goldberg lost copious amounts of blood due to the injury and was told that his injury nearly resulted in the amputation of his forearm.

45.

At The Great American Bash, Bill Goldberg betrayed Nash during Nash's world championship match against Jeff Jarrett and turned into a villain for the first time in his career, aligning himself with The New Blood faction.

46.

Bill Goldberg participated in a triangle number one contender's match against Nash and Steiner at New Blood Rising, which Nash won.

47.

Bill Goldberg walked out of the match midway through while Nash had him ready for the Jackknife Powerbomb and swore at Vince Russo as he left the ring, turning face again.

48.

Bill Goldberg then began a rivalry with Steiner, culminating in a no disqualification match at Fall Brawl which Goldberg lost due to outside interference.

49.

Bill Goldberg defeated KroniK at Halloween Havoc in a handicap elimination match.

50.

Bill Goldberg won the match, but afterwards he was attacked by Luger's partner Buff Bagwell.

51.

Bill Goldberg feuded with both Luger and Bagwell, who called themselves "Totally Buffed".

52.

Bill Goldberg's streak was broken at Sin when Goldberg, teaming with his Power Plant trainer DeWayne Bruce, lost to Totally Buffed in a tag team no disqualification match after a "fan" maced him, enabling Totally Buffed to pin him.

53.

The storyline was intended to enable Bill Goldberg to have shoulder surgery, but WCW was sold to the WWF in March 2001, while Bill Goldberg was still recuperating.

54.

Bill Goldberg instead remained under contract to AOL Time Warner until May 2002, when he agreed on a contract buyout.

55.

Bill Goldberg was WCW's highest paid athlete, alongside Bret Hart, earning $2.5 million per year, a sum which would have risen to $3.5 million in the final year of his contract, due to have expired in July 2003.

56.

Bill Goldberg initially joined All Japan Pro Wrestling, defeating Satoshi Kojima and Taiyo Kea.

57.

Bill Goldberg went on to defeat Rick Steiner in a match for the W-1 promotion and teamed with Keiji Mutoh to defeat KroniK.

58.

Bill Goldberg defeated Christian the following week on Raw in a steel cage match.

59.

The next night on Raw, Bill Goldberg retained the title against Chris Jericho.

60.

Furious, Bill Goldberg demanded a match against Batista, but Triple H got involved in the match by trying to cripple Bill Goldberg, who executed a spear on Triple H and attacked Batista with a sledgehammer.

61.

Raw general manager Eric Bischoff scheduled Bill Goldberg to defend the championship against both Kane and Triple H in a triple threat match at Armageddon.

62.

Survivor Series marked the first time Bill Goldberg met the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar by interrupting Lesnar after the latter remarked that he could beat anyone in the world.

63.

The feud escalated at the 2004 Royal Rumble on January 25, when Goldberg was in the midst of dominating the Royal Rumble match as the 30th entrant until Lesnar interfered in the match and executed an F-5 on Goldberg.

64.

Angrily distracted at Lesnar's attack, Bill Goldberg was eliminated by Kurt Angle.

65.

Bill Goldberg attended No Way Out as a fan, confronting Lesnar and after several insults by Lesnar, entered the ring and countered an F-5 from Lesnar with a Jackhammer, before being detained and escorted out of the arena by security guards.

66.

Bill Goldberg won the match, causing Lesnar to show Austin and the crowd a middle finger, but he instead received a Stone Cold Stunner in return and as Bill Goldberg celebrated his victory with Austin, he received a Stone Cold Stunner.

67.

Bill Goldberg made his return to professional wrestling on June 7,2015, at the Legends of Wrestling show at Citi Field in New York.

68.

Bill Goldberg performed a spear on Steiner and a Jackhammer on Doc Gallows.

69.

On January 23,2016, Bill Goldberg made a second return for the Legends of Wrestling event in Miami, where he delivered another spear to Steiner after his match with Chavo Guerrero.

70.

On May 31,2016, Bill Goldberg was announced as the pre-order bonus for the upcoming WWE 2K17 video game.

71.

Bill Goldberg would appear at the WWE 2K SummerSlam event the weekend before the pay-per-view event took place, fueling speculation he would be appearing at the event to confront Lesnar.

72.

The match took place at Survivor Series, where Bill Goldberg defeated Lesnar in 1 minute and 26 seconds.

73.

Months later, Bill Goldberg would participate in the Royal Rumble match on January 29,2017, where he entered at number 28 and eliminated Lesnar following a brief confrontation and a spear, as well as eliminating Rusev and Luke Harper before being eliminated by The Undertaker.

74.

At WrestleMania, Bill Goldberg lost the title to Lesnar in what was his first clean singles loss in his entire career.

75.

Bill Goldberg appeared the following night on Raw Talk to wish the fans farewell, but ultimately did not rule out a return in the future.

76.

On January 15,2018, ESPN announced that Bill Goldberg would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

77.

At SummerSlam, Bill Goldberg lost due to not being able to continue after incurring a knee injury.

78.

At Crown Jewel, Bill Goldberg defeated Lashley to end their feud.

79.

At Elimination Chamber, Bill Goldberg lost to Reigns via technical submission.

80.

Bill Goldberg's contract was said to have expired at the end of 2022 and was not renewed by the company.

81.

Diamond Dallas Page and Bobby Lashley claimed that Bill Goldberg was the most popular wrestler at one point in time.

82.

Bill Goldberg has been named as the favorite wrestler of figures such as Big E, Randy Orton, Madcap Moss, and Bron Breakker.

83.

Bill Goldberg's rapid rise to popularity in WCW led the WWF to parody him during the Attitude Era with longtime jobber Duane Gill being repackaged as Gillberg.

84.

Bill Goldberg was initially unhappy with the parody, but later embraced the character and was happy that Gill was able to have a more substantial run during his career.

85.

Bill Goldberg was a special guest star on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling.

86.

Bill Goldberg went on to host three seasons of the Speed Channel show Bullrun.

87.

In 2005, Bill Goldberg starred in the Happy Madison produced Adam Sandler movie The Longest Yard, as an inmate, along with fellow wrestlers Kevin Nash, The Great Khali and Stone Cold Steve Austin, as well as actors Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds among others.

88.

In March 2010, Bill Goldberg appeared on the ninth season of Donald Trump's reality series The Celebrity Apprentice and was eliminated in the sixth episode.

89.

In 2016, Bill Goldberg starred in the documentary film Nine Legends alongside other notable wrestlers, former boxing star Mike Tyson and UFC fighter Randy Couture.

90.

In 2018, Bill Goldberg started hosting a knife-based reality show called Forged in Fire: Knife or Death on the History Channel.

91.

Bill Goldberg appeared in Season 10 Episode 7 of NCIS:LA as Special Agent Lance Hamilton.

92.

On July 17,2022, Bill Goldberg was the subject of the Biography: WWE Legends.

93.

Bill Goldberg participated in MMA training sessions, though without intention to compete himself.

94.

Around this time, Bill Goldberg was challenged by Bob Sapp to either a professional wrestling match or a mixed martial arts fight, but nothing came from it.

95.

On July 22,2006, Bill Goldberg served again as color commentator, this time in World Fighting Alliance King of the Streetss pay-per-view in Los Angeles, California.

96.

On June 2,2007, Bill Goldberg commentated on K-1 Dynamite USA.

97.

Bill Goldberg became a color commentator for the EliteXC organization during their inaugural event.

98.

Bill Goldberg sponsored the Monster Jam truck "Bill Goldberg", which was driven by Tom Meents from 2000 to 2001 as part of a deal between WCW and FELD Motorsports.

99.

Bill Goldberg has been noted for being open about his Jewish background, which was uncommon in the professional wrestling world, especially during his prime.

100.

Bill Goldberg celebrates the Jewish holidays but has downplayed the religious aspects of his Jewish background, admitting in 2005 that he is "so far from religious it's not even funny".

101.

Bill Goldberg owns over 25 vintage cars, including a Plymouth Barracuda, AC Cobra, and Boss 429 Mustang.

102.

Bill Goldberg owned one of the biggest MMA gyms in the world during the early 90s where he trained MMA with the likes of Mark Coleman, Randy Couture, Kevin Randleman, and Don Frye, among others, but after realizing how much money they made in MMA, he chose to follow a pro-wrestling career.

103.

Bill Goldberg has a long scar on the right side of his torso from a tear suffered during a college football game that had required surgery to repair.

104.

Bill Goldberg acquired a scar on his right forearm from an altercation in WCW, which kept him out of action for an extended amount of time due to the surgery needed to fix it.

105.

Bill Goldberg has a large tribal tattoo on his left shoulder, which became his professional wrestling logo, and a skull tattoo on the inside of his right biceps.

106.

Bill Goldberg regularly participated in the now-defunct Jimmy V Golf Classic, a golf tournament with the profits going towards cancer research, and often visits children in hospitals who are undergoing cancer treatment.