WWE deliberately made Bill Goldberg look bad, says former champion
Bill Goldberg joined WWE for the first time in 2003 after making a name for himself in WCW in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In a recent video, 21-time Hardcore Champion Stevie Richards gave his thoughts on why the former football player's first WWE run started badly.
On April 27, 2003, Goldberg defeated The Rock at Backlash in his WWE debut match. Two weeks before the event, Dustin Rhodes' eccentric Goldust character placed a wig on the former WCW star backstage on RAW.
The light-hearted segment was designed to add another layer to Goldberg's dominant persona. However, Richards said on The Stevie Richards Show that WWE's higher-ups likely wanted the WCW legend to fail:
"Here comes the backstage pre-tape with Goldust, which is automatically gonna break that super serious Goldberg character standing next to this. You're already watered down instantly. No offense to Dustin, but it's not the right time for that kind of comedy. But Goldust just didn't put the wig on Bill out of nowhere because Bill would be like, 'Get this off me. Let's do it again.' That was directed. That was on purpose. That was a receipt on Goldberg." [1:30 – 2:04]
Richards worked for WWE from 1999 to 2008. He lost his only match against Bill Goldberg on the July 28, 2003, episode of RAW.
Stevie Richards on Bill Goldberg's WCW association
In the mid-to-late 1990s, WCW Nitro and WWE RAW battled for television ratings supremacy every Monday night. Bill Goldberg played a key role in Nitro's success over RAW in late 1997 and early 1998. As a result, he arrived in WWE with a reputation as a "WCW guy."
Stevie Richards believes WWE management mistreated Goldberg simply because of his history with WCW:
"That's exactly what it is. 'Here's a WCW guy. We're gonna make him look less than, then years and years later we're gonna try to build him back up.' After we [WWE] destroyed him, and people didn't forget that." [7:07 – 7:17]
Goldberg returned to WWE in 2016 after a 12-year absence. On July 12, the 58-year-old will challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at Saturday Night's Main Event in his final match.
Please credit The Stevie Richards Show and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
