Awesome / Goldberg

• He started his career with a Moment of Awesome. In his TV debut on the September 22, 1997 episode of Nitro, he defeated "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus, becoming the first man to kick out of Morrus' No Laughing Matter moonsault. This led to a heartwarming moment a few years later when Morrus, a career lower mid-carder rose up the ranks and won the US title. In an in-ring celebration, Goldberg fondly recalled that his famous streak began with Morrus putting him over.
• He hits the next level on the April 20, 1998 Nitro as he challenges Raven for the United States championship. Raven's "flock" interferes but Goldberg easily manhandles the entire bunch. Raven himself tries to leave through the crowd only for a pack of fans to grab him and throw him back toward the ring. Once inside, Raven is hit by a spear and jackhammer for Goldberg to win his first title.
• The main-event match on the July 6, 1998 WCW Monday Nitro in which Goldberg defeated Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Title was not only the greatest Moment of Awesome for Goldberg's career, but arguably for WCW, and certainly for Nitro. More fans were in attendance at that show than at any other WCW event before or after. Of course the CMOA for WCW is greatly lessened in that it showed how shortsighted the execs were. They took what was a Starrcade-level match and put it on free TV. Great for those who couldn't buy PPVs, but they lost what easily would have been a huge buy. Though it must be said, that Nitro was in Goldberg's home of Atlanta.
• His massive Jackhammer against The Giant as well as the one he did to Mark Henry.
  • Kicking out of the chokeslam finisher and promptly No Selling the next few attacks before hitting his finishing moves? The commentary says it best.
  7'4", 550! Can he get him up in a Jackhammer?
  If he does, the roof's coming off this joint!
  • Goldberg held The Giant in the air for a full three seconds before finishing the move.
• The Streak... until the very end, that is. And even then, it took Scott Hall cattle-prodding him in the face to make him go down (plus a series of other wrestlers attempting to help Nash before that).
  • And according to his autobiography, he got Hall to shock him with a real cattle prod to make it look convincing. Even if he immediately regretted it, that is badass!
• His match against Diamond Dallas Page at Halloween Havoc 1998 was one of the best matches of both men's careers - DDP ranks it among the top five matches of his career, and the Trivia page contains more details.
• While their eventual dream match was a stallfest not worth writing about, Goldberg making his awaited WWE debut interrupting The Rock of all people whipped the RAW crowd into a frenzy, esp. when Goldberg briefly got on the mic:
  Goldberg: So, Rock?! You wanna know who's next?...YOU'RE NEXT! *spears Rock*
  • Not to mention the announcers' reactions to Goldberg's first appearance. Maybe it was scripted, but just the way J.R. says it tells you everything.
  Jim Ross: It's... it's HIM!
• For most of 2003 Triple H had been the World Heavyweight Champion, dominating over everyone from Shawn Michaels, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Ric Flair and Kevin Nash using underhanded tactics. Then comes Goldberg, who after a defeat at SummerSlam, challenges Hunter again with his career on the line at Unforgiven. Goldberg manages to defeat the Game and win the Championship, putting an end to Triple H's Invincible Villain status for now.
  • A few months later at Survivor Series, Goldberg again defeats Triple H, despite having an injured knee and Evolution interfering (all of whom Goldberg beat up using Hunter's sledgehammer).
• Goldberg spearing Nunzio about the length of a half-ring during the 2004 Royal Rumble. Shared credit goes to the victim for a terrific sell job.
• At Legends of Wrestling June 7, 2015, Rob Van Dam had just defeated Scott Steiner but was later attacked by both Steiner and Doc Gallows. Much to the surprise of everyone, Goldberg, in his first appearance in professional wrestling in 11 years, makes a Big Damn Heroes save, giving a spear to Steiner and Jackhammer to Gallows. Cue HSQ from the crowd.
• A non-wrestling one: his appearance on Joes vs. Pros, where in a round of "who can hit a golf ball closest to the pin", Goldberg was picked first by the Joes, because the challenger reasoned that Goldberg was too muscular to properly get his arms around to swing. Goldberg proceeds to drop the ball within two yards of the hole, which was set up 350 yards away, closer than anyone else on the show.
• A Call-Back to his match against Brock Lesnar in WrestleMania XX was made by Heyman during the October 10, 2016 episode of Raw. What keeps Lesnar up at night? The fact that Bill Goldberg is still one up (now two up) over him for well over a decade.
  • Michael Cole also mentioned during the Survivor Series match between Lesnar and Goldberg that only one other man had multiple pay per view victories over Brock: John Cena. And Cena's victories came out of a no holds barred match and a DQ due to Seth Rollins attacking him. Goldberg's matches were normal rules and clean pins.
• Raw, October 17, 2016. For the first time in twelve years, Goldberg appears inside a WWE ring. His entire entrance was recreated in incredible fashion for an amazing nostalgia trip for wrestling fans during the Monday Night War, and then once inside the ring, he cut easily the best promo of his entire career, thanking the fans (who were losing their minds throughout the entire segment) for their endless support, and then topped it off with an absolutely incredible line, ending with a brilliant play on his Catchphrase:
  Goldberg: So! Brock Lesnar! Not only does that mean that you're next...but most importantly, it means — Brock Lesnar...YOU'RE LAST!
• Goldberg's match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2016 consisted of a shove, two Spears, and a Jackhammer. Four moves total, from both men, in the entire match. In less than ninety seconds, Goldberg squashed the Beast.
  • This entry only gets a single line, but you really do have to watch some of the reaction videos for this match to understand the impact it had on people. When Lesnar picked up Goldberg and threw him into the corner, everyone was like "Heh." When Goldberg roughly shoved Lesnar down, they were like "Hoh!" When Lesnar stood up right into that first explosive spear, they were like "Whoa!" When they realised Lesnar was selling the spear like he'd been run through with a lance they were like "Are they seriously...?" When the second spear hit, they were like "Are you serious?" When Goldberg got Lesnar up for the Jackhammer they were like "My God, You Are Serious!!!!" And when the ref's hand hit the mat for the 3 count everyone went "OH MY FREAKIN' GOD!" It was one of the most shocking and amazing things people had seen in a wrestling ring in years!
• The night after Survivor Series 2016 on Raw, he informed the audience that Stephanie McMahon had asked him "Do you have one more title run in you?", leading to his announcement that he'd be competing in the Royal Rumble.
  Goldberg: At the Royal Rumble match - everyone is next!
• Continuing the Running Gag of Lesnar being Goldberg's bitch, Brock was eliminated from the Rumble by Goldberg following a spear and toss over the top rope. And it happened mere seconds after Goldberg entered the ring.
• Goldberg and The Undertaker squaring off in the Rumble. Sure, they only exchanged a few moves, but damn it was awesome to see, especially since Goldberg has wanted to face Taker for years. He would get his wish in 2019 at the Super Show-Down event in Saudi Arabia, but that match was unfortunately very not awesome as Goldberg was busted open pretty badly and it severely hindered his performance.
• Goldberg wins his first championship in fourteen years by winning the Universal Championship from Kevin Owens at Fastlane 2017 in 15 seconds
• Goldberg joins the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018. His overly long speech ends with this line:
  Goldberg: ...which leads me to my one final question (long pause) WHO'S...NEXT?!
  • Before that, just after his induction and in the first moments of his speech, he relishes about the set up moves that are "so easy to copy", before crossing over with CMOF by asking "Where's Roman?"
• Goldberg's military/gorilla press slams were some of the best in the business. Not only was he able to come up with many combinations to put opponents down with (Oklahoma powerslam, spinebusters, front powerslams, etc.), but he was able to press guys like Scott Steiner, Batista and Brock Lesnar, all of them nearing 300 pounds in their prime!
• Goldberg is pissed at Bobby Lashley for attacking his son Gage. On October 4, 2021, Lashley challenges him to a No Holds Barred Match at Crown Jewel. Goldberg delivers this amazing promo that completely unnerves Lashley.
  Goldberg: Thank you, Bobby. No Holds Barred gives me a license to kill. (Beat) You think I'm crazy... And I am. You want an apology? I'll give you an apology! I'll apologize to your kids, after I leave your lifeless body in the middle of the ring gasping for air. Because there's one thing for sure, Bobby Lashley. You're next. And You're DEAD!
• At Crown Jewel, Goldberg keeps his promise. He weathers Lashley attacking his leg with a steel chair and interference from the Hurt Business to destroy Lashley, ending with him Spearing Lashley off the stage.

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