Bill Goldberg Interview: MMA Interests, Time in WCW & WWE, Russo, Lesnar, More

Former WWE and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg recently spoke to Submission Radio.

Almost going to WWF instead of WCW:
“I approached WCW, well they approached me a number of times, and then I actually called Jim Ross and I had a meeting with Vince McMahon. I did not like that meeting with Vince McMahon. The next day I called Eric Bishoff and I said “listen, you know I’m going to make a decision here and the World Wrestling Federation has a contract on the table for me and that’s not where I want to be”. So push came to shove, I told him; I remember the quote like it was yesterday, I said “I’m not going to be one of those 500 dollar a week throw-around-the ring dudes. I'm gonna come in and make a difference.”

Beating Hogan in a sold out Nitro and winning the WCW World Title, and confrontation with Raven on the bus:
“Well the deal is...it's like this, I heard about the announcement watching it live on Thursday Night Thunder when JJ Dillon announced it. And I was like “what? Okay I guess”. And as far as [Hulk] Hogan and they ‘Icy Hot’, absolutely. That’s one of those tricks that they do to rookies or young boys or whatever the hell you want to call them, you know to try and catch them off guard and see how they handle the pressure. It didn’t bother me. It pissed me off, but it didn’t bother me. I mean, stuff like that didn’t have to be done to me because I’d been there and done that in another [field] and I’ll never forget; I’m riding with Kevin Nash and...what’s his name, one of the wrestlers....... god he had the flock....Raven. Raven was riding with us, and I go to sit in the front seat and he goes “oh hold on a second". He goes "you gotta pay your dues”. And I turn around and I said “listen bitch. I payed my dues by being on the football field and having two to three hundred pound dudes trying to rip my head off every play. So if you don’t want to consider that as paying my dues then you and I, we’re going to have to throw down.”

Vince Russo:
“I believe a part of the demise of WCW was the dipshit that we got from WWE. The writer, Vince Russo. I mean he was a moron through and through. He may have been successful at putting, you know wrestling shows together in the past, but I believe he was a plant. I think he was sent down to turn us, you know to make us go downhill. And I thought some of his ideas were, some of his ideas were asinine and ridiculous. And he and I, we didn’t see eye to eye on anything whatsoever. And so I think he was a contributing factor to the demise of the company.”

Not being used right in his run with the WWE, being told not to use his Spear finisher and what it felt like being there:
“I mean let’s be honest, let’s look at it right now. Let’s look at it in real time. You know wrestling moves are hollowed entities. You know, you don’t take moves from other people. Now when I was at the WWE and they wanted people to start spearing people and they wanted me, they actually had the nerve to ask me to stop spearing people. And now you look at the company and it’s the set up move for, I don’t know, 40 percent of the guys, girls included you know, part of the McMahon family for god’s sake. So I don’t believe that they took that from me or chose to use that because it was a great move. I think they wanted to water down my legacy. So looking at that from today’s stand point and then looking back at how they used me, with me being one of the guys that was kicking their ass in the Monday Night Wars, and being on the other side, and me telling Vince 'no' in the beginning and going to the opposing team, and then when he buys them out then I’m acquired; you know It was just a totally different deal. I wasn’t the product of Vince McMahon. At the end of the day they may be the best business entity in the wrestling business, but they’re not the end all. Because of their ego, they forwent a bunch of opportunities that we could have made a lot of money in. And lets be honest, I mean I beat Brock Lesnar in my last match and if I had any desire to stay there whatsoever, if there was any type of a positive, I would have stayed. But it wasn’t. So it just was a negative part of my life. I just didn’t enjoy being there.”

Thoughts on his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 20 and if he enjoyed the experience:
“Oh hell no, I was miserable. I try to repress it. He and I both - the reality was it could have been one of the biggest matches in their history if done properly, but nobody cared. Nobody cared. And since they didn’t care, I mean when I looked across the ring at him he didn’t care, I didn’t care. We just wanted to go, and that was a shame. They could have made a lot of money in it, but they didn’t. So it was a...I feel really bad about it for the fans, but they shit on it too. I mean they could have not done what they did and we would have probably had a much better match, 'cause we wouldn’t have been as pissed off. I thought he was gonna try to kill me and I wanted to kill him at the same time, but for real. Because we were so mad at what was going on, we just didn’t have anything else to do but beat on each other. And we’re good friends, I love Brock to death. He’s one of my best friends in the business and.....let me rephrase that......he’s one of my only friends in the business, and you know it was a shame. You had two absolute physical monsters with great characters going against each other and it turned out to be a shit-fest.”

If Goldberg believes Brock Lesnar would go back to the UFC and have another successful run:
“I think so. I think if Brock....you know I haven’t trained with Brock. I don’t know exactly what he does, but if I were him I’d spend 75 percent of my time on stand up. I believe that if he does it properly he can go back and dominate, but if he doesn’t do it properly he’ll go back and the same thing will happen, you know [as] towards the end of his tenure. It’s all about growing. It’s all about being able to look at yourself in the mirror and look at your deficiencies, and be man enough, and be egoless to go out and put yourself in negative situations in training so that you could learn.”

If Golberg would consider displaying his skills in at least an exhibition or amateur fight?
“Abso-damn-lutely. That is in the back of my mind and it has been for the past couple of months, and you know, hey I’m 48 years old. The reality is that it’s not like I didn’t retire from the NFL because of injuries. So my body is torn to shreds, but I continue to have the desire to compete. I talked to Royce Gracie this morning, same thing with him. You know warriors never die, they just get older. And you know things change a bit, but you know the spirit never dies. Therefore every day I look for some type of physical test, and you know whether it’s putting myself against myself, which is my own worst critic and no question my biggest advisory. You know if I can please myself, then I can guarantee you that I could go out there and have some fun with people. You know Rampage [Jackson] and I were supposed to train earlier in the week. He unfortunately has the flu. We've got a number of guys at the gym that like to trade punches. That’s a lot of fun. And we got a big autograph session at Magic City Comicon in Miami coming up this weekend, and I did an interview yesterday the Miami State and put it out there that I want to train some Muay Thai. American Top Team through an invitation out, you know a number of other people did. Hey man, I don’t have an ego. I’ve done more in my life than 90 percent of the people could ever imagine doing. And so I don’t have an issue. Go on YouTube right now and have a look at the video that I posted of Jimmy Pedro the US Olympic Judo coach tossing me around like a doll. Well Jimmy weighs about 180 pounds, and if I had an ego and if I was worried about what people think, I wouldn’t put that online. But I thought it would be great, and I thought it would be killer to be able to feel that from a professional. From one of the best in the world. I have no problem training with anybody and getting beaten by anybody, because anytime you're getting beaten in a brawl; you know the good ones are the ones who prosper from that, and they learn, and they get bigger, and they get better, and they grow in the knowledge department.”

If he thinks CM Punk could be successful in the UFC:
“Oh yeah. I mean I think anybody can be successful if they take the proper route prior to stepping in that cage. I wanted to talk to Royce [Gracie] a lot about CM [Punk] because I'm not going to pass judgement on anyone until I know 100 percent of their background, until I watch what they’re doing. I want to see what his stand up’s like. You know I think it was a great PR move for the UFC. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Pride fighting over the UFC hands down, because of the entertainment factor. At the end, I think the biggest difference between Pride and the UFC is the pageantry of Pride, the over the top pageantry of it; the ability to watch kind of like the 'Street Fighter' mentality of a very unique individual versus someone who’s completely the polar opposite of them. They still have match ups like the original UFC; Gracie and Akibono, you know Hong Man Choi and Jose Conseco. You know as ridiculous as those fights are, and as unprepared and unqualified as some of these people are, it’s huge entertainment. And if they're willing to go in and do it, then I’m willing to pay for it. And I’ve been in the audience and I was in the commentating booth at two of those events and they're unbelievable. I had a great time there, and you know the fans are wonderful. It’s just the pageantry. I guess it all boils down to, at the end of the day it's the fact that you're not watching two guys that are almost very similar to each other. If you’re in MMA these days you’d be an absolute moron not to train equally in all disciplines, but for me that makes everybody look the same. So I honestly don’t enjoy it nearly as much as I used to, and it doesn’t even hold a candle to it. But at the same time - and I expressed this yesterday on the air somewhere - that doesn’t mean that I don’t respect or admire the ability of these new age fighters.”

Being offered to fight for Pride when Goldberg wrestled in Japan:
“Hustle One [which] was where I wrestled, was owned by Pride. And did they want to entice me to fight? Absolutely. Was it something at the time where the money was there? Not comparatively for me. So there’s no question that I would have taken the Mixed Martial Arts route if the money was there back in the day, but at the time that I got over to Japan, and I'd already sustained so many injuries, and I was getting younger. It just wasn’t a smart move for me.”

Big Show using the spear in the WWE and the worst spear he’s ever seen by another wrestler
“You’re kidding. Is he? Oh my god. Just pardon me for a second, I'm gonna throw up. In all honesty I don’t watch these guys. I don’t watch wrestling, I don’t watch these guys spear people. I can’t do it. I can’t answer that because I don’t see other guys doing it.”

Who’s idea it was for Goldberg to punch in the limo window on Thunder that injured him for 5 months:
“Mine. It was a pure act of set of rage. That's all It was. I got in a confrontation with Scott Hall earlier in the night. I wanted to rip his head from his body and I took it upon myself to do something absolutely ignorant and go on the fly and try and be superman, and I unfortunately got hurt throughout the process. And you know it’s all good. I only came within a centimetre of losing the use of my arm, but it was the highest rated segment on network television.”

If there’s any chance of one last run in the WWE:
“Hey, if they want to do business and do it right, I’m more than willing to listen. If they want to continue to do what they’ve done with me in the past. I’d rather dig a ditch.”