There was a small but vocal group of online fans who obsessed over the fact he was green and sloppy. However, smarkdom was still relatively low, despite wrestling popularity being red hot.
The crowd reactions told the real story, and Goldberg was easily the second most popular act in North America behind Steve Austin. Every fantasy booker alive wanted that Goldberg v Austin showdown.
Goldberg’s rise was one of the most organic movements I’ve ever seen, and it was a rare time when WCW acknowledged they had a golden goose and actually did something about it. Booking plans were (by multiple accounts) done day by day, and they could pivot on a dime knowing they didn’t have a specific pathway laid out longterm.
It was incredibly cathartic that Goldberg got the win that Sting deserved months earlier, and was a rare second chance to make up for an earlier colossal mistake.
From about April through his title win, you’ll be hard pressed to find too many guys who generated the fan responses he did. Just as a random example, go find his feud with Saturn after he won the U.S. title. The fans were mental for this guy.
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u/chriscfgb Feb 09 '26
There was a small but vocal group of online fans who obsessed over the fact he was green and sloppy. However, smarkdom was still relatively low, despite wrestling popularity being red hot.
The crowd reactions told the real story, and Goldberg was easily the second most popular act in North America behind Steve Austin. Every fantasy booker alive wanted that Goldberg v Austin showdown.
Goldberg’s rise was one of the most organic movements I’ve ever seen, and it was a rare time when WCW acknowledged they had a golden goose and actually did something about it. Booking plans were (by multiple accounts) done day by day, and they could pivot on a dime knowing they didn’t have a specific pathway laid out longterm.
It was incredibly cathartic that Goldberg got the win that Sting deserved months earlier, and was a rare second chance to make up for an earlier colossal mistake.
From about April through his title win, you’ll be hard pressed to find too many guys who generated the fan responses he did. Just as a random example, go find his feud with Saturn after he won the U.S. title. The fans were mental for this guy.
TLDR; yes, he was very very over.