Goldberg Looked At Starrcade 98 Loss As “Just A Loss” At The Time, Now Calls It “The Ultimate Rib”
After 173 straight victories in WCW, Goldberg finally lost at WCW Starrcade 1998, falling victim to Kevin Nash and a cattle prod courtesy of Scott Hall. Nash not only ended Goldberg’s famous streak, but he captured the WCW World Heavyweight Title in the process. The historical moment was undone in the eyes of many a week later when Nash laid down for Hulk Hogan in the infamous Finger of Doom match.
Fans look back at that series of moments as one of the many misfires as WCW began losing momentum in the late 90s during the Monday Night War. And while the ending of Goldberg’s streak upset many fans, Goldberg didn’t take it personally.
“Honestly, at that point in my life, I just looked at it as a loss,” Goldberg told Steve Austin on Broken Skull Sessions. “I didn’t big picture it by any means because I didn’t know enough about the business. The more you analyze stuff, the more it pisses you off that ‘it happened this way because of this, the front office is going this way, now it’s being run by these guys.’ I didn’t want to lobotomize myself, you do it enough as it is. I didn’t know enough to really pass judgment and realize anything. I really didn’t.”
In hindsight, he now questions how things played out, but he also understands the business aspect of the sport.
“The ultimate rib,” he said when asked how he feels about the decision today. “It needed to happen at some point, but, really?”
He continued, “It is a business. My competitive career ended with football. This is a male soap opera. It’s competitive, and your success is based upon, partially, your ability to be better than people. It’s not a competitive numbers game to where the best man wins. You have to look at it differently.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Goldberg never regained the WCW World Heavyweight Title after losing it at Starrcade 98.
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