Goldberg Thought WWE Wanted To Discount Everything He Accomplished By Putting Him Next To Austin
When Goldberg and Brock Lesnar clashed at WrestleMania XX, the match quickly went off the rails due to the out-of-ring circumstances. Both Lesnar and Goldberg were on their way out of the company, and everyone inside Madison Square Garden knew it. Not helping matters was special guest referee Steve Austin, who was beloved at MSG.
Appearing on the Broken Skull Sessions with Steve Austin, Goldberg discussed the infamous WrestleMania XX match and how he felt going into things against Lesnar.
“Vince hated me a little bit less than he did [Brock]. I thought Brock was going to kill me because he was so mad at everybody else that I thought he was going to take it out on me. We should have gone into the crowd and start tagging people,” said Goldberg.
The match got off to a rocky start with Goldberg and Lesnar delaying things as the crowd chanted “You sold out” and singing the goodbye song. Later in the match, they began chanting, “this match sucks.”
Austin interjected, revealing he was going to change the mood by simply running the ropes.
“At one point during that match, because ya’ll were pacing, pacing, pacing — I was really over in The Garden — I’m thinking ‘somethings gotta happen. I’m just gonna take off and start hitting the ropes.’ I figured If I start hitting the ropes, the place will come [unglued],” recalled Austin. “But I said, ‘I ain’t gonna steal these guys moment. These guys are friends of mine, so I ain’t doing shit.’ It was weird though.”
Goldberg continued, “Weird is an understatement. It did not sit well with me for a long period of time. I had nothing but animosity towards the WWE and anybody and everybody associated with it. I had my friends that were excluded from that. It was a really bad taste in my mouth. I spent the whole year there being defensive (and) it translated as offensive. In all honesty, I just want everybody to get along. I just want to be part of the team. Give me some responsibility. I can tow it. It felt like they had accomplished what they had wanted to accomplish for years; completely discount what I had gained [prior to WWE] and have me next to [Austin] and have me fail miserably and have you [Austin] be the king.”
Goldberg won the match, but it was Austin who stood tall, laying out both Goldberg and Lesnar with a Stunner. Goldberg and Lesnar would rematch at Survivor Series 2016. That match went just one minute and 26 seconds with Goldberg once again picking up the victory.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.