The iconic Bill Goldberg remains one of wrestling’s most divisive figures — and now, one of its most reflective.
His in-ring career is drawing to a close with one final, blockbuster showdown reportedly set for Saturday Night’s Main Event this summer, where he’s due to face Gunther in what’s being billed as his official retirement match.
For all the criticism that has followed his late-era returns, including a divisive run of short matches and limited appearances, Goldberg’s star power has never really been in doubt.
And for better or worse, he’s still a box office name, even decades after the WCW boom made him a megastar in the late 1990s.
WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg announces retirement match for 2025 as Crown Jewel kicks off
Goldberg has dominated in the wrestling ring as a WCW and WWE star
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Goldberg has dominated in the wrestling ring as a WCW and WWE starCredit: WWE
In more recent years, he’s shared the ring with the likes of Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns — some bouts received warmly, others less so — and returned for a brief feud with Bobby Lashley in 2021. His most recent WWE match came at Elimination Chamber in 2022, where he challenged Reigns for the Universal Championship in Saudi Arabia.
But his final curtain now appears to be looming — and the build to his clash with Gunther has seen him appear more introspective than ever, with talk turning to legacy, longevity, and the life he nearly lived instead.
Because despite being one of WCW’s most iconic creations, Goldberg didn’t grow up dreaming of body slams and suplexes. American Football consumed him. Speaking on a WWE documentary, he said: "I was born to be a football player. I grew up with two older brothers who played Division 1 football, my father played football, everybody I knew played football.
"The only thing I ever wanted to do was play football. Once I got the helmet and pads on and I was able to hit somebody, that was one of the best feelings I've ever had in my entire life. And it's a feeling I could replicate after it."
He was picked in the eleventh round of the NFL draft in 1990 by the Los Angeles Rams after coming out of Georgia as a defensive tackle. In his four years in the league, Goldberg played 14 times and started once, all for the Atlanta Falcons.
His career came to a halt when he tore his abdomen off his pelvis in a game, which led to his release by Atlanta after falling down the pecking order during his rehabilitation.
"Unfortunately for me, that was the beginning of the end. Fact is, I wasn't an all-pro defensive tackle. I had to fight practice after practice to keep my job," Goldberg said.
In 1995 he was selected by the new expansion team, the Carolina Panthers, in the 1995 NFL expansion draft but never played a game for the franchise and he was the first player cut by the Panthers.
"Though football was the only thing I ever aspired to do, I fell short. I had to figure out a plan B, the only problem was, I didn't have one. I had nothing to fall back on. I had no desire to do anything but lift. And lift. And lift.
"I worked out at Main Event Fitness throughout my entire career with the Atlanta Falcons for four years. I'd run into Lex Luger, Sting, Buff Bagwell. I'm training and I hear someone making fun of me in the back.
Goldberg starred in the NFL before transitioning into a wrestling career
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Goldberg starred in the NFL before transitioning into a wrestling careerCredit: WWE
An horrific injury put paid to his dreams of stardom in the football world
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An horrific injury put paid to his dreams of stardom in the football worldCredit: WWE Untold - WWE Network
"I look, and it's the three of them. I'm a sensitive guy so I just exploded instantly. I turned to them and said: 'blow it out your a**!' and I was waiting for any of them to step to me, because I would have ripped their face off at that point.”
Not in a good space, Goldberg was looking for his next venture. While the 6ft 4in athlete was in amazing shape, he didn't know what he was going to apply himself to.
Then, a chance meeting with Diamond Dallas Page, in a strip club of all places, changed everything.
"The first time I met Bill Goldberg was actually in the Gold Club, a gentlemen's club," DDP began. "And I was actually with Eric Bischoff at the time. I'm talking to this cat and back then Bill had a full head of hair and I'm like 'man, this guy is money. Eric, meet this guy!' They get talking and I'm like 'Dude, you need to do this.'"
At the time, WCW was surging upwards in the Monday Night Wars with WWE behind the NWO and Goldberg soon learned there was an amazing amount of money to be earned.
"So, I made the decision. I picked up the phone and called Eric Bischoff. I'll never forget what I told him. 'I've decided to wrestle and I'm not going to be one of those $500 throw-around-the-ring pieces of s***. I'm going to make a difference.'"
Goldberg's glittering wrestling career
WWE World Heavyweight Champion
WWE Universal Champion
2018 Hall of Fame inductee
WCW World Heavyweight Champion
WCW United States Champion (2)
WCW Tag Team Champion
As Goldberg himself admits, that's a pretty bold thing to say when you're completely new in the business, but he was also right as he embarked on a streak of 173-0 in WCW and held the title for 173 days by the close of 1998.
Kevin Nash was the man to officially defeat him- though in truth one hidden defeat early on in that run is never discussed - and many argued his aura was never quite the same after that.
Still, he remained a huge star for the promotion and even had a year-long run in WWE from 2003-04 following WCW's demise in 2001, his explosive arrival causing a fight backstage on his first night at Raw.
He returned to WWE after 13 years in retirement in 2016 and began working with Brock Lesnar before being inducted into the Hall of Fame two years later, much to the chagrin of the legendary
Bret Hart, whose career was brought to an end after a match with him.
"He was one of the most unprofessional wrestlers to ever work in the business," Hart said when discussing the care he had for his opponent in the ring.
"For Bill Goldberg to be in the Hall of Fame… he hurt everybody that he worked with. You might as well wrestle a real gorilla. He was the most dangerous guy to work with.”
Goldberg's intensity in the ring has won him admirers and detractors
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Goldberg's intensity in the ring has won him admirers and detractorsCredit: WWE
Despite that criticism, Goldberg kept coming back, becoming a fixture of WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows and continuing to wrestle into his mid-50s.
He’s since spoken more openly about the end of the road, telling Busted Open Radio in 2023 that he "deserved a proper retirement match" and had been in discussions with various parties about one last bout.
Now, that moment is finally on the cards. Gunther — WWE’s Ring General and the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time and current World Heavyweight champ — is set to face him this summer in a generational clash Goldberg has admitted will likely be his final time stepping between the ropes.
And he knows who he has to give massive credit to for everything that followed his NFL heartbreak.
"DDP, every time that I say your name or think of your name, it brings one of the largest smiles to my face, ever,” he’s since acknowledged. “For one reason or another, I can't pinpoint it, it's for many reasons.
At 58, Goldberg's swansong in WWE comes in a match with Gunther later this month
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At 58, Goldberg's swansong in WWE comes in a match with Gunther later this monthCredit: WWE
“Your enthusiasm is unparalleled, in the business or in the world. Your passion is unparalleled, your knowledge is unparalleled, and your workmanship, your dedication to detail is unparalleled.
"It's an honour and a privilege to know you, it's an honour and a privilege to be taught by you. I owe everything to you, my man and I just love you, my man, I just want to tell you."
And the Gold Club, of course.