WWE: Goldberg – The Ultimate Collection DVD Review

There is no doubting Goldberg’s rise to stardom in WCW was meteoric. At his peak, he was the hottest character that WCW had ever produced from scratch but his career was short lived. A three and a half year stint with WCW followed by his year with WWE is chronicled in this DVD release nearly a decade since he last stepped foot into a WWE ring. 

Crucially, there is no sit down interview with Bill Goldberg here. He was never approached during the making of this collection and so we are given a compilation of his best matches. Equally, there are no talking heads – no current roster Superstars, no backroom fan favourites and no retired kings of the ring to discuss his character and react to his rise. In fact, if you purchased the Triple H DVD last month, you’ll feel totally short-changed by this release. For the same price, this offers you far less.

If you are or were a fan of Bill Goldberg, however, you will no doubt enjoy this set. His first and second Nitro matches kick off the first disc and, from a purely objective standpoint, give you a good insight into just how much he improved as an all-round performer during his short wrestling career. He’s often out of position and has to be guided into the right spot by Bill De Mott (working under the horrific Hugh Morrus moniker, here) on his debut and then by the aging Barbarian a week later. Gene Okerlund tries to interview him but for the first few weeks of his run he plays the enigma – clearly they were aware of his shortcomings as a promo. What is developing, and very quickly, even by week two, is his support from the fans. Quickly they recognise that these squash matches are fun and that this is an intense, likeable monster who is capable of destroying just about anyone and everyone.

For the non-fans or those who need persuading, other than watching the incredible reaction that Goldberg garners, there is probably only one good wrestling match on the whole of the first disc. It’s noteworthy that by the time he faces Scott Hall in July of 1998, Mike Tenay points out on commentary after Goldberg uses an arm drag that the move is “a new twist to his repertoire.” An arm drag. From July onwards, he improves, though. Matches are often rudimentary but the reaction when he beats Hogan is nuclear; his match with DDP is genuinely pretty strong; while it is worth watching him Jackhammer The Giant (Big Show) for the pure awe of it.

Goldberg’s run on disc 2 is probably ruined as much by the nWo than it is by any shortcomings in Goldberg’s talent. Booking was fairly selfish when Nash ended the streak in December 98 and it really continued to be so. Case in point is the first match on the second disc which sees Goldberg against Ric Flair. Nash and Hogan are on colour commentary and largely ruin the match. Their in-jokes bury both performers, particularly Flair, but also bury the company to a large extent. It makes for embarrassing listening actually.

Matches against Nash at Spring Stampede, Sid in an ‘I quit’ match at Mayhem, DDP at Fall Brawl are all surprisingly good matches as is his No DQ match with Scott Steiner. It is interesting to note, like many of the WCW DVD releases of late, how prepared WWE are to leave in the chaff – the Russo storyline to ‘restart’ the streak is documented at the end of disc 2. Thankfully, it never had chance to be fulfilled since Vince bought WCW before Goldberg had the chance to lose a match and be storyline forced to leave WCW.

Although one of the last post-WCW signees, Goldberg’s WWE career still looks pretty impressive and so disc 3 is probably where you’ll find the strongest wrestling. Matches against Jericho, The Rock, Batista, Triple H and Christian all sound fairly mouth-watering as does Goldberg as part of an Elimination Chamber match. He works well in many of these matches but particularly delivers in the Steel Cage Match with Christian from May 2003 on Raw but then is arguably robbed of the title by Triple H at the Elimination Chamber match at SummerSlam. 

I think it’s important to take some of these matches out of context, too. If you watch them as standalone wrestling matches, you may enjoy them more. If you look into the context of the bouts or recall the booking from the period, it will possibly just anger you – particularly if you’re a fan of Goldberg. Did an injured Triple H really need to win the title at the Elimination Chamber and subsequently at Unforgiven in 2003? Should they have at least tried with Goldberg as champion? Possibly subjects best left alone.

When you look back at his career at the end of this collection, it’s sad to think that maybe his career high was beating Hogan only nine months into the streak in WCW. The reaction there when he won the title may have been subsequently equalled but doesn’t seem to have been topped. Matches got longer and, often, this wasn’t a positive for Bill Goldberg. Personally, there is only so much I can take of clothesline-spear-Jackhammer but we so often see that the longer matches with some workers didn’t strike the right chord and although Goldberg was ultimately better than that, the formulaic approach was a winner.

Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection is fairly definitive but for me is also fairly decisive. WWE are not interested in putting Goldberg over now any more than they were when he made his way to the company in 2003. This documents the story of a former pro footballer who was formerly a big deal in pro wrestling but I would say that that’s as far as they care to take it. From the evidence shown by this release, I would suggest that Goldberg v Ryback doesn’t seem to be something that they’re particularly interested in entertaining.