Bill Goldberg

name=Bill Goldberg

Trivia

• He used to be a bouncer. It is unknown where this was, however.
• He has a degree in Psychology from the University of Georgia.
• Goldberg steadfastly kept his real last name as his wrestling moniker against the advice of many. Goldberg has stated that he does so as a show of pride in his Jewish ancestry (other Jewish wrestlers of his "peak" era included Barry Horowitz, Raven, and Dean Malenko). Ironically enough, he would later star in a movie, Santa's Slay where he plays a murderous Santa Claus.
• His character was criticized by some (including Vince McMahon) as being a copy of that of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Despite character history and storylines being different to the extreme, the aforementioned similarities include both men wearing short black tights, sporting bald heads and goatees, using similar wrestling styles, and uttering similar catchphrases. However, Eric Bischoff has stated that his character was created to mock Ken Shamrock when he was in the WWF, not Austin.
• He is an advocate for animal rights and an ASPCA spokesperson.
• Many Internet wrestling fans consider Goldberg to be the one responsible for the ending of Bret Hart's career, although there is no bad blood between Goldberg and Hart, and they have become friends in recent years. Goldberg had delivered a mule kick to Bret Hart while in WCW, and the injuries Bret suffered due to this kick, combined with his continuing to wrestle for several weeks afterward, essentially put an end to his career.
• Regards WCW wrestler Meng as the real-life toughest guy he's met.
• Has the most impressive undefeated streak in all of "modern" professional wrestling history (with Lou Thesz having the most impressive with 900+ wins between 1948-1956) with 174 wins before suffering his first loss to Kevin Nash. The loss to Nash came soon after Nash became part of WCW's booking team.

Movies and television

Goldberg has starred in several movies:

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• His first role was in The Jesse Ventura Story and it was followed by an appearance in '. Both movies were released in 1999.
• His next movie was in 2000 in the WCW movie, Ready to Rumble, in which he would play himself.
• During his time in WWE, he would star in the 2003 Warner Brothers movie, '.
• He appeared on Punk'd, with Ashton Kutcher instructing a stuntman to run over his motorcycle in front of him. However, the stuntman missed the bike.
• He has a brand new movie coming, that is due to be released in (2005). The name of the movie is Santa's Slay.
• He also has a role in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard, in which he co-stars with other wrestlers Kevin Nash and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
• In his first television hosting role, he has a show on the History Channel called AutoManiac (but Goldberg calls it "Inside the Ride" in an interview). To quote Goldberg from an interview he did: "It's a 30-minute show with 13-episodes, talking about the history of automobiles and motorcycles, and what’s their historical perspective. The first (episode) that we shot was, mob cars. We’ve also shot police cars and extreme bikes." This show debuted in early June of 2005.

Trademark moves and sayings

His wrestling catch phrases were “Who’s Next?” or “You’re Next!” He also used “Believe the Hype” coming into Unforgiven 2003 PPV Event.

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He uses two of the most famous wrestling moves in recent wrestling history; the Spear and the Jackhammer.

Related Topics:
Spear - Jackhammer

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He leads with the Spear. He waits on the opposite side of the ring, waiting for his opponent to get up and turn around. When they do, he charges at them like a linebacker in football, tackling them to the ground. Then, in a move called the Jackhammer, after doing the Spear, he picks his opponent up over his head, legs up in the air, then slamming them to the ground, covering immediately for the pin. Only once has anyone kicked out of a pin following this combo of moves, and it was due to a timing issue during a six-man tag match done to Hollywood Hulk Hogan and was supposed to be interrupted by Kevin Nash who was outside the ring at the time.

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Other wrestling moves:

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• Gorilla Press into a Spinebuster slam / Military Press powerslam
• Side kick

Books / Autobiography

• I'm Next: The Strange Journey of America's Most Unlikely Superstar (with Steve Goldberg)