Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Goldberg On One More Match, Bret Hart, Bray Wyatt, The Undertaker & The Best Spear Ever

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

Goldberg (@Goldberg) is a professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in San Antonio, TX to discuss his legendary in-ring career which saw him find success in WCW and WWE, how things could have been different if he did not get injured in the NFL, if one more match will happen and if it could happen in WWE, getting concussed in his match against The Undertaker, Bray Wyatt (The Fiend) and Roman Reigns, how close he got to making an appearance in AEW, having a "Big meaty men slapping meat" match with Big E, who took the best spear ever and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! TIMELINE NUTRITION: Save 10% off your first order of Mitopure at http://timeline.com/INSIGHT BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh, yeah, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you so much for being with us. And thank you for helping to make Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. It's still like 70% of people who listen to the show don't follow the show, which is down from 75%. So I guess we're heading in the right direction. But if you're listening and you don't follow this show,

just take a second right now, please, to hit that follow button on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you might be listening right now. It helps the show so much. And as you can see, the bigger the show gets, the bigger the guests get. It's SummerSlam Week. If you're going to be in Cleveland, I will see you there. I'll see you at the show, but I will also see you before the show. I'm hosting the slammed on sixth tailgate happening just a few blocks from Brown Stadium on West Sixth Street.

they're going to be closing down the street. They've got music and food trucks and wrestling from AIW. I'd love to see you there. Grab your tickets at W6tailgate.com. W6tailgate.com. Who's next? Yeah, I guess I'm next here. So excited to have Goldberg back on the show.

We did an interview a while back, like 2017, like the end of 2017. but it has been far too long. And obviously a lot has happened since then. That's the interview. Maybe you've seen the clip. That's the interview where after we were done, I asked him if he would put me up in the jackhammer. And he's like, yeah, sure, let's do it.

And then he, like, right then and there, like puts me up in the jackhammer. And then very gently lets me back down. So we were all good. Bill was kind enough here to invite me to his incredible property in Texas where we filmed this. He has 200 acres. and this insane garage that you might have seen on his YouTube channel, Goldberg's Garage,

where he has 35 amazing cars in there, and then a gym above that. That's just one building. Then he also has, obviously, the house, and then some other buildings on there, and lots of different animals, which I'll tell you about here. He's one of the nicest people that I've ever spent time with both on or off camera. And shout out to my boy, Louis Gregory, aka Uncle Lerner. Louis, who connected us originally and then reconnected us here to make this interview happen. And we talk about everything here. We talk about Brett Hart, The Feen, the Undertaker,

beating Brock Lesnar in 86 seconds, AEW, his current last match against Roman Reins, and why he still wants a proper retirement match. Snap a screenshot and let us know you're listening. Tag us. He's at Goldberg 95. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg. What a place you got here. You know, it's pretty great. Thank you, man. It's what I've worked for my entire life and continue to work for.

You know, we all have goals. And when you work in front of millions of people, it's nice to be able to segue to a place where it's nice and quiet. You only have to share the property with Kang. and zebras and my wife and my son. You have no longer here. You have zebras? Well, we have one, yeah.

Romeo is his name. And when you live out in Texas, and you have over, I think, 50 acres, I think it's a prerequisite that you have wildlife. And as opposed to Longhorn and deer, we have an eclectic group of wildlife out here at Goldberg's compound. Yeah, it's, it's awesome, man.

You know, I need, I need a bunch of, what do they call them, the, when you have the animal with you, your companion. Sure, your companion animal. Yeah, like you're going to bring a peacock on that, but they call it emotional support. Emotional support. You're going to bring your peacock on the plane? I'm going to take my longhorn on the plane. When I got through the gate here, you were like pointing.

and I rolled down the window, you're like, there's three kangaroos over there. I'm like, what? You know, it's not something normal that you're going to see pulling up to somebody's property. So I wanted you to take advantage of it. No, I appreciate it. The last time I saw you, you had me up in a jackhammer. Yeah, and you wanted to jackhammer me. You still want to?

I don't think I could. I'm lighter, but. You get light for me. I'm sure you would. I would get light for you because, yes. Although I don't know if I've ever been up like that. Once or twice. The funny thing is, I was like, man, I wonder if Goldberg would put me up in the jackhammer.

And we were at- That started your freaking career, man. We were at Uncle Louis' charity event in South Florida. And I'm like, do you think he would? He's like, go ask him. And I went up to you and asked you like, yeah, sure, it's do it right now. My dad always told me the stupidest, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. I love that. And you were like, let's go do it right now.

And you throw my arm over and you're like, Just make sure to put your legs together. And I think I was just so caught up in the moment. I go up and you can see my legs are way wide. And you're like, put your legs together. It's nice to know you'd take instruction well. But then I finally scissored them together. Dude, you did well.

You did well. I appreciate you. It's my pleasure. I remember like it was yesterday. Who came up with a jackhammer? You know, Dwayne Bruce, Sarge down at the power plant, WCW training facility. It was his idea.

I think Dean Malenko did it originally in Japan. And Dean did it from the top turn buckle. Yeah. So it was my opportunity to make it my own and change it and do it in a way to where it's realistic for me to pick a 500-pound guy up in the middle of the ring as opposed to the turn buckle. It makes it a little easier. What was great was when you would pick up a really small guy

and it was kind of just one arm. It was kind of one arm, throw him down like it was nothing. You know, I mean, you got to show off every once in a long. I mean, those 200-pound guys were too easy. How's life been the last few years? Are you officially retired? You know, when you have been a wrestler at some point in your life, I don't think you're retired until you're dead.

But, I mean, I don't know. I was kind of forced into retirement a little bit. I don't like to think that I'm retired in any respect, whether it's from working or wrestling or, Anything else? You know, I've kind of been hiding out here on the ranch for the past four or five years, investing 100% of my time, effort and emotion into our son Gage and trying to prepare him for his journey off to college because it's such a transitional time in kids' life.

And yeah, I've kind of been on the show. shelf. You know, like the, the example I can give people is when Wanda cooks dinner and it's steak night and we have six steaks to eat, she gets one, I get one, and Gage gets whatever's left, which is like four of them, right? So, and then while I'm eating my one and if he's eaten those four and he looks hungry, then I'll cut mine in half and give it to him. So I've lost probably 30 pounds in five years. I haven't been able to come in the gym too much because he's always up here with his buddies and they're doing their thing, but that's what this is for.

They don't want to work out with Bill Goldberg? Hell no. I'm way in their rearview mirror, man. You kidding me? My kid's so much stronger to me now. The day I knew I was going to be emasculated by my son, forever forthcoming, is the day that he got on my neck machine and could actually do more weight than I could. and he's 18 so that's

Bravo kid two sport athlete in high school right baseball and football yeah I mean I could fill this entire interview with an explanation about his high school

athletic career but it's just it's really tough if you have a kid that loves two sports and that puts half of his effort into one and half into the other when 100% could be put into one.

And that will ensure your next progression to the next step, which is college. You know, when everybody's out at camp, football camp, doing their four-star, five-star ratings and all that bullshit, Gage is still playing baseball. So it just got tough for him. but as a kid as as his father and as

a person who's been through it and done it and who might be a celebrity a little bit it's tough it's tough it's really tough on that kid yeah well he's a lot Henry's kid you know ask everybody's kid that you know it's it's a it's tough to live up to.

He's got the last name, Goldberg. Yeah, and, you know, it's a curse and it's a sin. You know, it's a blessing, excuse me, it's a blessing and it's a curse. Gives you opportunity, but the added pressure sometimes is insurmountable. I love the full circle story of you played with Dion Sanders. Now Gage is playing for Dion Sanders in Colorado. Yeah, I mean, when Dion Gion got, when Dion was at Jackson State and he was doing his thing,

obviously we've kept in touch throughout. And I saw his vision once he got there. And he was able to accomplish it in a very short period of time and go far beyond what his original intent was. And he was very successful. Anything Dion touch is going to be successful. And we kept in contact throughout the whole time. And then when he went to Colorado,

I think Gage was in, so he's been there. So Gage was a senior. And I reached out and I said, man, you're going to get a phone call from us, you know, expect it. And, you know, you add him to the list of all the other potential places he could go. And the whole recruiting process was like upside down. COVID changed recruiting from the way that I knew it to how it is today. And man, it's, it's a brutal deal. It's brutal. COVID gave coaches the excuse to not visit in person, not nearly as much as they used to.

Therefore, relying more on statistics than actually how the kid really is. So it's just, it's been a different, it's been a different deal. And to know that Gage is planned for a former teammate of mine and not only just a former teammate, but such a good friend. friend of mine and such a good person like Dion, it's a dream come true. When you look at your career. And it adds more pressure on game. Hey, awesome. Hey, no pressure.

Trying to help, but here, I'm hurting again. So, hey, what the hell? When you look at your career, it's incredible when you talk about dreams. A lot of people's dream is to play in the NFL. You did it. A lot of people's dream is to be a pro wrestler. You did it. A lot of people's dream is to be an actor.

You did it. What was the dream for you when you were, kid. To be a dad, to be a husband. And I mean, it was to play professional football. I mean, the reality is I'm nothing more than knuckle-dragging defensive lineman. I was

one when I was born and I am one now and I'll never change and I'll never want to change. But, you know, having two older brothers who played at the University of Minnesota, 14 and 16 years older than me, when I was growing up, I was at every one of their football games.

So through osmosis, If nothing else, I was going to be a football player. And look at me. I mean, I wasn't the prototypical Jewish lawyer. So I broke the mold, and I started off of my journey, you know, and it's been an interesting one. How different would that journey have looked if you didn't get injured in the NFL? Probably it would look the same because I probably would have done the same thing. I probably would have gotten cut because I wasn't good enough to stay there.

I mean, it is what it is. You know, who knows? Who knows? Famously, I harkened back onto my speech at the WW Hall of Fame. And people asked me, you know, what I wanted to be, what I wanted my life to stand for. I always wanted to be somebody that the kids could look up to. And I always thought that the best way to accomplish that was being in the NFL. and being in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Well, as I was being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame, I realized that that was not true, that by being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame, that was probably bigger than any NFL induction ever could have been because I think I reached more people. Yeah, your career is probably much bigger in wrestling that it ever could have been in the NFL. Oh, yeah, no question.

How did wrestling find you? Was it Sting and Lex Lugar found you? I mean, wrestling has tried to find, me throughout the years. My brothers, when I was a little boy, had a house with Rick Flair at the University of Minnesota. That's insane. My oldest brother had a house with Ken Patera. So they knew mean Gene since before I was born probably. So I mean, the proximity to them going to school in Minnesota and the wrestling world up there and the people that they hung out with. And then I went the University of Georgia, and then after every home game, we'd drive to Atlanta two hours and party all night.

And so I rub shoulders with everybody up there, whether it be the Falcons or whether it be WCW guys or whoever it may be. The Hawks or the Braves, I mean, we knew everybody. I never aspired to be a professional wrestler. I never knew it was going to be my future by any means. Dallas Page. I met Dallas you know Nightlife in Atlanta back in the day. It was

it was the place to be like no question. And everybody who was somebody was out in Atlanta and so I met a lot of the WCW guys so I had a tie to it originally and I could come back to some familiarity when

it became an option of mine as something to do for the rest of my life. What made you decide to actually do it? It goes from being an option to going, yeah, I'll get this a try. My accountant called me and he said, you might want to get off your ass because you didn't make millions in the NFL and you need a job. And, you know, you look at your potential list of things that immediately you can do. And I didn't want to do any of them. I just didn't.

And I wasn't finished with my physical prowess, not my prowess, but my, physical, a way of earning a living through physicality, whatever it may be. And I wanted to be able to apply what I had worked so hard for my entire life, which was playing football. And if there was something I could apply it to, then hey, great. And oh, let's try to find something that'll satiate your violent tendencies and keep you out of jail at the same time. So, I mean, it served a lot of purposes. It put money in my pocket. It gave me a job. And it, it, it was therapy in a way. I feel like people hold it against you that you weren't a wrestling guy growing up. Sorry. I mean, I watched pro wrestling with my grandmother as a kid every Saturday morning from the sportatorium.

But no, I mean, I was a football. I was a football guy. That's, that was my dream. I was my, I was pursuing that every day of my life. I was the first picture of me, I think, was an. my brother's football helmet. So, I mean, it was, it was a foregone conclusion that I was going to chase it in my entire life. When you did get in there in the wrestling ring, did it just feel like, yeah, this is something I'm going to be dominant at? Absolutely not. No, I was, I was extreme.

I was terrible. I thought I was terrible. And to this day, people still think that I was terrible. And it was something completely different for me, man. I'm not a, I'm not a, look where I live. I'm not in Hollywood. I'm not in front of everybody all the time. I'm a recluse.

I'm not over the top. I don't, I don't yell and scream and pound my chest. And I just, I'm a reserve human being. And so to be there in my underwear in front of millions of people who knew me as a football player. And now I take on this other persona and try this other endeavor. and no, I was extremely uncomfortable. You know, I never thought that I was good at it because I like to shoot high, right? My adage is, and pardon me, you can cut this out.

Why the fuck do something if you don't want to be the best? Absolutely. There is no reason to put any effort forth if you don't want to be the best at what you choose to do. So I filmed every single thing that I did at the power plant. And I went home and I studied and I tried to develop moves. And I pulled, you know, a bunch of Japanese tapes of Pancras and of wrestle one and all kind of different archive wrestling interaction between American wrestlers and Japanese wrestlers. I just, I'm a student of the game.

And it was very important to me to search the end of the earth to find moves that entertain me and that I could alter and make my own. Do you feel like you were put in there like when you weren't ready? I think Bischoff said something about that. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I mean, 100%.

I was put in when I wasn't ready, but I was put in, I was a piece of a puzzle, right? And in a world where you can dictate what people see, why not roll the dice when you can control the narrative to a point? So I get it, completely understand it. And I probably should have performed a little bit better. I don't, hell, I don't know. I think I did pretty good.

I mean, I don't know. It's been a hell of a career. I don't know. I mean, let me look on the past 20 years where people comment on stuff. I guess I haven't done shit. But truly, looking back on it, I did pretty damn good for the situation that I was in because I wasn't a lifer. I wasn't a guy who aspired to be one, be a professional wrestler. So I didn't know anything about it.

I didn't know anything about the business. I learned quite quickly how cutthroat it can be. But I didn't really know. And I tried to. consume as much knowledge as humanly possible in a short period of time and try to put forth the best package, you know, I could. Yeah, there is a certain section of the audience that, like, over the last 20 years, they don't know the work that you did in WCW.

They only know you for the things that Brett Hart said about you. And it's like, I don't know. Wake up, people. I feel like it takes away from the legacy you had in WCW. It was, I mean, an incredible run. The influence that you had that. It was really amazing. Yeah, I mean, I had to pinch myself every day because I was cast in a situation that was an enviable spot for any human being.

I mean, and I felt guilty about it. I did, you know, and because you got guys who have put their life, their heart and their soul into this craft. and they're never going to make it to that spot. Yet within six months, you make it. And like I said, I felt guilty. And you hear everything from everybody. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me.

I can care less what people think. I just grind it out and keep going forward. And I use it as fuel. And so therefore, I've had a lot of fuel my entire life. But I enjoy it. I always need something to motivate. Prize Picks is America's number one daily fantasy. sports app with over 5 million active members.

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Eligible items only, exclusions apply. Hey guys, forgive the interruption. It's Sam Roberts, and as podcast listeners, I wanted to tell you guys about my podcast, not Sam wrestling, where every single week we get on and try to break down everything going on in the world of professional. wrestling. Sometimes if an emergency podcast is required multiple times a week, and we're leading up

towards SummerSlam. There is so much to talk about this week. We talked about it all. Go download it. Wherever you get podcasts or on YouTube at YouTube.com slash not sam wrestling. I'll see you there. How do you feel like 25 plus years later? Brett Hart still like has this animosity. It feels like, I really don't care anymore. Brett, I can care less. You know, you know Louis, right? all I can tell you is this. You, you, Louie and I know

and Nobs knows through Legends of Wrestling that shortly thereafter all that shit that happened, I talked Louis into giving Brad Hart a job at Legends of Wrestling. He must forget about stuff like that. You know,

you must forget about the conversation. we had back then. But, yeah. I think people don't think you guys have talked since that match. Well, we've talked a couple times. As of late, because of the things coming out of his mouth, I don't really know that I would be talking to him if I saw him. But, hey, man, I'm 57 years old. I don't need to prove anything to Brett Hart or to any other human being.

You know, the fact is, it was a mistake. I was, I was extremely green in the business. And anybody who knows me knows that if, If I didn't intend to hurt him, then it was an accident. You know, if I intended to hurt him, then I'd be the first one to tell him. Sure. And you and everyone else. But, man, I was green, dude.

I mean, it was a screw-up in the match, and it's live on national television. Yeah. And there's two people that have to dance, and you can only do so much. And, you know, I mean, things went awry, and it is what it is. At what point in your WCW career do you feel like it started to click? you're like okay i get it i i know what i'm doing in here god i i don't i don't really know man i don't really know if it ever clicked um i'm sure it did at some point um it was a world wind when it was all positive when i was on that street um shit was just happening yeah um

i don't really know when it when i i kind of took the reins and and assumed response of where I was. What's the actual number of the street? I know that it goes down in history is 173 and 0. How many matches is it actually? How the hell do I know? Who are the guy? What do you think I counted them on my hand?

There's 117. I got a hundred and little marks on my arm. But it's not, I don't know. It's not 173, right? It's somewhere around there. I don't know. I mean, I've, I've, I've written down a hundred 173 and 0 and 176.

You mean in an autograph? Yeah. So I don't know which is right. I wonder who has which one. I don't know. And I don't know who you can really check with to get the stat correctly. That's a good question. The archives, I'm sure somebody knows, right?

I don't know. Now? WW probably got it and erased it. Hmm. Possible. I don't know. Never know. When you're going to give a guy the spear, what's the conversation?

you have beforehand. If he's never taken it, um, uh, close your eyes, tuck your chin, spread your legs and kiss your ass goodbye. And hold on.

It's, it's an extremely easy move to take. It really is. I mean, it's literally like you're along for the ride. You really can't do much. The reality is if you, if you screw up and you do

try to do something with it, you're going to get hurt. So the best way to do it is just a rag doll yourself and just get ready for it. Who took the best spear? Man, there were Kiwi took a real good one. That one you could be. Christian took a great one. That one you gave to Christian was crazy.

Nunzio took a real good one. I mean, I took him like eight to ten yards in the air from turnbuckle to turnbuckle. during a battle royal or something. Steiner always took it well. There were a lot of guys that took it well, man. But the Christian one, I think, will go down in history. That Christian one looked like it was personal. It looks like I folded him like a chair.

But he was, I love Christian, man. I mean, the funny thing is, is that the ones that look the most devastating are to the guys that I like the most. And that shows you that if you just go with it, You know, different people had different ways of dealing with it. Steiner would jump before I'd hit him. It's all preference.

What do you think about, I guess it would be Steiner's nephew? Love it, man. A lot of comparisons to Bronbreaker. Love him. He had my tattoo. I think at some point he had to cover it up and change it. They tried to mold him after me a bit. at the training facility.

We had conversations throughout. We're pretty close. He helped out a lot with Gage. He went through something very similar. You know, it was a walk-on and then went as a free agent to Baltimore. And, you know, so we've been tied for a long time.

And when I used to travel with Scotty and Rick, and I love their. kids right and i love i love kids in general and so when we i spent a lot of time with them and uh so we're pretty close yeah and i'm i'm really happy for what's going on with him i you know he knows the business you've known bram breaker since he was a little kid oh yeah yeah 100% yeah he he does a pretty mean spear yeah but he played football yeah he knows yeah kid ran a four three, something like that.

The kid's a freaking freak. Yeah, he can't get any taller, but, you know, he, he's a freak. And his is force equals mass times acceleration.

His whole deal is explosion. And that's what makes him different. Yeah, the way he runs the ropes is just scary. Exactly, right? But it's different. It shows he's completely different. And he,

he, he shines in an area where people don't. He rises to the top because he's different and he takes it seriously and he's physical and he's got a great head on his shoulder. I appreciate that the focus of your life over the last 18 years has been about your son. It's the whole reason you came back to WWE, right? 100%. Where did those conversations begin for you to come back to WWE? I don't really remember how they began.

I just knew that I entertained them because of him. and that was the only reason that I would go back. And it wasn't because to use him like a pawn, it was to show him in real life what his dad used to do, as opposed to always having to see it on YouTube. So like a real life superhero? Well, you might say that, yeah, but I just wanted to do it in real time.

And I thought that I was still in good enough shape to be able to pull it off. and it was a very tough decision extremely tough to go back oh yeah yeah but uh i i pulled the trigger and i mean i went with it and what was tough about it i don't know was it 12 years that i've been off tv um as a as a big guy as a big power dude who eats people for breakfast it's tough when you're 12 years older to be that physical presence in the ring and after all the injuries you've accumulated throughout the years, stuff like that. I mean, it's, it was tough.

Mentally, physically, emotionally, is it the right thing to do? Do I want to embarrass him? Am I going to embarrass him? You know, it's just, I'm a very negative person, right? So it always makes me work harder to perfect myself and what I'm attempting to do because I, I don't think that how I go about things is good enough. I'm never satisfied. It was interesting because when you debuted, Gage looked like a kid.

And then a few years later, we see him in the ring with you, and he's a man. It's like you snapped your fingers. He shows you how freaking long I was gone. But I mean, even when you returned to WWE, he was, I don't know, what, 12, 13, something like that. And then the next time we really saw him in that angle, he was 14. I don't know. He looked like a, look like a man. All I can say is, Lashley, there's no way you could beat this kid up now. I don't care what you've been able to do.

It's not possible. I live with him. It's amazing the transformation the kids made. And, you know, I mean, there's no book to be a dad, right? So you, you, who am I tell it? You're a new dad. Yeah. Right?

And you realize that it ain't an easy endeavor by any sort. stretch and there is no right way and there is no wrong way it's your way and um right now it's it's an extremely if at any point it was more of a responsibility to be a good parent it's right freaking now right so I didn't want my kid growing up in California going to high school that's why we moved to Texas one of the reasons why we moved to Texas You look at things differently, you treat things differently, you treat situations differently when you're a parent. And you're learning all about that right now. It's every day.

And it's awesome. Every day's a new day, man. And wait until they go off to college. It's one of the worst days of your life. But then again, you can't be selfish, right? Because you had to put yourself in their shoes and remember, I mean, when I went off to college, man, it was the most exciting time of my life. I remember my parents sent me off to college.

My mom was bawling. And I was like, okay, well, see you later, mom. Like, we're good. It's tough. It's tough. And everybody treats it differently. And, you know, Gage is, you know, he's in Colorado. We live in Texas.

but it's it's an easy it's an easy ask to get from door to door and he needs a space he needs to embark upon the next phase of his life and he needs to get away from dad not mom he needs to get away from dad I'm at every freaking practice I'm in every game I'm in the I'm in the end zone yelling at him when he's on the goal line stand turns around and cusses me out you know I mean, he, you know, and now he's going to play with Dion, and I'm probably going to be on the sideline yelling at him and doing the same shit. He needs to be his own person. And he's, he's, he's taking that on his entire life.

He's never rest of, rest of them on the laurels of being a Goldberg by any mean. If anything, he resents it, you know, and it's made him work hard. You played football. He's playing football. Do you think that whenever his football career ends, you think he'll find wrestling? I think it's an option, and for it to be an option, he's a very lucky person. Yeah. I can't comment on it any more than that, and that it's his life. And whatever he wants to do, I'm, you know, if it's a good decision, then I'm behind it, right? Here I am again. I can't let go.

At the start of this conversation, you were talking about how you were being forced to, into retirement. Was it that this match with, you were supposed to have a match with Roman Reins and then another match after that, right? Is that match still on the table? Well, no,

not from Vince. No. If that match was still on the table, it would have been done, I think. I would have thought. But, hey,

man, I was thinking about it this morning in the shower, right? And, uh, I, man, I had one of the best wrestling careers ever.

and don't think for one second that I don't understand that and I don't appreciate it. And so to sit here and cry over a person not keeping his word in a business that's as cutthroat as humanly possible and he gets cast out, what do I think is going to happen? Right? And so, come on, man. I mean, I'm a big boy. It is what it is. If I really wanted that to happen, I could go do it myself.

I could go to India and do it. could go to Israel and do it. I could go in Japan and do it. I could do it here in the States. The fact is, though, the past six years, I poured every ounce of my soul into my son. And I haven't even used this weight room barely. But now he's out the door. I got to fill my time with a bunch of stuff. So I'm working on my cars and I'm training again. I'm going to get stem cells, a bioaccelerator, you know, down in Columbia. I've got this new TV show going. I'm going to Roadkill Nights in Detroit, August the 10th.

I'm actually living again. You got your YouTube channel, Goldberg's Garage. Got the YouTube channel. I love us here. All of this, though, what you're saying, though, I've got more time. I'm training again. You know what that all sounds like?

No, but I'm not saying it because of that. I'm saying it because it's time to take care of myself again. And the fact is you can't be there. for anybody if you're not there for yourself. So it's time to feel a little bit selfish and time to put my nose of the grindstone and get back to being me. People in this town have no idea who I am. They have no freaking idea who I am.

They know me as Gage's dad. And they've been, that's why we moved here. They were so respectful throughout. I mean, I've done so much with the Salvation Army and with, you know, hope for heroes and with compadres, the Purple Heart Foundation and with veterans here in town, but they have let me just be dead. They haven't asked me to talk to the team. They haven't asked me to come to practice and teach that. They just let me be dead. And looking back on the last five years here, it's,

that's pretty damn cool. They had the respect enough for me to just let me live that part of my life because you can't get that back. And it could be, it'd be very easy for them to ask me to talk to the team or to do this or to run them out or they talked to the, but, you know, they picked and chose the spots what they would ask me to do and they'd let me be dead. And it was a really, it was the best years of my life. You were Goldberg for so long. Now I'm just dead.

Well, you're Bill Goldberg again. Like, do you feel like you're getting to know who Bill Goldberg is again? Yeah, and I don't like it. I don't like him, man. He's pretty nice. He's freaking irritable and he's negative and he can't sleep and just all this shit. You know, yeah, I am kind of learning who I am and who I have been for a long period of time again. And I'm enjoying it.

I'm having fun. I'm embarking upon new territory. I'm auditioning for stuff that I didn't think I'd ever auditioned for. You know, I'm considering moving and doing something that I never thought that I would do. It's just opened up a different facet of my life. That's all. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to be in a different freaking city every,

every Saturday, you know, watching my son play football. But, you know, it's just, it's, it's not my number one focus anymore because he doesn't live under our roof. With Vince out, how's your relationship with Triple H? I've been to talk to Triple H in a long time. You know, it was extremely rocky in the beginning. But I think, uh, I think we're at a good place, man. I have nothing but respect for him, man.

He's, he's turned an interesting situation. to a very successful situation and very profitable. And I'm proud of it, man, good job. Yeah, wrestling's hotter than it's been in a long time. Yeah, I mean, I can't speak to that because I don't watch it. And I don't really take note of what's going on by any means. But, I mean, hey, I'm ecstatic for that. If the match with Romans, your last match on paper, you okay with that?

No, it sucks. I had fucking COVID three weeks before I was asked to do it. It was horrible. No, it was a favor. You know, it was my job. I'm not going to say no. I've never said no, really. And I was asked to wrestle twice a year.

You know. These are the Saudi matches you're talking about, right? Yeah. And it was, it was, they were caught between a rock and a hard place, and I was their answer, right? And I feel like I did him a favor. And that's why I thought that the favor would be reciprocated. But it is what it is, man.

It is what it is. What are you? I'll never forget the phone call I got when I was in bed. And I meant I couldn't even breathe. I felt like ass. I couldn't even get up. I think you can make Saudi in three weeks? Sure.

I'll be there. you promised me a match after that sure yeah i should have known better that's my fault what are you proud of for that final w w rerun um what am i proud of of that final w wrenn um what am i proud of that final run i'm proud of the fact that i don't know that i was able to take 12 years off and come back and show people a little bit of what I used to be. It's pretty cool hearing those Goldberg chants again. It was neat, man. It was.

It was cool. I mean, it makes you feel good as a human being. And at the end of the day, you just want your family to be proud of you. And, you know, there's a picture that I have of me getting out of the ring in Denver.

And hugging my wife. And I found it the other. day and I looked at it and I've never seen her so happy. Never. And how long was the match with Brock? Was it 86 seconds? I think it was something like that. It wasn't my idea. Whose idea was it? Brock. Wow. Shows you how brilliant he is. I mean, truly. I mean, people thought he was just a muscle-headed, you know, asshole, you know. Yeah, I think they're starting to realize there's a lot more to him

than just that. There's a hell of a lot more to Brock than that. That, you know, when you reach a certain part of your career, you have to reinvent yourself and you have to pull things out that people never thought that you would do. That bun that he had, you know, was different. It was completely different. The man bun? Yeah, and the character that he was different. Yeah. More power to him. And he came up with, he had great psychology. Yeah, Farmer Brock was fun. It was fun. Yeah. You know, you got to evolve. What happened in the match with The Undertaker? You got knocked out. I knocked myself out before walking to the freaking ring. You know, when I came back, intensity is something very hard to replicate. And I had forgotten my sequence to the ring. I'd forgotten my preparation. It had been so long.

And I had put it away, I had put it in a dark place in my mind. I had to, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to get ready for matches. anymore. I was just detached. And, oh, I remember this. I got a headbut the door. Man, I had but under the door right when they played my music to wrestle taker, which was the most unbelievable opportunity ever. And I knocked myself out. And I was, I was walking to the ring. Man, I was on, I was on that street that's, you know. Do you remember anything from that match? Yeah, I remember the referee asking me if I could go on and me saying yes and then him turning away and then me saying no and then me saying yes and then me saying no.

I remember that. And then did you knock yourself out again in the ring? Yes. And then he shot me to the turn. He shot me to the turn buckle. And I like to make it, if I'm going to be hurt, I like to make it look as real as possible. Yeah. sometimes actually making it real.

And I unintentionally head-budded the freaking post. And yeah, it knocked me for another one. And so I had two concussions leading up to me dropping him on his head. And then the nice little payback was the tombstone straight up and down on my head. And thank God for that neck machine right there, I wouldn't be talking to you. Wow. But I deserved it 100%. But, you know, that's what happened.

The look on taker's face is just like, he actually told me in the interview that we did. He's like, I should have known. He's like, I should have known. No shit, he should have known. I was out. I don't know how. I don't know how I did anything.

But then what do you do, right? Do you just stop the match? I don't, like I said. Yeah. I remember when Sid compound fractured, it's freaking tibia in the middle of a, of a freaking battle royal. And Steiner was adamant about continuing to wrestle around him.

And I'm like, oh my God, right? Oh, my God. His legs just hanging there. But it's like when Flair pulls your pants down or he pulls his pants down during a house show. And you're like, oh, my God. I mean, you've got to just act. You've got to continue to do your thing. Yeah.

Right. And I mean, yeah, it's we're, we're machines. And I just wasn't. smart enough to realize that I was a little older at that point and I shouldn't headbutter the door that hard and it is what it is. You live and learn. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. Yeah, and here we are. Here we are. In the match with The Fiend, it looked like you couldn't get him up for the jackhammer. He just sandbagged you or what happened there? Oh, all right. Okay. It's probably my, the fact that I had a torn rotator cuff. Yeah, yeah. And I still tried to do. So,

If you look back and you're just strategic in what you're looking at, there was a time in my run when I start spearing guys with my left shoulder. Why do you think that happened? Because I tore my rotator cuff the first night I went back with Brock. And I didn't tell anybody. And I worked around it the whole time. And certain situations I could work around. And certain times I couldn't.

Wow. And, yeah. Were you in pain? Fah, yeah. In pain? That's an understatement. I couldn't lift my arm for five years, six years. I mean, yeah.

But then again, it's one of those things where I chose to keep it to myself because if I would have said anything, God forbid I go get surgery and then Vince need me. Right? Or if I go get surgery without telling anybody, my luck is two weeks after I get done, he's in a call and want me to go, you know, wrestle. So I just stuck it out. When you've got a certain style of wrestling that people expect, you know, when Goldberg's music hits and they see you, they expect to see a spear. They expect to see a jackhammer. And if you can't lift your arm, that's why it was so, that's why my second run was so tough.

So now if you really want to know, yes, it was tough because not only are you older and you're trying to be that 300-pound behemoth that just spits nails and shits fire. And oh, guess what? You have a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum, right? Yeah. And so now how are you going to feel about your preparation? Right? And so with three weeks, how do you think I felt looking myself in the mirror? I don't look at mirrors.

I didn't look at mirror. I haven't looked at mirrors for years because I expect to see one guy and then it's a different guy. But I can't be that guy unless I do the things that I have done in the past to be that guy. And spending a lot of time in here has a lot to do with that. So, yeah, it was a tough. It was really tough. Mentally, mentally, it was tougher than physically. Where are you at physically now?

Hey. I can lift it. Okay. Right? You know, but that's hours and days and months of bandwork, you know, and then you heard it. And then, see, I won't go to a doctor because I know what they're going to tell me. And I don't want to get operated on again. That's why I'm going to bioaccelerator.

I'm going to Columbia and I'm getting stem cells done. NASS has been there. DDP's been there. The list is long. The list is so long. Yeah. And I've been. Bobby Lashley's been there.

Lashley's been there. And they have an office in Austin. And I got connected with them. And it's part of the treatment, you know, that's going to get me back to who I need to be. You'd said before you've had many conversations with Tony Kahn. How come those didn't leave? lead to anything? I just, I think we have a different perspective on it, I think.

I don't know. I mean, it's a, it's hard for me to really pass judgment on their production because I don't watch it. I see clips of it. And it's, it's hard to give a, a rational breakdown of how they are if I don't really watch it. So, I don't really know. No, he reminds me a Dixie Carter.

Is that a good thing? But a male version. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing. But he reminds me of that scenario. And it's just a different feel. It's a different. It's just different. Were you close to making a deal with him or were these just conversations?

No. I don't think I was ever close to making a deal with him. I think it was much more a realistic transition when Sting was involved. Because that's why I reached out to Sting because I wanted to be a part. I thought he and I could do a farewell thing at some point together. But it wasn't about me. It was about Sting. And I didn't want, I could never overshadow anything that he does.

but I don't want to convolut the water. Right. It would have been a nice crescendo, but it wasn't about me. So the timing was kind of off on that. So much of your focuses on other things now. We just listed off all the other things that you're focusing on now, the number one being your son Gage,

but also Goldberg's garage on YouTube, and then you've got all the acting stuff that you're doing. You've got a lot of other stuff going on too. I'm trying, man. you know um you can only you can only feed the animals and cut the grass for so long without lobotomizing yourself you got a lot of grass to cut out yeah i know how many acres are here 200 but um it's it's therapy it truly is but i need uh i need to still be creative and um i enjoy it and the car stuff that i do working for dodge going to detroit at roadkill nights for the weekend

I got to hang out with a bunch of 700 horsepower cars and a bunch of people who collect them. Oh, boy, that's going to suck. Doing my YouTube channel, you know, I spend a couple hours a week just showing people my cars and interacting. And it gives me the ability to take them out because if I don't do the show, then I don't take them out. And it fills my time and it gives people an opportunity to have some fun. And I take a lot of veterans out with me. I go to compadres for lunch and I try to advertise what he's doing. And he does a lot for the veterans.

And he's a veteran himself. And he's got a great restaurant here in town. And I'm just kind of hanging out and having fun, man. When you were talking about when you do something, you want it to look real, you want to feel real, walk me through putting your arm through that limousine window. Well, um. I didn't want it to look that real. I was, I was, again, overrun with emotion, and I wanted to inflict damage as much as humanly possible on national television.

So I chose to go about breaking a window in a different way. In character, or you were really pissed off? Both. Oh. And so. And this is at Scott Hall. Yes. I'm an emotional person.

I take things personally way too much. Way too much. And sometimes it's got me in trouble, and that night was one of them. Though it was the highest rated segment on cable television up to that point, they had to go to black and white, and I thought it was a kind of cool segment. What resulted was, you know,

199 stitches and me putting my arm through a limousine window on national television it was uh it's one of the things i'll be remembered by and weren't you like really close to hitting a major a centimeter away and yet they were at that i was signing autographs at the i see with the doctor was his was your like was the flesh on your arm just like hanging there no it was a cut it was a cut it was a cut it looked like a shark bite and what happened was they closed me up and they didn't get all the glass out. Oh. And so they had to open me up again and go back in.

Oh, man. It was horrible. It was horrible. I think it was outside of Baltimore or something. I can't remember where I was, but it sucked. Man, that's, yeah, that's bad. Yeah, it was pretty bad. I was so impressed when you got, he was the giant at the time,

but when you got Big Show Up for the Jackhammer, and you made it look like he weighed as much as I do. What were the mechanics behind making that look so good? First and foremost, it couldn't have been done. The result wouldn't have been what it was if he wasn't an athletic freak of nature. His athleticism was unparalleled, and the fact that he was so athletic, that's what gave me the ability to do it. That, you know, a lot of pent-up anger and violence inside my brain. and the fact that, you know, like C.T. Fletcher said,

I never got under a bar that I didn't know that I couldn't push up. I never grabbed anyone for a jackhammer that I didn't know that I couldn't jackhammer. Because what people have to understand is that you've heard stories about mothers pulling, lifting a vehicle off of a baby, right? Yeah. Ask people in the military. There are certain human beings that can call upon a force within them that is seemingly unnatural. And I'm not saying I'm one of those, I am one of those guys. Okay.

Because the mind is an extremely powerful thing. Because if you convince yourself that something's going to happen, the reality of it happening, barring it being an impossible feat, it's pretty damn good. And if I'm adamant about the fact that there's no freaking way that there's not a human being that I can pick up, I can pick them up. I don't care who it is. It doesn't matter because it's conviction. It's all in your mind. Where'd that come from? Where'd that mindset come from for you?

I think watching Bruser Brody. No. I, you know, I'll be honest with you. The mindset was developed as a kid when I was growing. up in Tulsa, Oklahoma as one of very few Jewish kids in my town, and I was picked on all the time. And that's when I developed it. And it's an ongoing thing. And it's ever present. And it's something that I turned a negative into a positive. Was there a moment where you went from being bullied to going, I'm not going to take this anymore.

100%. You ever seen a Christmas story? Yeah. Remember when Ralphie was on top of that bully beating a dog piss out of him? Yeah. That happened to me. Wow. And it was Katie barred the door after that.

And you never got picked on again? Nope. Wow. When did you become the physical specimen that you became? I think when I was in college. I remember seeing you for the first time in WCW and I didn't think that those traps were humanly possible I wanted to separate myself from everybody else

and plus like I said I was a defensive lineman that and when I trained in between football and wrestling I train with a bunch of power lift and I love doing shrug but you weren't built like a power lifter you're built like a bodybuilder yeah I mean I was

I was a combination between a bodybuilder a power lifter and a football player, which I thought was a cool combo, right? I mean, I didn't know many people at 300 pounds. I could do a back hand spring at will like that, even though it looked kind of fruity at the time. But it's like the giant doing drop kicks. You know, you want to show people your athleticism,

but does it really fit? No, it doesn't. What point did you go? Maybe I should stop doing these backslip. I think after I did a backhand spring and then I clapped my hands and then I sidekick. Dave Taylor and I'm like man I'm never doing that again I'm gonna put that with hey guys I have a I have a I have another YouTube channel called all things Goldberg and I think there's like 80 people that are subscribed to it but I do this there's going to be a lot more they'll be 86

they'll be like 180 no but here's the deal I I did it because I don't have a place to show like my training footage. I've got footage of me perfecting the jackhammer. I've got stuff like that, like cool shit that no one's ever seen. And that's on the YouTube channel? Well, that's where I open the YouTube channel because that's the place where I'm going to push it. Is this public? I'm going to look this up right now. It's called All Things Goldberg. Let me see. But I did it like a couple months ago just to get it, just to secure it, right? But I haven't posted anything on it. I think I post to maybe one or two little clips just to kind of tease people, but I've never advertised it.

And I've never like on this. Until now. It's over. I'm just saying, that's where I'm going to start pushing stuff. I don't know. I can't find it. It's called All Things Goldberg. But like, so is it YouTube.com slash all things Goldberg?

I think so. Because when I type in All Things Goldberg, we just get a bunch of like your, your best moments here. Let's see here. Oh, this is. I'm going to try to go to YouTube. you've got some pretty good cell phone reception out here for being in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, it's pretty great.

Okay, so let me see all YouTube.com slash all things gold. Berg. This is riveting for everybody listening right now. Now you'll have to show me with the actual, with the actual like, maybe I don't have it. No, you probably have it.

If you go to the YouTube app, I'm sure you're signed in. Let's see here. We can live. look at this after, but I'm sure you have it. Yeah, so that's... But everybody listening should subscribe to Goldberg's Garage. What do you have?

130,000 subscribers? Something like that, man. You should have a lot more. And you will. I should, but, you know, hey, people in hell one ice water, too. Well, now, Goldberg's Garage has... 129. 129.

Where is this? I subscribe from both my channels. There you go. We'll look at it. We'll look at it after. What was the conversation with Hogan before you beat him for the WCW Championship? I'll never forget. I walked in the ring and, excuse me, no, I walked in his dressing room at the beginning of the afternoon before I had gone out and wrestled Scott Hall.

And, you know, with all respect, because it was Hulk Hogan, you walk in and you try to get as much information. as humanly possible about what you're supposed to do that night. And I asked Mr. Hogan. I said, Hulk, what are we doing? And he looks at me and I'll never forget what he said.

And he says, we'll call it in the ring, kid. And I went, oh, shit. Really? I've never done that.

Okay. And I mean, I didn't eloquate any of this. I was speaking at the, myself. But yeah, I was flipped out. Not only did I have two matches that night, but I had to freaking go out and I had to wrestle Hogan and not know anything. And by the way, don't think that I don't know you did this on purpose, Terry, and I love you for it. But the first move was a headlock. And he put freaking icy hot all over his arm and his armpit.

And so I couldn't see the rest of the fucking match. When you're going over the match, does he tell you to finish it wasn't going over any match there we did it in the ring didn't even tell you you're winning no well yeah i knew i was going over but i didn't know how we were getting there and i had just been in the business six months and we're in front of these people who watched me play college football and people who were there you know wearing falcons jerseys and damn and i mean yeah it was daunting to say the least yeah but i mean i handled it i did it and um it just you know guys like him, man, are invaluable. Wow.

Invaluble. And for him to have that trust in you. Well, yeah, but it was a money thing, right? It's business. It's all business. It's not whether they like you by any means. You like to think so. But at the end of the day, you know, people liking you isn't going to put money in their

pocket. So if it was good business, then, I mean, it was, it was an unbelievable move. And to have been the recipient of it, I mean, I'm extremely, what about when you beat sting for the championship stings the reason why i got in the business you know um i looked at him and what he had going on and how he treated the business and how it hadn't changed him and i said you know what if he can do it i can forget do it and uh he didn't he didn't he didn't actively teach me a lot but i learned so much through osmosis just being around that do. He has no idea how much of an effect he had on my career. I think he does because I've gushed

him with a bunch of praise, but there's no question between he and, you know, Kenny Chaos and Robbie Rage and, and Sarge and, and, you know, Dallas, I mean, and Ernest Miller. I mean, those are the, those were the boys back in the day. It's hard to think about. Eugene Nagata. It's hard to think about WCW without Goldberg and without Sting. And you know what? For me, that's the coolest compliment you could ever give me, ever, right? Because Sting was WCW. And until I came along, there was no one else in the sentence with it.

And I like to think that he handed off that little torch to me. And I wouldn't be where I am without Sting. When WWF at the time bought out WCW, where did you think your career was going to go? I didn't know except for the fact that I knew I wasn't going to work for 50 cents on the dollar. So I'm going to sit at home and let it play out. I had no idea. I really didn't.

I knew that I had always wanted to go to Japan, always. And that gave me the opportunity. and that that was a dream come true for me your wwee debut was pretty pretty cool yeah it was it was when that did finally happen you interrupting the rock yeah it was a lot of fun it was a lot of fun and big kudos to him for having you know the foresight that it would be something that would go over like that yeah you know he's very unselfish and um at the end of the day it's a dance man we all need we all need everyone involved to be a part because It's a well-oiled machine.

You can't, I always tell people that I couldn't have had the streak if it wasn't for 176, three, two guys to make me look good. Right. I mean, the match in Colorado Springs with the flock, and they threw themselves around like it was nobody's business. They made me look like Godzilla. And it was awesome. But that's their job.

That's what they do. Where are you at now with looking back on your career? Are you at peace with your career? Oh, a thousand percent. Yeah. Like I said, I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world because I was, I'll never forget the day that I was on the phone with my accountant and we had no idea what I was going to do with my life.

Yeah. And to know that the decision that I made led to be having this garage, me having the fans that I have, me accomplishing the things that I've accomplished. I'm one of the luckiest guys. on the planet. I feel like you also broke the mold for what it meant to be a Jewish athlete. I doubt, you know, thank you greatly because that was a huge dream of mine and mission of mine to break that stereotype. I could have been called freaking Godzilla, and that would have been much more intimidating than choosing the name Goldberg. But I had a reason for it. And why else would

I have kept the name Goldberg as a wrestler? A business where you have to, by name alone, have to be intimidating. Well, that was intimidating. I'd made it intimidating. The name Goldberg wasn't intimidating before that. I can guarantee you that. And so of all my accomplishments, that's the biggest one that I've ever been bestowed and given is the fact that I made little Jewish kids' lives a little bit easier in that I gave them the ability to understand that they didn't have to follow that stereotypical path of just being someone who's, you know, to themselves and understated and weak and frail and, you know, bullshit, not me, not happening. I think about MJF when you talk about that.

Because he's very proudly a Jewish athlete. He cut a whole promo about it. Yeah. It's like you paved the way for people like MJF. Yeah, other than him, yes. Yeah, the respect that he didn't show me in one little promo thing. But I get it. It's all the business.

That's in character. It's in character. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, and I, I'm proud that he has treated his, career as such. Very much so. Because it, you know, it's, it's not the normal path. And you're going to get resistant. And you think that I didn't think that I was going to be lamb-baseded by people in the deep south. And were you? No, never. Wow. Not once. And, you know, I think I was going to be lamb-based going to Saudi Arabia. You think I was terrified going there the first time I was terrified.

You know, because you don't know. It's a stereotype thing. And how was it when you got? It was fabulous. It was one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life. And that shows you right now that you can't stereotype anything or anybody because you're going to be sadly mistaken because you're going to be wrong. And I was never shown any more respect than when we were in Saudi. And it was fabulous. And those people were so appreciative. And it completely destroyed the myth that I had about going there. And it became one of the favorable places to visit, you know. What do you think is the piece of advice you wish that somebody had given you when you first started in this business?

Hmm. Well, Kevin did kind of give it to me, but not everybody's your friend. Just like life. People have ulterior motive. And don't think that, you know, people are as nice and as considerate as you are. You know, all, that's, you know, that's, you know, that's That's what makes me kind of hardened and that I always think of the bad side and I prepare for that. And so therefore, I'm always pleasantly surprised when something positive. You're prepared for the worst. I'm serious. That's how I look at everything.

But you're a very pleasant human being. You're very kind. I can be. No. Thank you. You've been nothing but very kind to me, very nice to me in all of the interactions that we've ever had. I mean, at the end of the day, that's the most important thing in the world. accomplishments, money, nothing of that is of any, of any matter whatsoever.

Yeah, the Rock always has it. The Rock always has its phrase, it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. You're damn, Skippy it is. You know, I learned it from, I didn't learn it, but it was positively reinforced by Jay Leno, right? And I'll never forget it. We're on Leno's garage and my brother and I are in the backseat of my grandmother's 1962 Ford Thunderbird. and Leno's driving. And he asked me about somebody in Hollywood that I worked with and I told him how they treated me.

And he's like, sure, shit, they're going to treat you like that because you're Goldberg. You're 300 pounds. You're going to eat their face. He goes, I treat people the way that they treat their weight staff. Oh. Always stuck with me. Right. And the reality is when I go on a movie set, when I'm doing TV, I'm hanging out with the camera guys and the stunt guy.

I'm not with the producer and the lead actor. I'm a people person. I just treat people how I want to be treated. If I want to be treated like a dick, then I treat somebody like a dick. But, I mean, it's a simple act of kindness in life that people have overlooked as a plate.

And it's simply treating people the way you want to be treated. It's no deeper than that. It's not difficult to be kind. No, it's actually more difficult to be a dick. you should have, we'll get into it later, but the guy who rented me

the car at the airport last night, it's like, all right, buddy. They're TSA people. They have a sense of responsibility, and, you know, they're the end all,

and they have the sense of power. Yeah. And some abuse it and some use it properly. And unfortunately, you know, the misuse of power is a very prevalent thing in today's society.

Thank you for never being that person. I won't be. I won't. And, you know, part of it, you're welcome. And part of it is when I was, when I was about six years old, as I said, my brothers played football University of Minnesota. My, my youngest older brother was playing. My older brother flew my dad and I up to, to Wisconsin to play, to watch my other brother play against the University of Wisconsin. snowstorm happened a planes got grounded we had to drive back with the team on their bus and i'm five six years old whatever and i'll never forget it i i asked for everyone's autograph like 19 000 times and i remember a couple people that wouldn't give it to me wow and i never

forgot that and i always told myself that i would never make a kid feel like that it was that simple that and I treat people the way I want to be treated. Yeah. If I'm nice and I go up to somebody and I ask for something, you know, then I hope that they're going to be nice and give it to me. There's a great life lesson in that. 100%. 100%.

You know, the, the big E story, you know, about me staying. I met him at an autograph session. And I think it was one of the, there was one, I did an autograph signing in, in Atlanta, and it was at a gold gin. him and it was the only time I'd ever been late for a match or missed a match because there was a line like around the block and I wasn't going to leave before I took care of every kid there

and I did it as quickly as humanly possible but that's the only time I was ever late or missed anything right I just I just think that you know if there's five people in line and you're 10 minutes late for something it's all right to be 12 minutes late for something because those kids, those five that were in line could have been there since the night before. Yeah. And you could be the only person that they care about. And you could crush their life and their dreams, you know, by one simple thing that you do or don't do. Was Big E in that line? He was in one of them. Yeah, that's where I met. You know, he wants a match with you. Oh, I'll give it to him tomorrow. Could you imagine? Big, meaty men slapping meat.

Oh, God. I am. Yeah. We can. can leave that part out of it. That's what he says. Right when he says it to me, Goldberg's going to have to drop him. But yeah, I don't do comedy like that. I never really meshed well with that.

It's like, you know, Indiana Jones and the guy coming in and flashing his sword and you just pull a gun out and shoot him. That's just, that's me. Less is more. Thank you for always being just who you are. I appreciate you. I can't be anybody else. I've tried

throughout the years in my acting career and it hasn't worked that well. But it's an absolute pleasure. And again, man, you've always shown me the utmost respect and we've known each other for a long period of time. I like to think. And I've seen your career prosper exponentially throughout the years. And congratulations with that. Thank you. And man, we're just, we're just two humans that just so happened to be other people in other endeavors. And when we have to put that away we're the two same nice people. Yeah, we're just, no more than that.

We're humans on this spinning rock hurtling through space. It's what a weird travel. God, yeah. It's amazing. I don't know, I don't know where we're going from here, but it's an interesting time to be alive for sure. It's an interesting time to be a dad,

to be Goldberg. I mean, it's just, it's weird. It's a, it's a strange time. Yeah. I mean, but I feel like they've been saying that every generation.

You know, I feel like there's always something that makes you go. There is. It's a weird time. And then something else happens. That's a weird time. Yeah. And this is just the time we're living in right now. It's cyclical.

It all comes back. Yeah. Grateful for you and grateful for this conversation and gratitude, such a big part of my life. So I end every conversation asking that question. What are three things in your life? Bill Goldberg that you're grateful for. Oh my God.

There's much more than three. I'm just, I'm grateful for my wife, my son, and my health. That's it. I'm grateful for many other things. If you have to boil it down to three, there's no more three that are more important than that. Love it. Thank you, sir.

My pleasure, man. Anytime. You want to jackhammer me? We'll leave that one for the next. you. All right. There we go, my friends. I love how much of a straight shooter he is. Like, he doesn't shy away from anything at all. And again, just such a great guy, both on camera and off camera. Subscribe to his YouTube channel, Goldberg's Garage, and then see if you can find that other channel that he was talking about, all things Goldberg. It does exist after the interview. As soon as we finished recording, he showed it to me.

And I just appreciate his self-awareness and his perspective. about his career as a whole. And I hope that you enjoyed this look into who Goldberg is as a husband and a father and not just as a wrestler, whether that was in WCW or WWE. Snap a screenshot and share this with a Goldberg fan friend of yours. I'm sure that you have many friends who are fans of Goldberg. So snap a screenshot and share this link with them and tag us. He's at Goldberg 95.

I'm at Chris Van Fleet. and I came across this quote from Michael Jordan that I love, and I'll share it with you here. I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.

Be great, be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more. Insight with Queen Charvel. It's going to be so good. We'll see you Thursday. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all.

Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom.

Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.