Goldberg still owns The Spear.
These days, everyone from Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley, all the way to Ricky Starks in AEW uses The Spear as a signature maneuver. However, the man to put that move on the map was undoubtedly Bill Goldberg.
When Goldberg arrived in WCW in 1997, his presentation and move-set lit up the screens of all who were watching during the Monday Night War as Bill Goldberg went on to become one of the only WCW homegrown success stories throughout the promotion’s most successful timeframe.
Eventually, Bill Goldberg would arrive on WWE television in 2003 and even though his first year was a successful one in terms of accolades and headlining appearances, there was always a distinct difference between Bill Goldberg in WCW and Bill Goldberg in WWE.
Speaking on Dr. Beau Hightower’s YouTube channel while getting a chiropractic adjustment ahead of his match against Roman Reigns at the WWE Elimination Chamber event in Saudi Arabia, Goldberg admits that he always felt as though there was some resentment towards him in WWE because he became a great star in WCW.
“I still believe there’s a tiny bit of that in the back of everybody’s mind, because I did work for the competitor during those Monday Night War. But I think what has made me successful and also made me hated is the thing that is the determining factor," Goldberg said. “I was the Mike Tyson of wrestling. My goal was to be something completely different. Black tights, black shoes, I didn’t freakin’ talk for six months. I just squished motherfuckers. That's my job, that's what I do,” Goldberg continued.
“I didn’t want to be the chain wrestler,” Goldberg revealed. “I didn’t want to emulate anybody. Granted, The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, and [Bruiser] Brody were extremely influential to me. Hawk was extremely influential to me. So I took little aspects of what they did and I applied it to my idea of the character. I had MMA moves, a lot of them in the beginning,” he recalled.
Speaking about The Spear, Goldberg joked about more than a dozen of today's Superstars utilizing the move and they're always being a difference when he, the master of it, comes back around and shows how the move is really done.
“Now, about 15 to 20 Superstars of WWE use it,” Goldberg said. "I used to hate [that so many people use the move], but now I like it because you see them do it, and then you see the master do it, and there's a huge difference.”
“If I like you, I’ll let you live through it. If I don’t like you, I’ll put my head right in the middle of your chest and you’ll be in the hospital,” he continued, showcasing shades of his character. "That was the allure of my character and it was also like throwing Romans to the lions. You had to sit at the edge of your seat because you had no idea what was gonna happen and you knew it was gonna happen quickly, but you had to focus and you had to be attentive to what was going on because you’d miss it.”
Goldberg, despite multiple Spear attempts, was unsuccessful at defeating Roman Reigns at WWE Elimination Chamber. That was Goldberg’s final match of his most recent WWE contract. Most recently, Goldberg said that he would be open to doing more with WWE even though he understands that he risks tarnishing his legacy. Learn more here.
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