Goldberg Explains Why Dream Match With Steve Austin Never Happened
It could have been one of the biggest wrestler matches ever, but the match between WWE Hall of Famers “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Bill Goldberg never happened. Goldberg has spoken openly about why the two bald legends never met in the ring.
Goldberg became one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling at the same time that Austin was the top draw in the business. Goldberg debuted on WCW television on Nitro on September 22, 1997 when he defeated Hugh Morrus. It only took him about ten months to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion when he defeated on July 6, 1998.
When WWE bought out WCW in March 2001, fans wondered if they might see a dream match with Goldberg facing Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker and others. However, Goldberg did not immediately come to WWE in part because some WCW wrestlers had deals that paid them while they sat at home.
Goldberg eventually made his WWE debut on an episode of Raw on March 31, 2003, when he confronted The Rock. That debut took place one night after WrestleMania 19, which also happened to be Austin’s last match as a full-time performer at age 38. Austin ended up retiring due to issues with his neck and knees.
The first run that Goldberg had in WWE lasted about one year since he decided not to re-sign with the company after his WrestleMania 20 match against Brock Lesnar. Fans had become aware that Goldberg and Lesnar were both leaving the company after that WrestleMania in 2004, so they booed both wrestlers. WWE decided to have Austin as the referee of that match, so after Goldberg won, Austin gave both guys Stone Cold Stunners to make the fans happy.
During a recent appearance on the Talk is Jericho podcast hosted by Chris Jericho, Goldberg explained why a match with Austin never happened. Goldberg noted that injuries played a big reason as to why it didn’t happen.
“There’s no question that I wish it would have happened. I mean, that was the match to have. Why it never happened? I think 90% of the reasoning behind that was his neck issues. And my thing is moves, right? Whether it’d be the spear, whether it be the Jackhammer, I don’t think those are moves that he would have wanted to do, nor what his boss would have wanted him to do”
“I think it was the safety issue more so than anything, but it was and it was never really discussed. We were never really in a room together and it wasn’t a subject matter. And I always wish that it was, I never really brought it up. Because again, that’s not my place. I like to think that I show up and I do what people tell me to do and I tried to do it to the best of my ability. So I wasn’t ever politicking for it, but there’s no question that it’s a dream match that never happened.”
While Goldberg never got his match with Austin, he did wrestle WWE’s other top guy The Rock when he beat The Rock at Backlash in 2003 and Goldberg later went on beat Triple H for the World Title at Unforgiven 2003 as well. As for Austin, he had his first match in 19 years at this year’s WrestleMania 38 when he beat Kevin Owens in the main event of night one.