Bill Goldberg was announced early this morning via ESPN as the newest addition to the 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame class. The 51-year-old former professional football player becomes the first member to be announced for this year’s festivities.
Goldberg was discovered by Sting and Lex Luger as he was rehabbing from a football injury. He debuted in a World Championship Wrestling, Monday Night Nitro dark match in June of 1997. What followed would come to be known as “The Streak”. Although it is widely believed the number is exaggerated, he is recorded to have had a 173 win streak, capturing the World Heavyweight Championship in June of 1998 against Hollywood Hulk Hogan during that time. His win streak would come to an end at Starrcade 1998 as he would lose to Kevin Nash thanks to help from Scott Hall dressed as a ringside security guard.
At Starrcade 1999, Goldberg would challenge Bret Hart for the World Heavyweight title. During the match, Goldberg hit Hart with a very stiff kick which caused Hart to suffer a concussion and neck damage. This is incident is widely regarded as the cause for Bret Hart to retire and even though Hart won the match, he relinquished the title the next night on Nitro.
Goldberg would debut in WWE in 2003 on the Monday Night Raw after Wrestlemania 19. In September of the same year, Goldberg would defeat Triple H at Unforgiven in a Career vs. Title match and capture his second World Heavyweight Championship. He would lose it the following December to Triple H in a triple threat match that also involved Kane. Goldberg would take time off after his Wrestlemania 20 match vs. Brock Lesnar.
In 2016, he would return to feud with Kevin Owens and Brock Lesnar. During this time he captured the WWE Universal Championship at the Fastlane pay-per-view defeating Kevin Owens. He would lose it less than a month later to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 33. The next night after Raw went off the air, Goldberg gave a farewell speech to the fans in attendance.
Goldberg has also appeared in numerous television and film projects, including the Adam Sandler movie The Longest Yard, the WCW based movie Ready To Rumble and was a contestant on The Apprentice.
