Goldberg On Whether Or Not He Tarnished His Legacy With WWE Comeback
During an interview with American professional strongman Robert Oberst of American Monster Productions, Goldberg called out Roman Reigns by calling him a "joke" for trash talking him. He also talked about coming back to WWE in 2016 at the age of 50 after a 15 year retirement from wrestling. He said he always had doubts about coming back, but at the end of the day, his thought process changed by looking at his career in separate parts.
"You always have it because you want to leave at the top, you want to leave as the biggest, baddest son of a bi— period," Goldberg said. "But guess what? My thought process changed when I became a guy that's 50 years old that can still do this s–t. I used to talk about Ric Flair being over 40 and how goofy he is wrestling. I'm 53 right now and I just got done [being the champion].
"The fact is that, the way I look at it now, there's me then and there's me now. Show me another 53 year old dude who can do it. Give me a month – the guys only give me 3 weeks any time anyway. Give me an extra week, give me a month, I'll show you what I can look like. Not many people can do that at 53 years old."
Goldberg continued to mention how he enjoys being able to provide a living for his family at this later age in his life. He also mentions how he can't be as muscular and strong as he used to, but he can do things at his age that nobody at 53 can do.
"If I can provide for my family at 53 years old and go out there, I'm not tarnishing what I used to do because I'm a different person now," Goldberg said. "I'm older now, I'm giving you a different version. Sure as s–t I'm not 300 pounds and I can't press 300 pound guys over my head like I used to, but show me a 53 year old man that can do that, there ain't any."
During his last run with the WWE, Goldberg was the Universal Champion and lost the belt to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania 36 with no fans in attendance. Goldberg talked about what it's like wrestling in front of fans today, and how he handles it when crowds boo him.
"It's hard, it's nerve racking. But I'm 53 years old now, things are different for me," Goldberg said. "If I go out and a crowd boos me, I don't take it personally and feel as if we're not worthy of doing anything. No offence guys. There's a lot of asshole fans out there. There's a different generation of fans now, they want to be that guy that started that chant, and that guy that made Goldberg spit at them, or do whatever. I'm not here to give them the time to do that.
"The reality is they are paying for me to put on a show for them, they are not paying for them to be a part of the show. They're a part of the show because they interact, but interacting in a negative malicious way is very disrespectful."
Goldberg says that if the fans are against him, then so be it, and he continued to push the point that nobody at 53 could comeback the way he has.
"If they're against me, they're just going to get what they're going to get, unless that's the plan," he said. "It's a totally different crowd. It was different going back and being a power wrestler. Show me a power wrestler coming back after a 15 year retirement. You just don't do it.
"All those thoughts cross my mind and they still do, but you have to look at it a different way. It's not apples to apples anymore. I'm just appreciative that I can still do it. I'm a fortunate person to be able to be in a position to still earn a living for my family doing something that I enjoy, that I used to be really good at."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit American Monster Productions with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.