Goldberg Recalls Off-Air Moment Following Historic WCW Title Win
24 years ago today, arguably the biggest episode of "WCW Monday Nitro" history saw Goldberg defeat "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, only an hour after Goldberg had defeated Scott Hall, to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in front of 40,000+ fans in the Georgia Dome. Given Goldberg was also WCW United States Champion and amid an undefeated streak at the time, it was a pretty big night. But that's not even the half of it.
In an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show last Friday to promote WWE's upcoming A&E biography focusing on him, Goldberg revealed another factor that made the biggest night of his career even better.
"The night that I wrestled Scott Hall early in the night and then I wrestled Hogan later in the night for the World Heavyweight Championship, the [Atlanta] Falcons, they were there," Goldberg said. "In the wrestling business, you do a lot of cross-promotion, and these guys are as smart as possible as far as getting the product out there. So I honestly picked up the phone and called every one of my teammates and said 'Listen, dude. Anyone that wants to come down, let's do it and have a blast.' And we concocted a way in, and after I beat Hulk Hogan in front of 45,000 people in Atlanta, at the Georgia Dome where I had played football, we went off the air, Hogan and his minions beat me down, handcuffed me to the ring and spray painted me.
"And who, lo and behold, comes out to save me is, I don't know, 20 guys from the Falcons. Whether it's Jessie Tuggle or Jamal Anderson or Chuck Smith or Cornelius Bennett, for me, I'm just laying in the corner just laughing going 'These guys have no idea how cool this is to me.' And equally, it was cooler to them because, for some reason, professional athletes like to live vicariously through us, because we're theater at the same time. We quite obviously get away with things that they could never get away with it. So that's part of the allure. For me, it was just the coolest night of my life."
Before his pro wrestling career, Goldberg played five years in the NFL, including a two-year stint with the Falcons from 1992 to 1994. The team would later pay tribute to the long-time WCW and WWE star after he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Big shout out to former Falcon @Goldberg on being inducted into the @WWE Hall of Fame! pic.twitter.com/dMNMcKFPjD
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) April 7, 2018
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Rich Eisen Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.