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Goldberg: The Streak

We go right ahead into Goldberg’s debut.

• Goldberg vs. Hugh Morrus – (Monday Nitro, 9/22/97)
  

Neither Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, or even Mike Tenay know anything about Goldberg. After a hammerlock exchange, Goldberg takes Morrus down into a legbar. Morrus makes the ropes and catches himself off a corner whip and comes off the second-rope with a clothesline. NO LAUGHING MATTER! Cover, 1-2-NO! Goldberg NO-SELLS a back elbow, does a back flip, and catches Morrus with a powerslam. He slams Morrus a second time and delivers the first JACKHAMMER ever seen on TV! That gets him win #1. (2:45) And it begins. Gene Okerlund wants a word with him, but Goldberg walks away. *

• Goldberg vs. Steve McMichael – (Starrcade 1997)
  

Seems like this match stems from some convoluted Alex Wright/Debra fiasco. Goldberg takes Mongo to the ring following a brawl in the aisleway. He finds a table and leans it up against the ringpost. Mongo controls with a side slam, but Goldberg comes back with a shoulder tackle for a pair of twos. Down on the floor, McMichael avoids having his head smashed on the table and beats Goldberg back into the ring. Mongo gets caught coming off the second rope. Goldberg grabs a leg roll into a kneebar. Once he releases the hold, he starts doing his infamous posing. Crowd could not care less about this match. Goldberg hits a Spear and sets up the table. He presses Mongo up from inside the ring to put him through the table, but Mongo grabs the top rope and falls back on Goldberg for a one-count. What ends up happening is, Goldberg punches McMichael off the apron down through the table. Big whoop. Ordinarily, Goldberg would just pin the man. Mongo fires back and tries the MONGO SPIKE (tombstone), but his back gives out. JACKHAMMER! Chalk up another victory. (6:00) This was six minutes too long. ½*

• Goldberg vs. Glacier – (Monday Nitro, 12/29/97)
  

Typical Goldberg squash. Glacier attacks and fails. Spear and a JACKHAMMER wins it. (0:58) Next.

• Goldberg “73-0” vs. Saturn (w/Kidman) – (Spring Stampede 1998)
  

Gosh, I miss Perry Saturn. Like everybody before him, Saturn attacks early and Goldberg counters his ab stretch attempt with a pumphandle suplex. Goldberg applies the rolling kneebar, but Saturn makes the ropes and bails. Kidman tries to interfere, but Goldberg presses him up from the apron and pitches him down on Saturn. Back in, Saturn legsweeps Goldberg and hits him with the springboard legdrop. Flying elbow drop connects for only one. Saturn tries a suplex and Goldberg counters with a spinning neckbreaker. He drills Saturn with a guerrilla press powerslam. Kidman takes Goldberg’s attention away for a moment – long enough for Saturn to roll out and catch Goldberg with a hotshot. Saturn hits a slingshot splash and a t-bone suplex. High knee puts Goldberg on the floor where Saturn smashes the steps onto Goldberg’s head. Wow, a rana off the apron from Saturn. He tries an Asai Moonsault, but he botches it and Goldberg struggles to catch him. Back in, a flying leg lariat gets only one again. Goldberg stomps out of a cross armbreaker. He runs into a boot, but grabs Saturn for a side slam. They botch a whip, but Goldberg recovers with a spinning back kick. Spear! Kidman hops up on the apron so Saturn can low blow Goldberg to prevent the JACKHAMMER. Saturn goes for a superplex, but Goldberg stops that by giving Saturn a SUPER PRESS SLAM! Okay, Raven’s Flock jumps the rail, but Goldberg punches them all away. Spear to Kidman! That does it for the Flock. Saturn goes for the RINGS OF SATURN, but Goldberg muscles up into a JACKHAMMER! Awesome. Cover, 1-2-3. (7:58) Despite some flaws in the match, you had to have marked out over that finish. **½

• WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Raven vs. Goldberg “74-0” – (Monday Nitro, 4/20/98)
  

Easily one of my all-time favorite Nitro matches. Raven lays the belt down in the ring – almost daring Goldberg to cross over. Raven attacks anyway and catches Goldberg with a boot off a corner charge. They go to the floor where Raven gets whipped into the guardrail a bunch. Back in, Goldberg grabs the rolling kneebar. Raven makes the ropes, but takes a reverse kick to put him back on the floor. Raven finds a chair and beats Goldberg. In the ring, Goldberg takes the drop toehold into the chair for two. Raven drops Goldberg to the mat with a chinlock. Goldberg fights out and NO-SELLS a running clothesline in the corner. Raven comes off the ropes and charges right into a SPEAR! Here comes Raven’s Flock. Sick Boy takes him down with a missile dropkick and Kidman jumps off Sick Boy only to be caught and tossed out to the floor. Out goes Sick Boy with a clothesline. Horace Hogan makes his Nitro debut and nails Goldberg with a stop sign. NO-SELL! Goldberg wipes him out with a Spear. Big Reese grabs a choke lift, but Goldberg headbutts him away and gives him the JACKHAMMER! Now that the Flock is done, Raven tries to leave through the crowd, but the fans (one of them is Ralphus) throw Raven back over the guardrail. Goldberg brings Raven into the ring for one more Spear and a JACKHAMMER for 1-2-3! (4:55) Yep, one of my favorite Nitro matches ever. Just don’t argue with me about this. ***¼

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Goldberg “107-0”– (Monday Nitro, 7/6/98)
  

Here’s another match that me and lots of other WCW fans fondly remember. Literally out of nowhere with very little build, WCW decided to capitalize on Goldberg’s overness and take the biggest money-making match they would ever have and throw it away on free TV just to beat Raw in the ratings for a week since Raw was finally starting to beat up Nitro with its ratings-grabbing Austin/McMahon feud. To be fair, it was in front of over 40,000 people in the Georgia Dome with a near million dollar gate, but just think of the PPV buys it could have garnered. This had most everyone in the world baffled, but nevertheless here we go. Hogan shoves off a headlock, but he’s run down with a shoulderblock. Oh how the tides have turned. Goldberg pushes Hogan off into the corner when he tries a front headlock. Now they do a test of strength and Goldberg wins that until Hogan goes to the ropes. Hogan rakes the eyes and starts whipping him with his weightlifting belt. Goldberg grabs the belt…and throws it away? He wants to win fair and square, says Tony. Okay, but that’s not ‘rasslin. Hollywood low-blows out of a full nelson and takes Goldberg down for some choking. Goldberg rolls away from some elbow drops and clotheslines Hogan to the floor so he can put his weightlifting belt back around his waist. Hogan takes Goldberg to the floor and bashes a chair all over Goldberg. Back in, Hogan slams Goldberg and connects with not one, not two, but THREE LEGDROPS! Enter Curt Hennig. He’s followed by DDP and Karl Malone – armed with steel chairs! Meanwhile in the ring, Hogan covers for 1-2-NO! Hogan points behind Hennig where Malone is waiting to give him a DIAMOND CUTTER! That takes care of Hennig. In the ring, Goldberg is poised and ready for the SPEAR! JACKHAMMER comes next and we have a NEW WCW world heavyweight champion! (8:11) Another great mark-out match, but another sign that WCW wasn’t going to be around forever since it became obsessed with merely defeating the WWF as opposed to making right business decisions. **

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg “111-0” vs. Curt Hennig – (Bash at the Beach 1998)
  

And now Hennig gets his one and only WCW world title shot on PPV. How Goldberg won four matches in one week is beyond me, but this is what Tenay tells me. We see a shoulderblock and Hennig goes flying. Hennig fires back with chops, but Goldberg reverses a corner whip. Rolling kneebar fails, so Hennig bails. Ha, that rhymes. Back in, Hennig catches Goldberg charging in the corner, but goes up top and gets taken down with a press powerslam. Now Hennig goes to the knee, but Goldberg finds the rolling kneebar. Hennig makes the ropes and graces the top of Goldberg’s head with a clothesline. HENNIGPLEX! That gets 1-2-NO! Goldberg kicks out and drills Hennig with a clothesline to set up the Spear and the JACKHAMMER for the 1-2-3. (3:51) Well, Hennig tried. *½

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg “143-0” vs. Sting – (Monday Nitro, 9/14/98)
  

This is the main event from the ‘awesome at times’ Greenville SC Nitro where Flair returned and reunited with the Horsemen. Of course there was WARYAH activity on this show as well, so the awesomeness is hit-or-miss. Haha, DDP is on commentary in this match. Hilarious. BANG! Goldberg wastes no time with Sting as he nails him with a press powerslam. Sting avoids a corner charge and running slams Goldberg into the corner. Vertical suplex by Sting, but Goldberg NO-SELLS. Sting decides to head to the floor to rethink his stuff. Back inside, Sting starts trading blows which is a bad idea. Goldberg pounds him down and drills Sting with a shoulderblock. Sting hits a dropkick, but Goldberg gets right back up and delivers the rolling kneebar into the ropes. Goldberg gives Sting a back suplex to get out of a headlock, but Sting holds on tight. Goldberg shoves off the walk up the ropes and they seem to forget what to do. Goldberg wins a knucklelock battle and they’re back to square one once Sting makes it to the ropes. Sting reverses a tombstone into one of his own. Goldberg has to pull himself up in the corner, allowing Sting to hit a couple Stinger Splashes. Goldberg refuses to fall out of the corner, so Sting hits another Stinger Splash! One more? No! He charges out, but Sting moves and Goldberg runs into the ringpost! Sting clips the knee and grabs the SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Goldberg tries to power out, but Sting does all he can to keep the hold going. That is until Hollywood Hogan comes in and kicks Sting in the head. Ref Billy Silverman is completely blind because there’s no way he missed that. Hogan sulks back down to the floor while Goldberg regroups, hits the Spear, and the JACKHAMMER gets the win. (8:08) Hogan attacks them both, but all of people a one-legged Bret Hart makes the save. Crowd is PISSED considering this was probably the closest anybody had come to beating Goldberg. **½

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg “162-0” vs. The Giant – (Monday Nitro, 11/23/98)

Giant quickly hits the CHOKESLAM, but Goldberg kicks out at two. Spear and JACKHAMMER gets the win. (1:35) “Loose Cannon” Bam Bam Bigelow attacks Goldberg at the bell. Security runs in to put a stop to it. Bigelow gets carried off, but Kevin Nash enters and we get another pull-apart brawl. ¼*

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg “173-0” vs. Scott Hall – (Monday Nitro, 12/21/98)
  

We’re one week away from Goldberg/Nash at Starrcade. Goldberg shoves Hall around and absorbs the shoulderblocks with a fireman’s carry takedown. Here comes Kevin Nash to get a closer look, I’m sure. Hall goes to the eyes, but gets caught with a powerslam. He looks over at Nash and gets distracted, allowing Hall to nail Goldberg from behind. Hall hits the Fallaway Slam, but Goldberg NO-SELLS and Spears Hall! Could it be time for the JACKHAMMER? Nope. Nash pulls Hall out to the floor and Bam Bam Bigelow attacks for the DQ. (2:56) There’s only one match that could be left on this show. I’m guessing since it’s a win via DQ, it doesn’t add to the streak? ¼*

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg “173-0” vs. Kevin Nash – (Starrcade 1998)
  

And like all good things, it must come to an end. Both guys take turns showing off how popular they are. By crowd reaction alone, Goldberg wins by a long shot. Strong tie-up finds Nash in the corner. Goldberg manages a back suplex to escape a headlock and Nash rolls out. Back in, Nash pounds Goldberg into the corner and delivers his famous knees and elbows. Goldberg pushes the BOOT CHOKE away and grabs a kneebar, but Nash makes the ropes. Nash gets knocked on his butt and pulls Goldberg into the corner. Goldberg ducks the Big Boot and comes back around to hit Nash with the Spear! He grabs Nash for the Jackhammer, but he uppercuts the balls. Nash gets the Side Slam for two. He follows up with the Bossman Straddle for another nearfall. Short-arm clotheslines gets two. Goldberg counters the suplex with a spinning neckbreaker. Double-arm suplex sets up a reverse kick. Powerslam off the shoulder gets two. Here comes Disco Inferno. Spear to Disco. Bam Bam Bigelow runs in and attacks Goldberg, but he takes a clothesline out to the floor. As Goldberg sets up for a Spear on Nash, Scott Hall dressed in a security shirt jabs a cattle prod in Goldberg’s chest! See ya later, Scott. With Goldberg “stunned”, Nash easily delivers the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB for the 1-2-3. (11:20) The streak is over and Nash wins his first WCW world title. **½

Final Thoughts: Strongly recommended to any fan of Goldberg. The only match I’m curious as to why they didn’t put it in here was the best match of the whole streak with DDP at Halloween Havoc. All the same, lots of fun stuff to check out here.