5 Shortest Bill Goldberg matches in WWE/WCW pay-per-view history
Bill Goldberg became one of the most famous acts in professional wrestling, at a time when the sport was one of the most popular forms of entertainment on the planet.
The late 1990s was filled with stars and stables that transcended wrestling itself such as Hollywood Hogan, the NWO, D-X, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin – and Goldberg was just as over as every one of them.
Even though he was known for his short and sweet squashes, as his legendary undefeated streak grew to mythical proportions, Goldberg gradually learned how to go for lengthy match times as his career progressed.
By the time he arrived at WWE in 2003, it was common for Goldberg to face off against stars like Chris Jericho, The Rock, and Triple H and easily go for match times that went well into the double digits. So when Bill made his shocking return to face Brock Lesnar at WWE Survivor Series 2016, it was surprising to see just how quick he disposed of The Beast Incarnate.
There are plenty of TV matches, in which Bill Goldberg defeats his opponents in record times, but few were so brief on Pay-Per-View. Looking back into both Goldberg’s WCW and WWE PPV histories, his five shortest match lengths have been ranked in descending order.
Read on to see where his match with Brock Lesnar compares against his most succinct efforts on the big stages.
#5 WCW Mayhem – Goldberg vs. Sid Vicious (5:30)
A notable factoid about this short match from November 21st, 1999, is that it happened at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. That’s the same venue and city of Bill Goldberg’s most recent match against Brock Lesnar for the 2016 edition of WWE Survivor Series. Who could’ve guessed that Goldberg had such a history in this particular location?
Another interesting point about this contest was the crowd response. Unlike Toronto in 2016, these Canadians were pretty sick of Goldberg at this point in 1999. There was a very loud “Goldberg Sucks” chat that was heard in the first minute of action. Considering the brevity of this performance, Bill never had the chance to win them over.
Sid was even cheered for some of his offence.
The ending to this “I Quit” match came when Sid passed out while in a submission hold and of course, the crowd absolutely hated it. One reason that the match was poorly received was that it took place almost a full year after Goldberg’s Streak had already ended. Wrestling fans, in general, were tired of him in late 1999.
Another reason it wasn’t up for match of the night awards, was that it felt like it was at least 5 more minutes away from hitting any sort of stride. However, since there were a whopping 12 matches on this card, there wasn’t a tonne of match time available, to begin with.