Eric Bischoff says WWE legend would put "his fists through windows" in order to deal with the pressures of performing
Former WCW executive Eric Bischoff recently revealed the lengths that Goldberg would go to deal with the pressure of performing in front of a crowd.
Today Goldberg is perceived as a wrestling icon. However, his early years in the business were a struggle as he went straight from the NFL to WCW with little to no in-ring experience.
Speaking on WWE Smack Talk, Bischoff explained why Goldberg resorted to strange acts of physical punishment to deal with the pressure before a match.
"Keep in mind, you take a guy that had, you know, played in the NFL grew up probably playing football from the time he was five or six years old, right? And you, and you take him out of that arena [Football]... and ask him to go out in front of 15 or 20,000 people and do things he's never done before. With all that intensity he had a desire, and he put a lot of pressure on himself," Bischoff said. (1:04 - 1:32)
He continued:
"There were a lot of people that were jealous of Bill and you just didn't have the security to go along with the position that he was putting himself in, or that I put him in, and sometimes that came off as him being a little too intense, but that was real, man. Him banging his head on stuff and putting his fists through windows, and that's just Bill being Bill." (1:45 to 2:08)
What do you think was @Goldberg’s biggest hurdle during his @WWE career? @EBischoff shares his thoughts with @BookerT5x, @Rosenbergradio & @Jackie_Redmond in this SNEAK PEEK from Sunday’s all-new episode of WWE Smack Talk, premiering 11/10c! #WWEonAE https://t.co/V5AhEnrXe6
Goldberg's aggression eventually affected him during his WCW career. He once legitimately punched a limuosine window, which led to him accidentally slicing an artery in his arm.
Eric Bischoff on working wth Goldgerg in WCW
The inclusion of the Atlanta native in WCW played a crucial role, as up until then, the company had relied on WWE legends to bring in the crowd.
Speaking on the 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff said that Bill was okay to work with until he had his agents and lawyers representing him.
"On a business level, Bill Goldberg. It wasn't that way in the beginning, I loved working with him in the beginning," said Bischoff. "But, once he got a hold of Henry Holmes or Henry Holmes got a hold of him, and Barry Bloom, that was miserable. That was miserable - and there was no fun part to it."
Stories like this highlight why WCW eventually went out of business. Experts argue that many of its top stars seemed to only care about their spot on the card rather than the company.
What could Eric Bischoff have done differently to keep WCW afloat? Let us know in the comments.
Please credit WWE Smack Talk and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use the quotes from the first part of this article.