Former World Champion reveals the real reason why Goldberg is more hated than Stone Cold Steve Austin (Exclusive)
For wrestling fans growing up in the late 1990s, there was always a debate about Goldberg vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. If you were a WCW fan, the odds are you would be in favor of Goldberg, whereas if you were a WWE fan, it would have been Steve Austin. Former World Champion EC3 pointed out the difference in their legacies years later and why the WCW legend became more hated.
The former Universal Champion undoubtedly turned into a more polarizing figure than Stone Cold Steve Austin - who is widely regarded as an all-time great of professional wrestling even though his tenure at the top was so short-lived. His impact was undeniable, but so was the WCW legend, who ran through his opponents in the most dominant way possible.
On the latest episode of The Wrestling Outlaws, EC3 was asked why the WCW legend receives more hate than Steve Austin, and he gave an interesting reason:
"I think [Steve] Austin's big difference was authenticity, being who he was, while Goldberg, probably liked it, but never wanted to do this his whole life. I think another major difference as an athlete, a finely-tuned machine like myself, watching Austin work back then - his cardio was insane. For the timings and pacing of matches, you'd have to hit accelerate here and there, but he would... He just went so hard. Very few people kept up with him. I think Kurt Angle said he blew him up." (8:17-9:00)
You can watch the full video below:
Goldberg used to hate being compared to Stone Cold Steve Austin
In a Q&A before his Royal Rumble bout against Drew McIntyre, Goldberg admitted that he used to hate getting mistaken for Steve Austin because he is physically much bigger than him:
“I always took it personally, and it made me mad because Steve Austin is, like, 250lbs and I was like 285lbs / 290lbs. So I thought that if they thought I was Steve, then they thought I was small… I took that as a slight. Not because they thought I was Steve Austin, the awesome wrestler, but because I was small. (H/T The Sports Rush)
Goldberg did, however, note that in the years since, both men have become good friends and simply have a laugh about it when it happens.
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