WWE History: The day Chris Jericho beat up Goldberg in a real backstage fight

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Goldberg and Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho and Goldberg had heat between them back in the day, owing to Goldberg refusing to work with Jericho while the duo were still in WCW.

Fast forward to 2003, and both men were signed to WWE. Jericho was no longer just a cruiserweight and was a former WWE Undisputed Champion. Matters came to a head backstage at a RAW taping on April 7, 2003. Goldberg saw fit to criticize Jericho's performance during the main event where he teamed up with Triple H to face Booker T and Shawn Michaels. The Ayatollah of RocknRolla didn't take kindly to criticism from the man who had refused to work with him a few years ago.

When Chris Jericho returned to the backstage area he found out that Goldberg had been running him down and went to confront the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

Goldberg and Jericho got into a scuffle backstage and the smaller Jericho out-grappled his larger opponent, locking a legitimate front face lock on Goldberg. The two of them had to be separated by other wrestlers and officials present backstage.

Jericho spoke about the incident years later in an interview with Bubba The Love Sponge:

"Goldberg and I got into an argument because we had a lot of problems in WCW because he thought his shit didn't stink, and he basically put his hand on my throat and screamed in my face. I'm not a tough guy, but when you put your hand on someone's throat you better be ready to go.

I took him to the ground and I put him in a front face lock, and my plan was to hold on as long as I could until he got up and killed me, but he never got up, and I just kept squeezing, and I know if you push someone's chin into their chest you can make them pass out, so that's what I was doing."

The lesson for today, don't piss off Chris Jericho.

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