Goldberg can be a polarizing figure among wrestling fans. For those who followed WCW live through the Monday Night War era, there’s inevitably some nostalgia attached to the best built babyface the company had. His undefeated streak, the moment of him unseating Hollywood Hogan for the world title, his Halloween Havoc epic with Diamond Dallas Page, and other odds and ends live on in the collective memory.
On the other hand, Goldberg was never a great worker in a traditional sense. He was arguably overpushed and was responsible for ending Bret Hart’s career as a full-time wrestler. That’s not to mention uneven work under the WWE banner which included twice garnering world title reigns as a part-timer–booking that killed the momentum of younger, full-time main event acts.
Goldberg is ultimately synonymous with world titles, having spent such a large percentage of his pro wrestling career reigning or actively chasing a belt. As he gears up for one more world title shot opposite Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event, it’s time to look back at some strange, but true facts about Goldberg’s relationship with the top titles in wrestling.
Goldberg Won More World Titles In WWE Than WCW
While a lot of major stars wrestled for both WWE and WCW, Goldberg represents a unique case. There’s very little question he was a “WCW guy.” He never worked for WWE until they had bought out WWE. Moreover, he undoubtedly peaked in his popularity during his 1997-1998 run as an undefeated steamroller of a babyface.
It may surprise fans to realize, though, that Goldberg only had one world title reign in WCW, spanning the second half of 1998. By contrast, he was a three-time world champion in WWE, enjoying his meatiest reign for a roughly three-month span in 2003, before two short spells with the Universal Championship in 2017 and 2020. Unlikely as it may seem, that made Goldberg decisively more decorated in WWE than he ever was in WCW.
Goldberg Never Won The WWE Championship
In 2003, there was a real case that WWE positioned Goldberg as its franchise player—the top babyface on the Raw brand who not only reigned as World Heavyweight Champion for 83 days, but spent over a month prior in the main event picture, chasing Triple H.
Moreover, his 2016-2017 comeback run also put him in the conversation as the top babyface in the company. Then, in 2020 he was positioned to put over Roman Reigns in a passing the torch moment at WrestleMania 36 for arguably the top title in the company before COVID-19 threw plans into disarray.
All that’s to say that as much as WWE consistently treated Goldberg as a top guy–in ways they didn’t really for any other top-tier WCW act—he nonetheless never actually won the promotion’s defining title—the WWE Championship.
Goldberg Lost All But One Of His World Titles In His Promotion’s Biggest Annual Event
Being a four-time world champion is impressive, particularly for a wrestler who, even by the most generous calculations, was active as in-ring talent for less than decade. As a further demonstration of his star power, three out of four of his world title reigns ended at a major promotion’s biggest show of the year—Starrcade 1998 in WCW, and WrestleManias 33 and 36 in WWE.
The other time Goldberg lost a world title was nothing to sneeze at either, as he dropped the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at Survivor Series, a Big Four PLE, and to no lesser star than Triple H.
Goldberg Had More Than Six Times As Many Successful Title Defenses In His One WCW World Title Reign Than His Three World Title Reigns In WWE Combined
Despite Goldberg having three times as many world title wins in WWE than he did in WCW, an uncomfortable truth around his WWE reigns is that the latter two, with the Universal Championship, saw him lose his belt on the first title defense. Meanwhile, as World Heavyweight Champion, he had seven documented successful title defenses.
By contrast, Goldberg’s one WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign was 27 days longer than his three WWE world title reigns combined and featured a whopping 44 documented successful title defenses. Granted, the times were different, with world titles more frequently on the line on free TV and in non-televised matches. The difference is still staggering.
Goldberg Never Won A World Title On A WCW PPV
When fans look back on the tip-top stars of WCW, only a handful of names can objectively enter the discussion. Ric Flair. Sting. Hulk Hogan. Maybe folks like Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Randy Savage, Sid Vicious, or Vader. Definitely Goldberg.
Goldberg was a defining star and one WCW built up at a crucial period at the height of the Monday Night War. Despite these factors, he won his one and only WCW World Heavyweight Championship on an episode of Nitro, aired on free TV rather than PPV. He had successful title defenses on PPV and did challenge for the belt on PPV, but never captured it on one of those featured shows.