25 Years & Counting: Goldberg's Biggest Wrestling Career Moments

Without a doubt, Goldberg is one of the most dominant, destructive, and must-see wrestlers of all time. Between his size, his intensity, and his accolades that span from being a former NFL player to at one point being 173-0, Goldberg is one of wrestling’s most iconic superstars. This September marks the 25th anniversary of Goldberg’s WCW debut. For a quarter of a century, he has absolutely destroyed every single Superstar who stood in his path and we will surely never see another athlete like him in the squared circle.

With that being said, let’s take a look back at Goldberg's legendary run and highlight some of the biggest moments of his WWE career.

The Streak

It’s only appropriate to kick off our list with Goldberg’s 173-0 record in WCW. Goldberg won an unprecedented 173 matches in a row before eventually losing his streak in a monumental loss. With only a handful of matches under his belt, Goldberg defeated Hugh Morris to kick off his career and his undefeated run. As the streak grew in size, so did Goldberg’s popularity. He slowly faced more credible opponents, winning the WCW United States Championship from Raven in the process (we’ll get to that in a second).

Nine months after his WCW debut, Goldberg was arguably the most popular wrestler in the company. He was granted a championship match against Hulk Hogan which he would go on to win and solidify himself as the man at the top of WCW’s mountain.

It isn’t often that losing a match becomes one of the biggest moments of a wrestler’s career, but that’s what happened to Goldberg when his streak was finally broken. At Starrcade 98, Kevin Nash defeated Goldberg for the title after Scott Hall, dressed as a security guard, interfered in the match by tasing Goldberg which allowed for Nash to pick up the shocking win.

WCW US Title

By the time Goldberg faced Raven for the WCW United States Championship, he had already completely obliterated almost every wrestler on WCW’s midcard. Goldberg had nowhere to go but up, so WCW granted him a United States Championship match. At the time, Raven was Goldberg’s stiffest challenge yet and fans were wondering if Goldberg could continue his domination against a more seasoned veteran like Raven.

The match was total destruction on Goldberg’s end as he treated Raven no differently than he had treated the rest of the roster. He tossed Raven around the ring like a ragdoll before he tried to escape the clutches of the future champion. Raven didn’t make it far though, as a group of fans tossed him back into the ring and into the waiting arms of Goldberg who delivered his finisher to capture his first taste of gold in a convincing win.

WCW Title

Beating Hulk Hogan at any point in time is a huge deal in wrestling, but beating him in the '90s and winning a title for the victory brings the accomplishment to a whole new level of legendary. After defeating Scott Hall earlier in the night, Goldberg earned an opportunity to challenge Hulk Hogan for the WCW Heavyweight Championship. It was the streak vs the title, and once again, Goldberg’s toughest challenge to date.

With fans truly believing that the streak could end that night, they erupted when Goldberg kicked out of not one, but two of Hogan’s Atomic Leg Drop finishing moves. In the end, Goldberg picked up the victory to win his first World Title and keep his streak intact. The win would go on to springboard Goldberg to true stardom and he became a main event staple from this moment forward and played a main role in the Monday Night Wars. 

RAW Debut

Everybody knew that the day Goldberg signed with WWE, he would drastically change the landscape of the wrestling industry. What the WWE Universe never could have predicted was how epic his debut on RAW really was.

After a monumental victory against Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania, The Rock was in the ring once again, celebrating and bragging about his win. Suddenly, Goldberg’s music hit and fans leapt out of their seats. He was met with one of the biggest pops of the decade as he marched straight down to the ring and wasted no time Spearing The Rock. The segment was short and sweet and introduced WWE fans to Goldberg, establishing him as a monster on the roster in his first appearance.

Universal Championship

When Goldberg returned in 2016, it was something many fans truly believed they would never see. After defeating Brock Lesnar, Goldberg was immediately springboarded into the World Title picture. The only problem? The champion was Kevin Owens, a man riding more momentum at the time than anybody on the WWE roster.

At Fastlane 2017 in Milwaukee, Goldberg squashed KO, ending his title reign in mere seconds after Spearing and Jackhammering KO right after the opening bell. This was one of Goldberg’s most dominant wins of all time and despite it being 2017, he looked like his young self once again as he trampled Owens with ease and lifted the Universal Title above his head.

You can catch all these moments and more of the WWE Universe on Peacock.