The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 15, 1998, Page Page 6, Image 6
Quarterback Anthony Wright is th<
key to the Gamecocks' success. BJ
caught up with Wright and found
out how his rehab is going.
Pacta fi
All
Bill Goldberg has become
wrestling's newest
phenomenon just 10 months
into bis pro career.
sports editor BRUM JOHNSTON
ATLANTA, Ga. ? A warlord. A guntotin',
knife-totin' bad guy. A decade
ago, that's how Georgia's undersized,
outspoken, head-slappin', trash-talkin'
nose tackle was characterized by opposing
coaches. In complimenting Bill
n 1 Ji ii .1 p_ A i_ i
uoiQDerg, tney aiso iorecasi ms true
calling in life.
Now, as a lifelong Oakland Raiders
fan who idolized the late, crazed
John Matuszak and played with the
Tooz's outlaw abandon at Georgia and
later with the Atlanta Falcons, Goldberg
lives by a new credo: Just pin, baby.
"We got Bill Goldberg here!"
screamed ring announcer David Penzer
last Monday in Atlanta at WCWs
wildly-popular NITRO, this night in
front of nearly 40,000 fans.
They're here to see the luminar
ies of World Championship Wrestling.
Sting. Lex Luger. Hulk Hogan. And the
newest rising star in the WCW galaxy.
The unbeaten and unchallenged... Bill
Goldberg?
So what's a nice Jewish boy doing
in a menagerie inhabited by The Macho
Man, Nature Boy, Sickboy and Mongo?
Doing quite well, actually, as a burgeoning
WCW icon wrestling under the
unlikeliest of names. His own. Bill Goldi
o c* J- 1:1 4- 4- T
uerg: oounus ukk aii aucuunuiiii. jumms
like an accountant on human growth
hormones, with a shaved head, goatee,
tattoo and tiny black trunks the size
of underwear
"Goldberg rules!" a kid shouted as
Goldberg appeared out of a cloud of
smoke, posed beneath a waterfall of
fireworks, slapped his face twice,
snarled and stalked towards the
ring. Homemade signs sprouted like
dandelions:
n i 11 T if m_ _ Ai.
uoiaDerg is iviy iwin. uoiuoerg nue
My Wheaties. Goldberg Fears My Chick
I'm Goldberg's Twin. Goldberg Sank
the Titanic. Goldberg ? Enough Said.
Ten months since making his TV
wrestling debut on Sept. 22,1997, Goldberg
is undefeated and the World
Heavyweight Champion after defeating
Hogan last Monday in Atlanta on
NITRO. After winning again two nights
ago, Goldberg is now an impressive
112-0.
This night, the designated Goldberg
whoop-ee is Hogan, a professional
opponent who'll enhance what
WCW iV commentator Bobby "The
; I
I
I
JAL
Brain" Heenan likes to call "anothe
chapter in the legend that grows in ou
sport. This monster, this killer, this .
Mr. Goldberg!"
As the main event, Goldberg am
Hogan went about 10 minutes, bu
Hogan was no match for Mr. Goldberg1
strength, speed and athleticism. Am
the script. After shrugging off assorl
ed forearm smashes and escaping take
downs, after performing an ankle-loc;
takedown, Goldberg played to th
crowd: Arms wide, eyes bulging, a roai
ing "Aaaarrgghh!" seeking approval
Then he returned to his footbal
roots, bouncing off the ropes and slam
ming down Hogan with a charging tacl
le. Goldberg always uses the tackl
as a prelude to The Jackhammer, i:
which he holds an opponent straigh
overhead, feet pointed to the ceiling
"Nobody's ever done the Jackham
mer" Goldberg said before the show."
like to say I'm an innovator, with m
instructor Dwayne Bruce. It's a prett;
scary move. I wouldn't let anyone tr
it on me."
Hogan had no choice. Goldberg fel
straight back but flipped Hogan ove:
courteously not breaking Hogan's necl
One, two, three, pin. Goldberg leape
up and roared, this time as the ne\
champ. The crowd roared back. As Bob
by the Brain likes to say: "This man i
a monster!"
He is not Frankenstein, but Bi]
Goldberg does undergo a transforms
tion in the ring, as he did on the gric
iron.
"After matches, I'm physically am
emotionally spent," he said. "It reall
is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
More like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Gold
berg. "To be totally honest, I'm just be
ing myself," he said. "You remembe
me from Georgia. I'd rather fight thai
play. That's why it's so easy for me t
L Al_ - _1 i. Ti-> ?
ponray me cnuracier. us inc.
A doctor's son from Tulsa, Okla
Goldberg grew up in a family with
tradition of "living on the edge." He fle\
gliders and acrobatic planes with tw
older brothers, once piloted th
Goodyear Blimp, first broke up fight
as a bouncer at age 17, started ton
of fights in football and played ball wit]
a joyful fury. At the University of Geoi
gia, he was hilarious, relentless am
the best quote ever to blow throug]
Athens.
He talked an even better game tha
he played, and played well enough t
make All-SEC as a junior in 198l
and again in 1989.
Drafted by the Rams, Goldberi
eventually played for the Falcons fror
Sports
The Gamecock
WFf)
r 1992-94 before injuries, surgery and a
r lack of notoriety conspired to end his
.. football career. Then what? By early
*96, Goldberg was restless and so bored
d he even considered becoming a pert
sonal trainer.
s "Nothing caught my eye," he said,
d "My money wasn't coming in like it
used to, and football was a no-go. I
wanted to do something to carry over
^ the skills Fd learned in football. It'd be
e a waste to throw them away."
For years, people had urged Gold'
berg to wrestle, the perfect outlet for
his gregariousness and athleticism. "I
said, There's no way Fm wrestling. No
way Fm gonna' shave my body and go
nnt tliprp in mv nnrlprwpflr in frnnt. nf
millions of people,'" he said. Then '
r smiled. "And look at me now."
^ Goldberg was already friendly with !
j Sting and Lex Luger; he'd met them
y while working out at Main Event Fit- l
y ness, the Doraville health club the '
y wrestlers own. In September of *96, he '
signed a developmental contract '
U with WCW. i
r> "I honest-to-God figured I could
I bring something different to wrestling," '
d Goldberg said. "I can bring the explo- '
v siveness and speed and power from i
>- football with, hopefully, the show- '
s manship I learned from football. They i
didn't call me The Mouth of the South' <
II for nothing. I have a totally different <
i" style. With my size, I try to do things
1- powerfully, but explosively." <
First, the 6-foot-4,285-pound Gold- j
d berg had to learn the wrestling ba- \
y sics from the mat up. For six months, \
five days a week, he worked with Bruce j
and other instructors and wrestlers at
k t
the Power Plant, WCWs wrestling acad- ,
r emy in Atlanta. He also had to find a
n stage name, and shtick. Goldberg's first
0 choice: The Hybrid."
"My wrestling style is to combine ^
power and finesse, a little bit ol Ireestyle
and a lot of submission style," he said.
V "What better name than The Hybrid
I Fighter?"
But there was a trademark probg
lem with a company called Hybrid
^ Clothes. Goldberg also considered "The
Warlord" and "Junkyard Dog."
j Both were taken. "Then someone
h said, Why not call yourself Bill Goldberg?'
" he recalled. "I said, 'Bill Gold- *
berg? What an intimidating name.'" <
o Low-profile, too. "Eric [Bishop WCW
3 Wrestling's president] wasn't too en- 1
thused about the whole country not i
g knowing me," Goldberg said. "I agreed, t
o But they do now."
BJ says
* 1 tobecoi
I , tcam?
f was cul
V
IjP
Now that Goldberg has learned the
wrestling basics and psychological
ropes.
"You want to keep a good story line
;hroughout a match," he said. "The
natch has to be realistically sensible
;o a crowd. It can't be just give-and;ake,
with no peaks and valleys. You
lave to be the crowd, take 'em on a
roller-coaster ride.
"If it wasn't for that, Fd win all my
natches in 10 seconds. Fd just go out
ind tackle somebody. But the people
iren't here to see 10 seconds of the back
)f my head."
They're here to see Sting and Lex
ind now Goldberg, who enjoys the
camaraderie, notoriety and, yes, competition
in a sport that is as fixed as
i gelding.
"If somebody walks up to me and
isks if the business is fake," Goldoerg
said, "I ask if they want me to give
hem that tackle and then try to get
ap in the ring. I present them with
m open invitation."
There have been no RSVPs. Yet
joldberg knows something remarkable
is afoot, and what's behind it. A
nonth after making his TV debut last
September, he was told by managenent
he'd become "the project." They
saw Goldberg's potential and the
irowd's response.
"Something right is happening,"
joldberg said. "This doesn't come along
n a blue moon where they push somexxly
to the sky like this. The last time
iiey did something like this it was with
hp ITlt.imatp Warrior, about 10 vears
igo. Or Magnum T.A. It's a very enviable
position."
"I think he's great," said Falcons
iefensive end Chuck Smith, who was
n town to watch his friend. "He liked
jo knock guys out, kick people. Now he
;an do it every day."
Do it each Monday on "Nitro." Do
t each Thursday at "Thunder." Do it
is he used to in the Falcons' Glanville?ra,
post-practice wrestling cards in
;he locker room.
"We'd set up the coaches as our
ing," Smith recalled. "Deion [Sanders!
vas our Don King. Guys would wres;le
and Goldie was always his ace-inbe-hole.
He would walk in the ring and
Deion would ask, 'Anybody wanna' mess
vith Goldberg?' Everybody goes, 'Nah,
be mother's crazy.'"
Even then they knew.
5 Bj Mckie was cut Sunday in his bid
ne a member of the Goodwill Games
Ickie made it to 17-man squad, but
t when the team was reduced to 14.
Wednesday, July 15,1998
QB Kendra
to miss '98
season
tony ISAAC
College Football Corner
Florida State quarterback Dan
Kendra will not face legal charges
for concocting a chemical mix that
exploded and left him with cuts on
his nose, chest and stomach, but
will miss the 1998 season with a
knee injury. The school may still
investigate whether Kendra violated
the university's student conduct
code. Kendra was injured June
1 when a device he built with a
household cleaner and an aluminum
strip blew up outside his
off-campus apartment.
Kendra, who suffered a knee
injury in FSLPs spring game, said
he will not play for the Seminoles
this fall. He is a redshirt junior
and will seek a sixth year of eligibility.
Kentucky sophomore arrested,
kicked off team
A Kentucky football player has
been kicked off the team after
being charged with shoplifting and
disorderly conduct in separate cases
eight days apart Andre Hayslip,
a sophomore from Orlando, Fla.,
was charged with shoplifting on
June 21. Hayslip, 20, is accused of
walking out of a mall department
store with $92 worth of stolen
items, according to Fayette District
Court records. Hayslip has
pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor.
Also, according to court
records, Hayslip is accused of running
up behind another man and
hitting him in the head near the
campus.
LSU running back thrown
off team
BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU running
back Cecil Collins has been
kicked off the team after being arrested
for unauthorized entry and
sexual battery. Collins went to the
apartment of an 18-year-old
woman he knew casually, said Cpl.
Don Kelly of the Baton Rouge Police
Department. The young
woman did not want to see Collins
and did not answer the door. When
Collins continued to knock, a 17year-old
girl who was visiting
* i i V ii
the woman opened tne aoor sugnily
to tell Collins her friend did not
want to see him.