The Gimmick Table: The Origin of Goldberg

Brian Damage

A gimmick is something that is intended to hook the attention of fans to a wrestler. They may be outrageous or steeped more in reality, whatever the case may be…some have succeeded and many others have failed. The Gimmick Table takes a look at the origins of some of your favorite and not so favorite gimmicks of professional wrestlers.

Today we browse the gimmick of Goldberg

This latest entry of ‘The Gimmick Table’ may not seem like a gimmick at all, but rest assured it was. Bill Goldberg was trained in WCW’s Power Plant and when he debuted in 1997, they had him wrestle a few dark matches under the moniker of Bill Gold. At the time, MMA was becoming more and more popular with promotions like UFC, Pride and K-1. Eric Bischoff was himself a big fan and was trying to sign a working agreement with Pride out of Japan to carry their pay per views on U.S. television. While that project never came to fruition, it did inspire him to create a gimmick based on an MMA fighter.

WCW Power Plant trainee Bill Goldberg had the look for the part and was given the gimmick. He wore all black complete with gloves often used in mixed martial arts fights. Bill Goldberg revealed in a 1999 interview that the original name they were going to give him was ‘The Hybrid.’ Which would basically be a combination of part pro wrestler, part MMA fighter. The name did not get used, because the name was already trademarked by another entity and Turner management did not want to pay a large fee to use the name…so they went with his real name of Bill Goldberg instead. 

The entrance music they eventually chose for the character was nothing more than stock music that Turner possessed to use in potential movies and or televisions shows. The song was titled ‘Invasion’ and was already used by Pat Tanaka in WCW before Goldberg. Bischoff felt that the song was perfect to use to help the character’s aura. When Goldberg came to the ring, he was often escorted by armed, uniform police or actors dressed as them. Bischoff explained that it wasn’t meant to look like Goldberg was in any danger, but the idea came from big fights in both MMA and boxing where the fighters came out to large entourages.

All of these ingredients made for a successful gimmick that soon became the face of the promotion. Bill Goldberg would continue that same character in the WWE after WCW folded on and off for years until his retirement in 2025.

To Browse other entries of the Gimmick Table…Please Click Here.