Thanks to Chris Featherstone for the following:
Here is the latest piece I wrote for Digital Spy, covering my interview with Bill Goldberg. Below are some quotes and link to the full article as well as the full audio interview in the podcast player.
There were rumours of you coming back and competing in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal…
“Oh, they were not true. Absolutely not, and I don’t know where that came from. But, when I read it online was the first I ever heard of it.”
You talked about Roman Reigns’ Spear in your Hall of Fame speech – could we see Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 35?
“All I got to say is, it ain’t up to me. Whether it’s Reigns or ‘Taker, and, I don’t know, I’m not gonna say anybody else. Hey, Reigns and ‘Taker are the two guys on my list right now. I mean, obviously for two different reasons, but I’d be honoured to get in the ring with either one of them. And I still owe Brock one, but I’m two-and-one on him, so it’s all good.”
Fans popped hard for your return in October 2016 and even more at Survivor Series, but you started to get booed at the Hall of Fame. You hadn’t changed anything as far as being Goldberg. Why do you think they turned the corner?
“I can understand a little bit in that I was extremely limited when I came back. I think I did three moves, and that gets old. I mean, when you’re in your prime and have three moves, that’s one thing, but when I’m asked only to do a pretty short skill set, it further reinforces why they’d probably want to boo.
“That, and I mean, let’s just take the Hall of Fame induction night. I mean, I spoke to Vince and that’s gotta be changed. It has to be. It does a disservice to the people being inducted, it does a disservice to the people watching at home, and as you watch the crowd dissipate, it does a disservice to the people watching in person.
“These days, it’s a whole new generation of kids, I mean, a couple generations since I’ve been in there, seemingly. But, you know, it’s all about them. ‘Hey, look at me. I wanna take a video on my cell phone and show everybody where I am and what I’m eating and what I’m wearing and what I’m doing’. It’s too much. They want to be the ones that start that goofy chant. They want to be the ones to mess the guy up when he’s doing his promo.
“I remember a day where they sat back and were entertained by what we did. They didn’t try to dictate everything. Now, they wanna dictate stuff. So, you know, I jumped on them a little bit after [WrestleMania] that night, when I got a little indifferent when I went out there and was speaking from my heart. I will have absolutely none of that.
“There are repercussions in this world still today, and some of these fans who are nothing but poison to the rest of them, they need to have repercussions, too. I don’t know what they are, but maybe the rest of the fans need to single them out.
“It’s not fair to the kids out there busting their ass, bleeding, you know, going night after night after night on the road, being away from their families only out there to entertain the fans. And it’s kinda gotten to a point where I wouldn’t put up with it anymore. Something’s gotta be changed. But, maybe that’s just me the old man talking.”
