He was one of the most popular wrestlers of the 90s. Now Goldberg has contested his last match – against a current superstar.
After his last match, wrestling legend Goldberg turned to his fans in moving words. “I love you,” said the 58-year-old in the microphone in the State Farm Arena of Atlanta. He had just lost in his farewell match at the event “Saturday Night’s Main Event” by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) against the current superstar and heavy -busts shampion of Gunther – in show sport wrestling it is almost a unwritten law to be defeated by a younger star with the future.
After the match, Goldberg stood in the ring, surrounded by family and companions from his career. “Without you, I would not have made it. Every time I got into the ring, it was common with all of you.” Under the cheering of the audience, he reminded of his connection to Atlanta and the state of Georgia. “I grew up with the desire to become a football player and I was lucky enough to play at the University of Georgia. I was lucky enough to play for the Atlanta Falcons (NFL team, editor’s note).” Then he reminded of his wrestling career: “And I was lucky enough to defeat 45,000 people in the Georgia Dome Hulk Hogan.”
Goldberg became a superstar and crowd favorite with the WWE competition World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In his matches, he was mostly positioned as an unstoppable destroyer who gave his opponents no chance of spectacular strength demonstrations. At times he was considered the biggest name in the wrestling alongside the WWE stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and “Stone Cold”. He was later in the ring for the WWE. In 2016, at almost 50 years, he gave a comeback after twelve years, and since then he stood in the ring sporadically on larger occasions. Now it should be finally over.
“I never thought about this moment because I thought he would never come,” Goldberg continued with thunderous applause on Saturday evening. “But it was an incredible journey.” Goldberg, who always spoke proudly about his Jewish background, used his speech at the end for an urgent message: “Treat everyone with respect. Treat everyone as you want to be treated. Black, green, purple, Christian, Jewish – I don’t care.