How Goldberg nearly lost his arm smashing a limo window
"I was overrun with emotion… It’s one of those things I’ll be remembered by", admits Goldberg. But the segment almost ends in tragedy for Bret Hart too
A moment of madness, #OnThisDayInWWE 25 years ago, that nearly derailed Goldberg’s career and almost resulted in his right arm being amputated - and killed any hope that WCW had of fighting back in the Monday Night War with the WWF.
Enraged by Bret Hart and the recently-formed nWO 2000, Goldberg runs out to confront them at the end of the main event of Thunder - only for Bret Hart to speed off in a waiting car.
Unable to contain his fury, Goldberg smashes a nearby limousine window - which was gimmicked - and another, and then another - which was not.
He was meant to use a lead pipe, but instead used his fist.
The shattered glass cuts a tendon in his right arm, resulting in 199 stitches - and the big babyface is forced out of action for five months.
The footage, taped a day before, was turned black and white by WCW because of the blood - in this screenshot of the original footage, you can see the blood smears on the hood of the car after Goldberg smashes his forearm into it.
Earlier this year, Goldberg was asked about this incident by Chris Van Vliet, and admitted:
Ugh. I didn’t want it to look that real. I was overrun with emotion… What resulted was 199 stitches… It’s one of those things I’ll be remembered by
The excellent Nitro book by Guy Evans shared Vince Russo’s thoughts on Goldberg’s actions:
Nobody in their right mind, even me...is going to ask a wrestler to bust through a legit limo window with their bare hands.
An instrument was devised for Bill to conceal in his hand... [but] Bill dropped it prior to breaking the glass, which caused him to finish out the scene otherwise.
That night I went to the hospital with Goldberg...and I stayed there with him all night.
Kevin Nash admitted that this effectively killed the big storyline where Goldberg would finally get revenge on the nWo for repeatedly screwing him out of the title - from the Fingerpoke of Doom to Bret’s heel turn - and any hope WCW had of making up ground with the WWF in 2000.
And it added even more pressure on Russo, who was feeling “stabbed in the back” by his team after a tense meeting with WCW President Bill Busch days before Starrcade ‘99.
But this backstage segment could have ended with even more serious injuries.
The Hitman, who was suffering from an untreated severe concussion caused two days before from a side kick from Goldberg at Starrcade, revealed in his book that he nearly lost control of his car and hit a nearby truck:
I told Russo that I was badly hurt from Goldberg's kick and that I thought I might have a concussion. He still wanted me to work a match.
While Russo went over everything, I reasoned (in the foggy way a concussed person reasons) that I could do all that easy enough. All I could think about was getting home for Christmas.
That night I had a good solid match with Benoit, who did his best to take it easy. Jarrett came out and then the one-man tank, Goldberg.
When Goldberg speared Jeff, I ran down the aisle, jumped in my car and floored it out the back ramp just as Goldberg caught up and pounded furiously on my car windows.
What nobody noticed was that as I pulled out, my car hit the icy pavement and I skidded out of control, having had no time to put on a seat belt, so there I was with a concussion, barrelling head-on toward a huge TV production truck!
I thought of Owen in that instant. What would the world think if I got killed ploughing my car into a TV truck for some stupid stunt? People would say, "You'd think Owen's stupid brother would know better than that!"
Things went from bad to worse for WCW when Hart had to forfeit the title due to his concussion, and then Nash, who took over as leader, got injured too.
Goldberg returned in May 2000 - only to turn heel.
WCW couldn’t help itself.
The War was over.