In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Bill Golberg was inevitably asked about WWE and discussed a recent conversation he had with Triple H, but ultimately conveyed that it’s unlikely he will work with the company again, suggesting WWE is intentionally trying to diminish his impact on the wrestling business:
That’s the way I feel. I’m surely not going to be somebody who pounds his chest and professes I was somebody who couldn’t be replaced, but I think I made a difference. For that character, nobody could do it better. So to not get the credit for the impact that I helped make is frustrating.
Here is the former WCW World Champion’s account of his conversation with Paul “Triple H” Levesque:
I had a conversation with Paul [Levesque] recently and I said, ‘Listen, I’m willing to put everything aside. If you guys want to sit down and make some money and have some fun, then let’s do it. My son wants to see me wrestle, and I’m willing to put all the bad feelings aside. If you guys want to move forward and do this thing the right way, then let’s talk.’ And that’s the way it ended. There’s nothing there. Truthfully, I don’t even think they want me to come, period. I’m just not one of them. The fact that I’m not far outweighs the financial gain, which they truly may not even believe is there. And I’m good with that. I’m absolutely fine with that.
He also believes he is vilified by many in the business for not being willing to “play the game” and recalls a conversation with Hulk Hogan:
[Hulk] Hogan once said to me, ‘Hey brother, you’re going to have to play the game. If Vince calls you in the middle of the night to get on a plane, you’re going to have to do it.’ I said to him, ‘You obviously don’t know me.’
Goldberg also seemed very receptive to a possible WWE Hall of Fame induction and you get the feeling he does want to come back in some capacity, especially since he often talks about wanting his son to see him wrestle.
I don’t have a time limit and age is just a number for me. If the Hall of Fame presents itself, then I’ll do it in a heartbeat. But it’s not something where I sit here and go, ‘Man, I wish the WWE would induct me in the Hall of Fame.’ I don’t think about what I would say in my speech or who would induct me. I don’t think about that, by no stretch of the imagination.
