Review for WWE Goldberg- The Ultimate Collection

Who's Next for an indepth documentary about his life...

Well, not Goldberg, that's for sure.

Bill Goldberg is one of those icons in the wrestling business that really polarises the wrestling fan community. For some he is a great attraction with an amazing 173-0 winning atreak, 2x World Champion and one of the most charismatic characters in the business. To others he is a one note character who couldn't work and that winning streak, just a figment of Eric Bischoff's imagination.

It is true that for a brief period (between 1998 and 1999), Goldberg was one of the hottest characters in wrestling. He was the man who kept WCW going while the rest crumbled into dust, yet he was also just a smash-mouth wrestler, spear, jackhamer, pin. That was really all he could do. Whenever he tried to do anything technical against a Bret Hart, or anyone else for that matter, it came off as forced and a little laughable. Many people argue that this is not what they payed to see Goldberg to do. You didn't pay The Roadwarriors or The Ultimate Warrior to start working a knee and setting their opponent up for submissions. You paid to see them smash, slam, pin. And that was the same with Bill Goldberg.

Now, if you are a fan of his work, then this is the DVD for you. It includes 30 of his most significant matches during his brief time in WCW and his even briefer time in WWE. If you are someone who wants to go more indepth into the man, maybe some interviews with other opponents and people who worked with him, maybe even by the man himself. Well... you'll be sadly let down. There is nothing on this set other than match match match. Seriously, they couldn't have dragged some people out to speak for a few minutes about Goldberg. I wanted to know who came up with the streak, what was the reasoning behind putting the World Title win against Hogan on Nitro and not on PPV for millions of dollars of revenue, rather than just a one week ratings spike. What did people think about Goldberg, what did he think? I wanted to know more. And sadly, this DVD tells me nothing. In fact it doesn't tell me anything. Why was he so important. I mean if you are new and you go well he only technically wrestled for five years, why has a whole set been dedicated to him?

In terms of matches, they are good, but once you have seen one Goldberg match you have seen them all. His match against Hogan was great for the whole electric atmosphere. His matches against Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sting and Diamond Dallas Page are great. It is odd that they don't include the ladder match that he had against Hall which was a highlight and when you consider how much they really hated each other, makes it even better. However, the matches on the second disk are very skippable and some unwatchable. As soon as he lost to Kevin Nash and the streak was over Goldberg lost his mystique and it just seemed like he was just walking through every match.

A full disk is given to his year in WWE and though he did have some great matches, again after the first two or three you wonder why they didn't just cherry pick the best couple and make this a two disk set. His match against The Rock is great, as is his steel cage match against Christian, which is surprising as Christian was nowhere near the star that he is today. His matches against Triple H are fine and the inclusion of the Elimination Chamber is nice, though the ending is dumb. It is surprising they don't include his time in the Royal Rumble, as I do recall it being a great few moments.

The surprise of course is the inclusion of his Wrestlemania match against Brock Lesnar. This is a match that I would consider to be one of the worst in Wrestlemania history. Watching, I expected WWE to have adjusted the sound or maybe even added a new commentary, but it doesn't appear to be and it feels as awful as when I first saw it. My advice is to watch with the sound off. The crowd destroy this match (Both were leaving and so the New York crowd destroyed both of them) and so it might make it at least watchable.

Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection is almost designed for the Goldberg fan who doesn't want to know anything else about the man. If you want to see some of his best matches, then this is the set for you. If you want a more indepth look at the man himself, you may need to look elsewhere.