After you ride a roller coaster that's been going up for a year and a half, and you reach the pinnacle and then dive straight down with no gradual decline, it's a little disorienting. I didn't know how to take losing.
— Bill Goldberg
When you hear of somebody named Goldberg, you think of a guy sitting behind a desk investing your money.
I've got a lot of people I'm carrying on my back, but it's a light load because I take a lot of pride in who I am and where I came from.
I picked up a lot watching Ultimate Fighting. I studied martial arts. But I had an idea to be different, to portray a character people would like.
The muscles in my lower abdomen had torn off my pelvis.
My dream was to have a garage where I could put some of the coolest cars I've ever seen throughout my life.
If a guy is hurt, you take care of him. The Falcons didn't do that.
I'd love to get back in the ring so my son could see me, but that's it.
Any time someone stops me in the street and asks me for an autograph, pro wrestling gave me that.
I'm a man who makes his own decisions and sticks with them; I think there's a lot of integrity in that.
I have never, ever, received any taunts or any form of anti-Semitism. And I suppose being a Jewish football player with the Atlanta Falcons was no different than being a Baptist football player with the Atlanta Falcons. But in the back of your mind, you always expect something to happen.
The deal is that I hold myself to an extremely high standard, and it's a standard that can never be... it's unattainable. But it drives me to be the very best in everything I do.
I look back upon my times when more people were listening to what I had to say, and I didn't say enough.
Kids are soft these days, period, end of the story in every respect. People coddle them too much. I'm sick of that; it's irresponsible parenting. Taking care of them is one thing, but turning little boys into little girls because you're coddling them so much, kids need to have experiences on their own.
Lets be honest: I'm an athlete, not an entertainer as much. So as an athlete, I am a guy who likes the physical confrontation of the football field. I like playing nose-guard; I like having two 350 pound guys trying to rip my head off.
I thrive on physical confrontation. It's a competitive juice in me. I'm always going to have that in the back of my mind. So whether I'm 49, 59, 69 or 109, I'm always going to think that I can go out and compete.
I'd love to wrestle a Bruiser Brody or Andre the Giant from the past.
That feeling is one of the things that keep me going. On July 6, 1998, I became the WCW heavyweight champion of the world!
I cherish every moment, because success can be taken right away from you.
I had three intentions when I became a wrestler. One was to keep my integrity. Two was to give pro wrestling a more respectable image. And three was to be a role model to Jewish kids, who may not have thought they could do what I do.
I worked in a gym. I was a trainer. I did all the crappy ex-football-player jobs.
In high school, all my friends' older brothers had these cars. I had a number of friends whose brothers collected Dodges and Plymouths and some of the coolest cars I've ever seen when I was a kid. I was just flabbergasted.
I told my wife, when I go up to the garage and I wash my Cobra, I feel like I'm cheating on her.
The NFL can go to hell.
Would it be an honor to be bestowed Hall of Fame credentials? Yeah. Does it define me as a person? No.
It's a sad situation when you have to talk crap about other organizations that you know your paths are never going to cross competitively.
I host reality shows; the last thing I ever wanted to do was be a contestant on one.
Most of the wrestling happens in the South, so I had to ask myself how I was going to be received as a Jewish boy named Goldberg. Then again, I have never, nor would I ever, hide my Jewish identity.
I believe in the simple things in life; everything derives from the beginning. You take things very simplistically and try to be the best person you can be.
If I wasn't prepared knowing every year there is a huge chance of a fire that will require me to evacuate my property, then I'm an ignoramus. If people at this point don't see that terrorism is a reality, and don't take steps to prepare themselves a little more than they were the day before, then they are also an irresponsible ignoramus.
I had a great time in the NFL. To make it in the amount of time that I did was awesome; it's a dream come true, and hell, it gave me the opportunity to go wrestle.
The Rock has definitely set the bar. He's in a class by himself, and he always will be, I believe.
At the end of the day, leaving WrestleMania, having my hand raised, beating Brock Lesnar... I'd say it was a pretty successful tenure.
My experience with video games is a far cry from 'WWE 2K17.' Did I ever aspire to be that character? Man, I just wanted to be a hero to kids. Whether it's a character in a video game, a movie or a TV series, it's an accolade that I'm greatly appreciative of.
I guess I blow all the stereotypes right out of the water.
They don't pay me enough to take any racial abuse. If you come up to me and say something racially, I'm going to take your head off.
The stupidest question I get is 'Is Goldberg your real name?' I tell people, 'No, my real name is Killer, but I wanted a much more menacing name, so I picked Goldberg.'
I was a piece of meat. I was betrayed by the business of football.
My brothers were big car guys.
If I'm the MVP of the NFL, and I lose a game and go to a press conference and walk out of it, that's not the example I want to set for people.
Sometimes I think back to everything I've been through, and I wonder, 'Man, how the hell did I get here?'
I'm not picking up my phone and calling anyone for employment.
I try to do as much as I can for the military.
I come from a very athletic family. But I didn't have the typical Jewish sports heroes. I mean, like lots of Jewish kids I admired Sandy Koufax. But I didn't look up to him as the one person who gave me the desire to push on and succeed. My brothers did that for me.
Nine times out of ten, people consider a nice little Jewish boy the kid who grows up and sits behind a desk preparing your taxes. I've certainly broken that stereotype in many ways.
Everything emanates from the basics, from your base. If you don't have a strong base, I'm sorry, but you are always going to be coming back to it, trying to reattain.
The new age of terrorism isn't on the battlefield: it's in your own backyard. Whether it's at a concert in France or a restaurant in the United States, terrorism doesn't have to happen in a military installation by any stretch of the imagination.
Everybody who knows anything about me knows all I ever wanted to do is play pro football. But I didn't have the talent, and I got hurt a lot. I'd do anything to be out on the field.
The reality is, I'm not 24 or 34 anymore. Things are going to be different when I prepare for and when I compete in an athletic endeavor.
The Georgia Dome was my home field, brother. There's no question about it. I played my first football game there as an Atlanta Falcon.
