Bill Goldberg and Chris Jericho never had a proper program in Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling due to backstage issues, and 2021 WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff believes that a match between them in WCW would have been a disaster.
Goldberg, known for being an unstoppable force in WCW, and Jericho, a rising star in the Cruiserweight division back then, never pursued a feud despite Jericho calling out Goldberg on weekly television and even on pay-per-view.
Bischoff shared his opinion on the potential clash between them, emphasizing that it would have been a disaster due to Bill still missing experience in the ring at that point.
Here’s what Eric said on his 83 Weeks podcast, after being asked if he wished an actual match between them would’ve happened in WCW:
“No, because it would have been a train wreck, to be honest. I like Bill. He was a pain in the a** to work with back then. And part of that is not because he’s a d***, not because he’s just got a bad personality, not because he’s selfish but because he didn’t have the tools to get into the ring and have a match with Chris Jericho. He was insecure in his own abilities. Now, he might not even admit that to himself, but I think one of the reasons he resisted is because he knew if he got in there with Chris, he’d have to really step up his game. And Bill was still relatively new to the business at that point in time. He didn’t have all the experience that Chris had.
He didn’t have one. The tools in his toolbox to be able to go out there and have a 12 or 15 or 18-minute match with a guy like Chris Jericho and look good doing it. Bill was only capable of looking like Bill Goldberg within a limited framework of offense, right? He just didn’t have it. And I think that’s what bothered him more than anything. And I think you’re absolutely right, by the way. Chris probably was that. This situation made Chris realize that there was nowhere for him to go. I don’t blame him for feeling that way. By the way, he was right at that point in time. He was absolutely right, and he should have gone to WWE.
And he did, and he was justified in doing it. But I think. It’s unfortunate because had Bill had a couple more years of experience under his belt and would have been able to go out there and have some great matches with Chris, it could have been a phenomenal story to tell. A little bit of David and Goliath. Chris is a fighter by nature. His instinct, it’s just who he really is. And I think he would have played well into that character and would have forced a kind of serious side out of Chris Jericho up until that point because Chris was having fun.
Chris was doing crazy over-the-top s***, you know, and this would have forced Chris to take a more serious approach to that match, and that could have been outstanding, but it just wasn’t in the cards. And forcing a guy like Bill Goldberg to do something that he’s unwilling or doesn’t want to do it. It’s only going to be bad. Yeah, you might have. I might have been able to force the issue contractually. It would have been f***it’s horrible.”
Goldberg and Jericho not only had a brief backstage brawl later on in WWE, that was broken up quickly after Chris managed to apply a front facelock, they also finally had a match at the WWE Bad Blood 2003 pay-per-view, which Bill won via pinfall after 10 minutes and 53 seconds.
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