Jim Ross recently talked about a wide range of topics on his Grilling JR podcast.
During it, the WWE Hall of Famer discussed Goldberg beating Triple H at Unforgiven 2003 for the World Heavyweight Title after losing the Elimination Chamber match the month before at SummerSlam. Here are the highlights.
On whether Goldberg should’ve won the World Title at SummerSlam 2003:
“Well, in hindsight, you can make an argument for that. There’s no doubt about it, at least from my point of view. I don’t think that Goldberg not winning kills this pay-per-view. But I do think it would have been interesting to know how it would have grown and how it would have been forwarded if Goldberg had won that match and become the champion. But I didn’t see it being the end of the world. Is it one of those questions where you ask, Does Goldberg need the title to get over and be over? Probably not. But would it have helped him to win the title and that all-star cast? And there are a lot of Hall of Famers in that match. Oh, yeah. You know, no, it wouldn’t hurt him, obviously. Duh. But it wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t a deal breaker, in my view. So anyhow, I. It’s kind of it’s kind of I’m kind of conflicted over that situation. But if Goldberg had gone over, I’d have been cool with that, too.”
On Goldberg not being a good fit as World Champion at this time and if Triple H was behind it:
“I don’t. Timing serves a lot of masters. Yes. I think he was fit and would have made a great champion at that time. But that’s not how the company decided to go. And I don’t blame that on Triple H. God almighty. Come on, we’re looking for shit. We’re looking for something to bitch about and complain about. In my role in talent relations, I never had any major issues whatsoever with Triple H because I could talk to him and converse with him, communicate with him. Communication is always going to be the key. So, no, I don’t. I never had those big issues that some people have or had with Triple H. You will hear most of that from the talent talking to the dirt sheets. Right. Because they believe that they’re getting the short end of the stick. And he’s getting all the accolades and all the push. So, we all know because there’s a t-shirt about it that says, I need my push. So it must be true.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit the Grilling JR with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.