Jim Ross believes WWE hesitated to make Goldberg its World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam 2003 because Vince McMahon had not built a relationship with the former WCW star. Ross said Goldberg’s one-year contract and the fact that he was not a McMahon creation left the company reluctant to commit, even as the crowd responded to his Elimination Chamber performance.
Ross revisited Goldberg’s first WWE run in a video published by the Grilling JR channel. He described the difficult transition after Steve Austin retired and The Rock moved into movies, then turned to Goldberg’s title match with Triple H at SummerSlam.
“But Vince didn’t know Goldberg that way. And he knew he wouldn’t get the chance to really build that relationship as Bill was on a one-year deal. The thing was in 2003, we knew how to book a guy like Goldberg. We knew how to get an ass-kicking, bald, no-nonsense guy over. But Bill was not a Vince McMahon creation like Austin was. So even though he was under contract and officially a WWE Superstar, there was a little hesitation to pull the trigger on him.”
Goldberg eliminated three opponents in the Chamber before Triple H stopped him with a sledgehammer supplied by Ric Flair. Ross said the finish protected Goldberg from a clean loss but interrupted the surge he felt in the building.
“Now, I’m not saying it was right or wrong, just that in booking the finish of the match, it was clear McMahon was reluctant to push his chips all in on a character he did not create.”
Ross said WWE made Goldberg look formidable without giving him the championship that night. Goldberg took the title from Triple H the following month at Unforgiven, but Ross believes the SummerSlam momentum was difficult to recover.
“Vince saw enough in Goldberg to make him look strong against his world champion. But hadn’t seen enough yet to allow him to beat his world champion. And I guess if you’re going to get screwed over by a pair of dastardly heels, then there’s no shame at all in losing to a hammer to the head. Vince didn’t yet know who was going to be his leading man going forward, but he did know who wasn’t. And this kind of booking just showed that the boss wanted to reserve the right to change his mind. And that meant beating Goldberg, but not cleanly. It was a foot in, foot out kind of decision that left WWE’s options open going forward. But the momentum and excitement for Goldberg were hard to recreate again during that run.”
Ross previously discussed the SummerSlam result and rejected the idea that Triple H held Goldberg down. The new video places Ross’s focus on McMahon’s hesitation to build around Goldberg during a transitional year for WWE.
Source: Grilling JR with Jim Ross.
