10 Best WWE Tales From Wrestlers’ Court -6
1. Goldberg Is Put In His Place
Chris Jericho and Bill Goldberg had a little bad blood already by the time the big man debuted in WWE in 2003, stemming from an angle that they almost worked together back in WCW – Goldberg had thought he was too big a star to work with a cruiserweight nobody like Jericho.They would confront one another physically backstage years later in WWE when Jericho heard that Goldberg had been bad mouthing him with Kevin Nash at the gorilla position while he was in the ring. Goldberg tried to intimidate Y2J by putting his hand on his throat – next thing he knew, Jericho had him on the ground in a front facelock. Jericho admits even today that it’s the only shoot hold he knew: it was one he’d used when working as a bouncer that tended to knock guys out. He figured Goldberg would get up in a second and beat the crap out of him, but when Goldberg tried to get up, he kept cinching the hold back in, until finally they were pulled apart.
Goldberg was the one that was hauled into wrestlers’ court over the matter, though – when Vince McMahon heard about the fight, he laughed his head off that the smaller Jericho had taken out the scariest wrestler in WCW history. Once again, Triple H was the judge – this was back in the days of the brand extension, and the Undertaker was on Smackdown – and this time, Paul Levesque didn’t pull any punches.
He found Goldberg guilty, telling him that he had no respect for the business and for those who worked their asses off to put him in the main event spot he had. While his punishment may not have been as severe as some, it probably rankled far more than a simple financial settlement or gift buying spree: Goldberg was told to apologise to Jericho, and to publically admit that, out of the two, Jericho was the better wrestler, and always had been.
Ouch. No doubt there was positively, definitely no WWF versus WCW animosity left over in that one, of course. Still, we’d have paid good money to see that apology… especially if Jericho had just replied, “Armbar…”
Do you have a favourite story from wrestler’s court? Tell us all about it in the comments!
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