In September of 1997, Bill Goldberg made his official televised debut, squashing Hugh Morrus on an episode of Monday Nitro. No one could have predicted that the former Atlanta Falcon turned WCW Power Plant trainee would not only become one of WCW’s top homegrown stars during the Monday Night Wars era, but also become a phenomenon thanks to an undefeated streak that lasted over a year and 173 matches.
Such a ridiculously long streak means that Goldberg ran through countless stars, including midcarders, bigger stars, and jobbers. Within that record are some totally random names that fans have likely completely forgotten about. Let’s look at 10 of those.
10 John Nord
WCW had so many ex-WWE guys during the Monday Night Wars that it’s easy to forget some of them who showed up, like John Nord, formerly known as The Berzerker. Rather than continue his viking act under a new name, Nord came to the ring sporting a goofy T-shirt with a catchphrase on it. Since debuting in 1997 — around the same time as Goldberg — Nord actually had a pretty decent winning streak going, and one that would come to an end at the hands of Goldberg on an episode of WCW Worldwide.
9 Kendall Windham
It may sound like a rejected NXT name for Bo Dallas or Bray Wyatt, but Kendall Windham is the actual brother of legendary Horseman and former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham. And like many wrestlers who performed for WCW at the time, Windham found himself becoming a statistic, losing to Goldberg on the third-ever episode of WCW Thunder in January 1998. Windham would go on to team up with his brother Barry, becoming a part of the West Texas Rednecks and later capturing the WCW Tag Team Championship together.
8 Barry Horowitz
Alongside names like Brooklyn Brawler and Special Delivery Jones, Barry Horowitz is one of the great WWE jobbers of the 1980s and 1990s. But he also took the L in WCW in the 1990s, where he went up against Goldberg twice during the man’s streak, first on a January 1998 episode of Saturday Night.
Horowitz’s second loss, on a May 1998 episode of WCW Thunder, is a much more curious affair, as it was for Goldberg’s United States Championship. This, of course, begs the question of what Barry Horowitz accomplished to earn a title shot.
7 Barry Darsow
Speaking of guys named Barry, Barry Darsow is better known to wrestling fans under monikers like Demolition Smash, Repo Man, or Krusher Kruschev, or Blacktop Bully. But the three-time WWE World Tag Team Champion had a few runs in WCW, including in the late 1990s, where he was taken out by Goldberg on a March 1998 Thunder and then a month later on Nitro. And, for Barry Darsow superfans, this was before he was repackaged as a villainous golfer.
6 Wayne Bloom
WWE fans may know Wayne Bloom as either the father of NXT 2.0’s Von Wagner or as Beau Beverly of the early 1990s WWE tag team The Beverly Brothers with his kayfabe brother Blake (a.k.a. Mike Enos). As The Destruction Crew, the duo actually held the AWA World Tag Championship for 314 days back in 1989. In WCW, Bloom had no such success, and fell to Goldberg on a March 1998 episode of WCW Thunder.
5 La Parka
From a kayfabe perspective, Goldberg’s winning streak seems a bit unfair in terms of the talent he put in front of him. For example, what business does a 285-pounder have wrecking Cruiserweights like La Parka? Perhaps La Parka — now known as L.A. Park — wanted to increase his profile, and thus challenged Goldberg for the US belt on a June 1998 episode of Nitro. Goldberg, of course, takes out The Chairman in 30 seconds, but the match is hilarious and worth a watch, as La Parka starts out bashing the champ over the head with an unprotected chair shot, which the ref doesn’t even bother to acknowledge.
4 Al Green
On the August 31, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro, Goldberg had another squash match, obliterating a random jobber named Al Green (sometimes spelled Al Greene) in a matter of minutes. It’s one of those squashes that’s of note mostly because of who the jobber becomes.
A couple of years later, Green would get something vaguely resembling a big break, being repackaged as “The Dog,” a man who behaved like a dog, as part of Finlay and Brian Knobbs’ stable Hardcore Army. It’s even funnier knowing that The Dog was a last-minute replacement for Sabu.
3 Jim Powers
As established, Goldberg took on a number of classic jobbers during his streak, including Jim Powers on a February 1998 episode of WCW Thunder. Trained by Big John Studd, Powers spent 1984 to 1994 with WWE, where he mostly worked as a jobber and wrestled Ric Flair in the Nature Boy’s debut match. One notable exception in his WWE career is that he spent a couple of years in the late 1980s teaming with Paul Roma as The Young Stallions. Otherwise, however, Powers mostly worked as a jobber during his in-ring career, including during his stint in WCW from 1996 to 1998.
2 Mark Starr
Mark Starr spent much of his TV wrestling career as a jobber in both WCW and WWE — as well as briefly portraying Doink the Clown — but found success in tag teams, often with his real-life brother Chris Champion. Together, they were three-time tag champions in the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association. In WCW, however, Starr found some notoriety as part of the construction-themed tag team Men At Work with Chris Kanyon in the mid 1990s. By 1998, however, Starr was back to being a jobber in singles matches, and lost to Golberg on a February 1998 episode of Nitro.
1 Johnny Swinger
Johnny Swinger is easily the only Goldberg victim on his list who has relevance to modern wrestling. Fans these days know Johnny Swinger for his character on Impact Wrestling, a weirdo who doesn’t know it’s not the 1980s anymore, talks exclusively in insider wrestling lingo, and runs an illegal backstage casino. But back in the mid to late 1990s, The Swingman was a jobber for WCW, and went up against Goldberg on a March 1998 episode of WCW Worldwide.