Bill Goldberg entered the WCW and carried fan favoritism for an incredibly long time based around his wrestling persona. Beginning in 1997, the once-football-player dismantled all competition in the running storyline that he was a dangerous, unstoppable force. He didn't do interviews, he barely acknowledged the crowd, he needed to be escorted from his locker room to the ring by armed guards (one of the most ridiculous things, looking back, but a great hook), and many of his matches lasted but seconds. That last part is fairly important, as fans were more excited to see complete domination than a drawn-out anything. No one felt cheated, everyone was happy, and the chants of "Goooooold-beerrrg, Gooooooold-beerrrg" still bounce around in my head over a decade later.
I'll acknowledge, it was all a bit silly, but no more silly than seeing a collective 16,000 people standing up and waving their hands in front of their faces when a wrestler's music starts.
This, as most modern day viewers know, is the designation to indicate that "you can't see me," a phrase branded on everything marketed for John Cena. Without a doubt the most popular figure in WWE right now, Cena's been pushed as a movie star, a face, and sold to us as an outstanding citizen in his free time.
He's also a polar opposite to the invincible Goldberg. Cena loses. A lot. Sure, there's usually some bit of screwing involved, but rarely do fans want to believe a heel legitimately won something. Whereas Goldberg's place on the pantheon was based on an inability to lose, Cena's draw tends to focus on a more human element. Recently, Cena was fired based on the conditions of a match he lost. When he was reinstated, he had to overcome a beating by Nexus, a group of upstarts being marketed as the next heel force. That same night, he had to win a match against one of their members.
Two nights ago, at a pay-per-view event, Cena had to defeat the leader of Nexus in a match where using chairs was legal. It was the main event.
Let me say this again: It was the main event.
What wasn't the main event? A 4-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship, a match for the WWE Championship, and a match for the tag team championship.
I could get into the complexities of how mind-boggling that is (especially given the theme of the event and the content of specific matches), but I'll spare you my detailed befuddlement and cut to the chase.
If you look out on any crowd at any WWE show, you'll find that 30 to 40% of the entire crowd are wearing some sort of Cena-related item or holding a Cena-related sign. This is cyclical, as the WWE has obviously promoted him well, and they must continue to make decisions to appease the fanbase.
The WCW lost this with Goldberg. Cena was in a movie, so WWE produced it. They promoted the movie on their TV shows, they continued putting him over in matches, they covered all of the promotional events that he did within his show, and they sold merchandise like effing crazy. Even the "U [see with the circle-crossed out sign] ME" gimmick has been branded on shirts, sweatbands, hats... probably underwear, though that seems insulting.
Goldberg didn't have this. He had a few t-shirts and an action figure, neither of which were prominently featured on Nitro. He was doing other things, though. I keep harping on Bobby Heenan's criticism of WCW's handling of Goldberg, but it's so true: appearances with Mark McGwire, etc: they really missed the mark on the marketing.
And perhaps because of this, the people calling the shots on matches (we won't get into how bad it was allowing Kevin Nash to do this) didn't see the benefits of keeping the heat cyclical. In fact, their most prominent-selling brand was NWO. Maybe even because of this, they ended up having Goldberg lose the belt to an NWO member (Kevin Nash... I won't get into it...).
What that really did, though, was take some of the heat of Goldberg too early. It's too bad. Unlike Cena, they were marketing something indestructible. Then, they broke it.
But, again, let that be a lesson in marketing.
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