…continued from page one
One year later saw "where it all began for the WWE (at WrestleMania XX), but Madison Square Garden was where it all ended for Goldberg’s run in World Wrestling Entertainment…as he faced off against Brock Lesnar. By that point, everyone knew that they were both leaving the company after this match — something that a fact that a large majority of fans were distraught about during the spring of 2004 & some still to this day. But even before this night took place, Jimmy asked Bill if he feels that going to the WWE, in hindsight, was a mistake. "I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t feel that way every single day of my tenure there. I did it for the fans…I did it for the business. I didn’t do it because I wanted to do it. I went in for the wrong reasons; I was not disappointed, and I was not surprised of what happened. I questioned my decision throughout my entire tenure there." With the circumstances surrounding Lesnar vs. Goldberg (along with Brock heading back to the NFL & Goldberg’s contract expiring), Noonan asked if they should have pulled the plug on the match. "I don’t see why they would have…I don’t see why they should of. I personally believe that since it is a business, and it isn’t a business dealing with personal feelings, and it’s all about making the most money, I think they dropped the ball. Whether you’re leaving or not, you should milk the cow for as much milk you could get out of them, and I think it should have been a money-making opportunity; but in a way, they thought they were hurting our feelings. It just wasn’t looked at as a business…and that was the problem."
After the bout with Lesnar, both men were in a rush to leave "The World’s Most Famous Arena," but their limos were delayed so both were left waiting to leave the arena & World Wrestling Entertainment possibly forever. Jimmy was there that fateful night, and asked Goldberg about what went down during the evening after one of the most controversial endings in WWE history. "I wanted to get the hell of dodge. I had fulfilled my obligation; I saw how they set us up, and I was done. To say I wanted to hang around for one more second was a farce, I wanted to get the hell out, and Brock wanted to get the hell out too. I was so frustrated with the past year & so frustrated with the BS drama that goes on at that crappy place, and I think Brock was pretty fed up with all the stuff that was going on. I wanted out, and I know that certain people are in control of certain things, and to have us sitting there waiting at the end of the night to get our cars & get us out of there, it was an absolute joke. I thought it was intentional, and anyone around at that point was going to feel the wrath of it." Todd Vincent followed up with a clarification on the statement of it being intentional, and if he knew who set up Goldberg & Lesnar. "You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out bro. They didn’t set us up, except for the fact they put us in a sh*tty slot, they didn’t put an emphasis on the match that should have been put on the match, and they had ill will towards us; therefore they didn’t capitalize on the big business of the match, so that’s what I mean by being set up."
Concluded on page three …
