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#4 Goldberg allegedly did not want The Rock to leave him laying in the ring
On the March 31, 2003, episode of WWE RAW, the debuting Goldberg left The Rock laying in the ring after hitting him with a spear.
In another story from Bruce Prichard’s Something to Wrestle With podcast, details emerged about an alternative idea for the WCW legend's introduction to WWE. Prichard’s podcast host, Conrad Thompson, explained that Goldberg was apparently reluctant to return the favor to The Rock on the next episode of RAW.
“Allegedly there were two different plans for these first two appearances,” Thompson said. “The first one being that Goldberg just destroys Rock in the ring… instead it’s just one spear. And then the following week, Goldberg was gonna be left laying by The Rock, and supposedly Goldberg didn’t want to do that.”
Thompson added that people backstage were allegedly concerned about Goldberg being exposed as “rusty” if he was asked to do too much on television.
“Correct,” Prichard replied. “So the thing about leaving Goldberg laying, I had no idea Bill refused to do that, but that was something that Vince [McMahon] was like, ‘God damn, it’s tit for tat.’ He [Vince McMahon] didn’t wanna leave Bill laying. He didn’t want to take the mystique of Bill Goldberg away at that point.”
Goldberg and The Rock did not end up having a physical altercation on the following week’s episode of RAW. Instead, The Rock quickly escaped the ring after telling the WCW legend that he did not want to face him in a match.
