"Handcuffed me to the ring" - Goldberg recalls a career-changing moment on a historic night in WCW

Goldberg recently recalled the night he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the first time at the Georgia Dome.

Bill Goldberg had a successful run in WCW during the late '90s. After WWE purchased the company, he had two stints with the Stamford-based promotion, where he secured multiple world championships. Before wrestling, he was a football player and started his career in Georgia.

Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, the 55-year-old superstar recalled an iconic episode of Nitro in July 1998. The Icon pinned Scott Hall and later defeated Hulk Hogan in the show's main event to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in Atlanta.

"In the wrestling business, you do a lot of cross-promotion, and these guys are as smart as possible as far as getting the product out there. So I honestly picked up the phone and called every one of my teammates and said ‘Listen, dude. Anyone that wants to come down, let’s do it and have a blast.’"

He added:

"And we concocted a way in, and after I beat Hulk Hogan in front of 45,000 people in Atlanta, at the Georgia Dome where I had played football, we went off the air, Hogan and his minions beat me down, handcuffed me to the ring and spray painted me." [H/T - eWrestlingNews]

It was a memorable moment for the hometown hero, who won the world title by defeating one of the top stars in the industry on July 6, 1998.

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Goldberg's former teammates saved him from an off-air beatdown

Before he laced up his boots to spear his opponents, Goldberg served as a defensive tackle for his football team. However, his football career was short-lived when he tore his lower abdomen off his pelvis and was forced to retire from the sport.

After winning the WCW World Championship, the NWO members attacked the newly-crowned champion. In the same interview, the legend recalled how his former teammates saved him from an off-air beatdown from his rivals.

"Whether it’s Jessie Tuggle or Jamal Anderson or Chuck Smith or Cornelius Bennett, for me, I’m just laying in the corner just laughing going ‘These guys have no idea how cool this is to me...’ We quite obviously get away with things that they could never get away with it. So that’s part of the allure. For me, it was just the coolest night of my life.” [H/T - eWrestlingNews]

Fans in Georgia were ecstatic to see The Icon and his teammates take out NWO to end the night. Unfortunately, Goldberg only held the world title once in his WCW career.