Goldberg says modern pro wrestling lacks depth

Bill Goldberg joined Chicago Sports Podcast recently for a conversation about, among other things, the WCW legend and WWE Hall of Famer’s careers in football and wrestling. Comparing the modern version of both to “the good old days” was a theme of the entire discussion, and led to one of the hosts asking Goldberg if the current wrestling product is healthier or better than it used to be.

After briefly mentioning improved production values, Goldberg says:

“The internal storylines, I don’t think, are better. The characters, I surely know aren’t better. But, I don’t know, the guys that are doing their thing right now and leading the charge, they’re doing a damn good job — it’s just they’re not deep. That’s all. They just aren’t deep.

“So it’s hard to have a couple different people carrying the flag... and be able to hand it off to a proper person and keep the — I’m trying to keep this as frikkin’ vanilla as possible, aren’t I? It’s tough to have the depth, and I think they’re lacking in that area. That’s all. Period, end of story. I don’t like getting into it, I don’t like people talking shit — out of sight, out of mind.”

For a variety of reason, Bill is often a punching bag for wrestling fans on the internet. But, at least on the depth issue, he could at least be in the vicinity of a good point here.

When it comes to in-ring talent, there’s an unprecedented level of depth in today’s pro wrestling business. But Goldberg seems to be talking about Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes, Bianca Belair, MJF types who can talk, work, and do press — people promotions can build programming around. And while a discussion of why there’s not a deep bench of those is multi-faceted and ripe for debate (off the top of my head, I’d point to the fact they’re just generally rare, WWE’s hesitance to give the ball to anyone they haven’t planned to give it to well in advance, and AEW’s sink or swim approach to elevating young talent), at a glance there aren’t a ton of main eventers hanging around.

If there were, companies wouldn’t be regularly using 50 year olds in those spots.

But that’s just some thoughts off the dome from a guy who didn’t expect to find himself agreeing with Bill G today. Let us know what you think of Goldberg’s take, and the amount of star power in 2023 pro wrestling, in the comments below.