Worth the wait? Now that he has made his WWE debut, will Goldberg prove to be worth his weight in, err, gold?

VINCE MCMAHON PUFFED OUT his barrel chest and flashed a sly grin as he stood in the ring during the historic simulcast of "Raw" and "Nitro" on March 26, 2001. After the World Wrestling Entertainment chairman crowed about his company's purchase of rival World Championship Wrestling, he began asking the live crowd which WCW stars they would like to see in WWE.

McMahon called out the names of several WCW stars, asking fans to give them the thumbs up or thumbs down. Without being further prompted by McMahon, the crowd spontaneously began chanting a name.

"Gold-berg! Gold-berg! Gold-berg!"

McMahon seemed shocked to hear the familiar WCW chant at a WWE event. "All right, what about Goldberg?" McMahon asked somewhat rhetorically. The crowd erupted, and as the cameras panned the audience, some hopeful fans already were waving "Goldberg" signs.

It was a surreal scene that was especially surprising since the first rule of promoting is never to promise anything you can't deliver. Surely when McMahon was caning out the names of WCW wrestlers he knew where it was headed. At that point, however, McMahon also knew that he was unable to deliver Goldberg, who was still under contract to AOL Time Warner.

Fast forward two years later to the last segment of the March 31 episode of "Raw." The Rock stood in the ring, gloating about his victory over "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIX The "People's Champion" declared that he had beaten every top star in wrestling and he had nothing left to prove, similar to the way McMahon had boasted about officially winning the wrestling war two years earlier.

Once again, the chants began.

"Gold-berg! Gold-berg! Gold-berg!"

Only this time, Goldberg was there to answer the call. Clad in a black and red Harley-Davidson leather jacket and black jeans, Goldberg made his way down the aisle and into the ring. Always a man of few words, the former WCW phenom simply told the Rock, "You're next," and then leveled him with a spear.

Finally, Goldberg, who became an overnight success in WCW in 1997, had come to WWE. And now that he is there, the question is: After two years of rumors, speculation, and anticipation, will Goldberg's presence be worth the wait?

Just a few months into Goldberg's WWE tenure, it's too early to tell. There seem to be two contrasting schools of thought regarding Goldberg's fate in WWE. One is that he will boost ratings and buy rates and make professional wrestling cool again. The other is that he will be exposed as a guy with limited skills who just happened to be in the right place at the right time in WCW.

The reality of the situation is that Goldberg, 36, represents the last in WWE's series of big surprises--and if he doesn't have a positive affect on business, the company should give serious thought to making major changes in its creative process.

Then again, had Goldberg been on board in 2001, the invasion storyline wouldn't have been such a resounding disappointment and WWE wouldn't still be searching for that one big angle to turn things around. After McMahon teased on that simulcast of "Raw" and Nitro" that WCW stars such as Goldberg, Sting, and Scott Steiner would soon be part of the WWE roster, he instead delivered mid-card wrestlers such as Buff Bagwell, Lance Storm, and Bill "Hugh Morrus" DeMott. The fans quickly caught on that they weren't going to be seeing their dream matches anytime soon.

Perhaps WWE underestimated how difficult it was going to be to acquire Goldberg. Like most of the big-name WCW wrestlers, Goldberg had a lucrative deal with AOL Time Warner that WWE was unwilling to match, and he was content to sit at home and collect his money. Beyond the economics that prevented WWE from signing him, Goldberg had been very outspoken about his contempt for the sometimes-racy content of the company's programs and seemed to have little interest in ever working there.

"I personally believe that everything I've stood for when I got into the ring would be compromised and succumbed to the circus-like atmosphere that's out [in WWE], and that's putting it mildly," Goldberg told The Palm Springs Desert Sun in February 2002. "I would be an imbecile if I gave up half my money to work for a company that I didn't respect."

Goldberg's contract was to expire sometime in 2004, but AOL Time Warner decided to pay him the remainder of what he was owed in a lump sum last year. Just like that, Goldberg was a free agent But instead of rushing to sign with WWE, Goldberg reportedly didn't even return its calls. Rather, he accepted an offer to work for All-Japan. Goldberges first bout since January 2001 took place on August 30, 2002, when he defeated Satoshi Kojima at Budokan Hall in Tokyo.

At that point, it seemed possible that Goldberg really wouldn't ever sign with WWE. Supposedly having no desire to work WWE's demanding schedule, he could earn a lot of money just making several trips a year to Japan.

In the months leading up to WrestleMania XIX, however, the buzz on the Internet and in the dirt sheets was that the Rock had taken it upon himself to help bring Goldberg into the WWE fold. Envisioning a match between the two larger-than-life figures at Wrestlemania XIX at Seattle's Safeco Field, the Rock reportedly met privately with Goldberg and also arranged for a series of meetings between Goldberg and McMahon.

The Goldberg-WWE negotiations dragged on long enough that the Rock-Goldberg match wasn't going to happen in Seattle. But eventually a deal, reported to be for one year, was brokered, and the announcement of Goldberg's imminent arrival was made during the Wrestlemania XIX pay-per-view broadcast.

Goldberg's WWE debut definitely got people talking, but since then there already have been problems. For one thing, WWE apparently feels the need to put its personal stamp on everything, even highly successful formulas that shouldn't be tinkered with such as Goldberg's character. His entrance music, his basic black tights, and the fact that he never did comedy all were part of Goldberg's aura in WCW. So, of course, WWE changes his music and his tights, and--in the most inexplicable move of all--puts him in blond wig for a skit with Goldust.

WWE did further damage to Goldberg's character by having the Rock outsmart him and then lay him out leading up to their match at Backlash. The babyface seeking revenge for being attacked by the heel is usually a successful device to build interest in a match, but it wasn't necessary in this instance. The novelty of Goldberg's first match in WWE, especially against a superstar like the Rock, was enough to sell the event. Moreover, Goldberg probably shouldn't have appeared vulnerable this early in his WWE run. He should at first be built up as an unstoppable force, because that's what makes him special.

The creative mistakes regarding Goldberg may have been a factor in the fans' negative reaction toward him during his win over the Rock at Backlash. The following night on "Raw," WWE acknowledged that Goldberg had been booed, and he was quickly put in angles that managed to gets the fans back on his side.

Things haven't gone smoothly for Goldberg in the WWE locker room, either. During just his second week with WWE, Goldberg was involved in a backstage skirmish with Chris Jericho. According to reports, Jericho confronted Goldberg about some disparaging remarks that Goldberg had supposedly made about him. Goldberg responded by grabbing Jericho by the throat, and "Y2J" then put Goldberg in a front face-lock before things were broken up.

Although the two ended up shaking hands after it was over, the encounter raised the question of whether Goldberg would be able to fit in. While in WCW, especially during the company's final year, Goldberg gained a reputation for being difficult, moody, and even violent on occasion. Some in the industry have said that Goldberg sometimes takes the business too seriously and forgets that it is a work.

Goldberg's temper had been on display at a licensing convention in 2000 when he instigated a verbal confrontation with Triple H. When asked about the incident in subsequent interviews, Goldberg said he was angry with Triple H because "the Game" insinuated in an

MIDAS TOUCH The WWE is banking on Goldberg to raise its TV ratings. Internet interview that Goldberg had been faking an injury to take time off.

Now that Goldberg and Triple H are both on "Raw," it's only a matter of time before the two meet in the ring with Triple H's world title on the line. It will be interesting to see how they work together and how their feud turns out, especially considering how much power Triple H yields backstage. Obviously, the right thing to do for business would be for Goldberg to get a run as the champion, but will Triple H be willing to put him over?

Aside from Jericho and an inevitable rematch with the Rock when he returns again from Hollywood, Goldberg's other logical opponents--Brock Lesnar, the Undertaker, and Kurt Angle--all are currently on the "Smackdown" roster.

The ultimate dream match, though, is Goldberg vs. Steve Austin. It's the battle fans have been clamoring for since both were on top of their respective companies at the height of the wrestling wars in 1998. But with Austin recently announcing his ring retirement due to his neck injury, it doesn't look like it will happen. Fans will have to settle for Goldberg and Austin interacting on "Raw," where Austin has assumed the role of co-general manager.

Austin, however, has said in interviews that he might come back for one match in the future, so there is a chance that it could happen.

Now that's a match that really would be worth the wait.

RELATED ARTICLE: The other invaders.

GOLDBERG IS THE LATEST MAIN-EVENT STAR from WCW since its demise in 2001 to make his way into WWE, and unless Sting signs with WWE in the future, he's also the last.

Here's a look at how the WCW stars who preceded Goldberg into WWE have fared:

DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE

He made a shocking debut in the spring of 2001 when he was revealed as the mystery man who had been stalking the Undertaker's wife. Sara, for several weeks. Page, who most fans know is married to the lovely Kimberly, seemed like an odd choice for the role, and it quickly flopped. In addition to being miscast, Page was made to look like a glorified jobber in this one-sided feud. Not only did the Undertaker destroy Page, but Sara even smacked him around.

DDP later was repackaged as a heel motivational speaker based on the short-lived Jason Alexander post-"Seinfeld," pre-KFC sitcom "Bob Patterson." Page's comical delivery and big, cheesy smile were entertaining, but it seemed a waste of his main-event potential.

Eventually, Page morphed back into the popular "Feel the Bang" character he had played in WCW. He defeated Christian in a well-received match at Wrestlemania X-8 and appeared to be on his way up the card. Unfortunately, though, Page aggravated a neck injury during a match against Bob Holly in April 2002, and he announced his retirement from wrestling two months later.

BOOKER T

The five-time WCW champion made history in June 2001 when he and Buff Bagwell participated in the first WCW-sanctioned match on WWE television, To say it was a disaster would be putting it mildly. Beyond the horrible quality of the match--for which Bagwell was largely responsible--the partisan WWE crowd, programmed for years to hate everything about WCW, booed mercilessly.

Realizing the fans were not going to warm up to the new WCW, the WWE creative team quickly established all the incoming WCW wrestlers as heels. Booker T flourished as a bad guy, working main events with the likes of the Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

With his trademark Spin-a-roony and an assortment of catch phrases, Booker T won over WWE fans and was turned babyface after a brief stint in the NWO. He went on to form an odd-couple tag team with Goldust that provided "Raw" with some of its most entertaining moments in 2002.

Once the alliance with Goldust ran its course, Booker T returned to the solo ranks and challenged Triple H for the world title at Wrestlemania XIX. Although Booker T holds several pinfall victories over Triple H, he has yet to defeat "the Game" with the title on the line.

Arguably the most popular wrestler on "Raw," Booker T is primed for a run as world champion, but he may have to settle for the recently revived intercontinental belt.

RIC FLAIR

The "Nature Boy" made a surprise appearance on a November 2001 episode of "Raw" to announce that Shane and Stephanie McMahon had sold their company stock to him, making he and Vince McMahon co-owners of WWE. The storyline of Flair and Vince as feuding business partners paved the way for WWE's roster split, with Flair taking over "Raw" and McMahon in charge of "Smackdown."

After a promising start, however, Flair's WWE career began to sputter. As the "Raw" owner, Flair turned heel and began feuding with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, but just when things were getting interesting, Austin walked out on the company.

Overnight, Flair was suddenly turned babyface again, and he lost a match to McMahon for sole ownership of WWE. After a few months as a fulltime wrestler, the 16-time world champion reverted back to his heelish ways and became the manager of world champion Triple H. He also managed Randy Orton and Batista, who formed Evolution along with Triple H, before the two promising newcomers were sidelined with injuries. In addition to managing, Flair, 54, continues to wrestle on occasion.

THE NWO (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall)

In January 2002, Vince McMahon claimed fellow co-owner Ric Flair was ruining WWE, so he was taking it upon himself to kill the company he had created before Flair could off it. To that end, McMahon announced that he was bringing in the NWO, which he referred to as "a lethal dose of poison."

The original members of the heel faction--Hogan, Nash, and Hall--showed up in their familiar black and white T-shirts at the No Way Out pay-per-view and cost "Stone Cold" Steve Austin the undisputed title in his match against defending champion Chris Jericho, After the match, the NWO broke out their spray paint and defaced Austin.

The following night on "Raw," the trio attacked the Rock, culminating in Hogan ramming a truck three times into an ambulance with the Rock inside.

Despite those heinous actions, it quickly became clear that fans desperately wanted to cheer Hogan, who had not competed in a WWE ring since 1993. A decidedly pro-Hogan crowd of 68,237 at SkyDome in Toronto witnessed the Rock defeating Hogan in an epic encounter at Wrestlemania X-8. Afterwards, Hogan shook the Rock's hand, prompting Nash and Hall to attack the "Hulkster."

More than 18 years after Hogan first won the WWE world title, "Hulkamania" again was running wild, as Hogan defeated Triple H in April 2002 to regain the title, which he held for a month before losing it to the Undertaker.

Hogan went on to hold the WWE tag-team title for nearly three weeks, with Edge, before disappearing from the scene after being injured by Brock Lesnar. Hogan returned to WWE earlier this year and defeated McMahon in a bloody battle at Wrestlemania XIX, prompting McMahon to suspend Hogan. Shortly thereafter, a masked wrestler known as Mr. America--who bears a striking resemblance to Hogan--appeared on the scene to make McMahon's life miserable.

While Hogan has been an overwhelming success in WWE, the same cannot be said for his former NWO brethren. Hall was in WWE for four months before he was released for his unprofessional behavior on the federations European tour.

Nash wrestled in just a handful of tag-team matches before having to undergo surgery in April 2002 to repair a torn biceps. He returned to the ring three months later in a 10-man tag-team match and suffered a torn quadriceps seconds after being tagged in. Nash returned as a baby-face this past April to challenge his longtime friend Triple H for the world title.

ERIC BISCHOFF

The "never say never" cliche, which often is used in professional wrestling, was never more appropriate than when the former WCW president appeared on the July 15, 2002, "Raw" and hugged bitter rival Vince McMahon.

While not a wrestler, Bischoff has become one of the program's central characters as the smug, duplicitous "Raw" general manager. For several months, he and "Smackdown" general manager Stephanie McMahon raided each other's talent in a re-creation of the real-life wrestling war of the 1990s.

When "Stone Cold" Steve Austin returned to WWE earlier this year, he immediately engaged in a feud with his new boss on "Raw." Bischoff eventually fired Austin--which he had done for real in WCW eight years ago---due to Austin's neck injury. Linda McMahon, however, brought back the "Rattlesnake" several weeks later and named Austin and Bischoff co-general managers of "Raw." creating a situation in which the enemies have to work together.

While Bischoff has been tremendous in his role, WWE may have signed him a year too late. He could have greatly enhanced the invasion story line by coming in as the leader of the invading WCW faction. Ditto for the NWO angle. And while Bischoff and Vince McMahon embracing made for a great hell-freezes-over moment, the big money would have been in a Bischoff-McMahon feud.

SCOTT STEINER

Excitement over the arrival of "Big Poppa Pump" started building last October when WWE aired vignettes announcing that he was on his way. Steiner finally made his long-awaited WWE debut at the Survivor Series, assaulting Matt Hardy and Christopher Nowinsi in an impromptu beat-down that sent the sold-out crowd at Madison Square. Garden into a frenzy. With both "Raw" and "Smackdown" bidding for his services, Steiner chose "Raw."

Although he's more effective as a heel, Steiner was brought in as a babyface, and he had the fans' support in his quest to win the world title from Triple H. When the two met at the Royal Rumble, however, the crowd turned against Steiner, whose work in the ring was sub-par due to a combination of nagging injuries and ring rust. It was because of his physical condition--specifically his surgically repaired back and nerve damage in his foot--that WWE had been hesitant to sign him. After losing to Triple H the following month at the No Way Out pay-per-view, Steiner abruptly was demoted to mid-card status and didn't even have a match at WrestleMania XIX.

He then began a program with Nowinski and formed a tag team with Test. A heel turn would probably be the best thing for Steiner's floundering career at this point.

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