Bill Goldberg

Goldberg married stunt performer Wanda Ferraton on April 10, 2005, having met her during the filming of the holiday horror comedy Santa's Slay. The couple resided in Bonsall, California, for nearly two decades before relocating to Boerne, Texas, in 2019. They have one son, Gage, who was born in 2006 and later played college football as a linebacker for the Colorado Buffaloes while making occasional appearances alongside his father on WWE programming.

Goldberg was raised in a Reform Jewish family and celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Israel in Tulsa. Throughout his wrestling career, he was vocal about his Jewish heritage and made a point of refusing to wrestle on the high holiday of Yom Kippur. His heritage has been widely cited for challenging popular stereotypes of Jewish men in media and sports entertainment.

Goldberg is an avid collector of vintage muscle cars, owning more than 25 vehicles including a Plymouth Barracuda, an AC Cobra, and a Boss 429 Mustang. He also holds a black belt in jiu-jitsu and actively trains in Muay Thai, co-owning the Extreme Power Gym in Oceanside, California. Beyond athletic pursuits, he has served as an animal welfare advocate and addressed the United States Congress in 1999 as a spokesperson for the ASPCA to speak out against illegal animal fighting.

William Scott Goldberg was born on December 27, 1966, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Ethel, a classical violinist and hybrid flower breeder, and Jed Goldberg, an obstetrician and gynecologist who graduated from Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities. Goldberg grew up in Tulsa alongside two brothers and attended Tulsa Edison High School. Due to his imposing physical stature, he began working as a nightclub bouncer at the age of 16 while developing a passion for football.

He attended the University of Georgia on an athletic scholarship, playing defensive tackle for the Georgia Bulldogs from 1986 through 1989. Goldberg earned Associated Press first-team All-SEC honors during his senior year in 1989 and finished his collegiate career ranked high on Georgia's all-time tackle and sack lists.

Goldberg was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1990 NFL draft. After brief offseason stints with the Rams and the Canadian Football League's BC Lions, he joined the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football in 1992, recording three sacks during the regular season and winning World Bowl II. He subsequently signed with the Atlanta Falcons, appearing in 14 regular-season NFL games between 1992 and 1994. In 1995, he was selected in the expansion draft by the Carolina Panthers, but an abdominal injury that tore his lower abdomen from his pelvis abruptly ended his professional football career.

While rehabilitating from football injuries, Goldberg took up mixed martial arts and powerlifting, catching the attention of wrestlers Lex Luger and Sting, who encouraged him to pursue professional wrestling. He trained at WCW's developmental facility, the Power Plant, and made his televised debut on the September 22, 1997, episode of Monday Nitro, defeating Hugh Morrus. WCW quickly positioned him as an unstoppable powerhouse known for quick, explosive matches finished by his trademark Spear and Jackhammer maneuvers.

Goldberg embarked on an iconic undefeated singles streak that WCW officially tallied at 173 consecutive victories. In April 1998, he captured the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship from Raven. On July 6, 1998, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Goldberg defeated Hollywood Hogan in front of over 40,000 fans to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, vacating the United States title shortly after. His streak and title reign concluded at Starrcade 1998 on December 27, when Kevin Nash pinned him following outside interference from Scott Hall, who incapacitated Goldberg with a taser.

Goldberg remained one of WCW's headline attractions over the next two years, capturing the United States title a second time and winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship alongside Bret Hart. During their December 1999 title match at Starrcade, Goldberg delivered a kick that legitimately caused Hart a severe concussion and neck injury, contributing to Hart's eventual retirement. Later that month, Goldberg suffered a severed artery in his forearm when he punched through the window of a limousine during a scripted segment, sidelining him for months. Following WCW's purchase by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001, Goldberg elected to sit out his parent-company contract with AOL Time Warner until agreeing to a buyout in May 2002.

After a brief run in Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling, Goldberg signed with WWE in March 2003, debuting on Raw the night after WrestleMania XIX by attacking The Rock. He defeated The Rock at Backlash 2003 and subsequently feuded with Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship, winning the title in a Career vs. Title match at Unforgiven in September 2003. His initial one-year WWE run concluded at WrestleMania XX in March 2004, where he defeated Brock Lesnar in a match officiated by special guest referee Steve Austin.

Goldberg remained away from major professional wrestling promotions for over a decade before returning to WWE in October 2016 to reignite his rivalry with Lesnar. At Survivor Series 2016, Goldberg defeated Lesnar in just 86 seconds. In March 2017, he defeated Kevin Owens at Fastlane to win the WWE Universal Championship, which he defended against Lesnar at WrestleMania 33. Goldberg was inducted as the headlining member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018 by Paul Heyman.

He continued making marquee appearances over the subsequent years. At Super ShowDown in February 2020, Goldberg defeated "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt to capture his second Universal Championship, becoming the first wrestler in history to win a world championship after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Goldberg had his final professional wrestling retirement match on July 12, 2025, facing Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at Saturday Night's Main Event XL in Atlanta, Georgia.

Goldberg launched his acting career in 1999, appearing as Romeo alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in the science fiction action film Universal Soldier: The Return. He went on to star in numerous feature films, notably portraying inmate Joey "Battle" Battaglio in the 2005 comedy The Longest Yard alongside Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and fellow wrestler Steve Austin. That same year, he starred as a murderous Santa Claus in the horror comedy Santa's Slay, and later appeared in Half Past Dead 2 (2007) and American Satan (2017).

On television, Goldberg appeared in guest roles on series such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Flash, Desperate Housewives, and NCIS: Los Angeles, where he played Special Agent Lance Hamilton across six episodes. He also played recurring character Coach Nick Mellor in the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs and its spin-off Schooled.

Goldberg expanded into television hosting and reality programming, serving as host of the automotive competition Bullrun on the Speed Channel, the garage makeover series Garage Mahal on the DIY Network, and the bladesmithing competition Forged in Fire: Knife or Death on the History Channel. He also competed on season nine of The Celebrity Apprentice in 2010 and served as a color commentator for mixed martial arts promotions including EliteXC and Pride Fighting Championship.