Literary Squared Circle #32 – I’M NEXT
Bill Goldberg celebrates his 55th Birthday on December 27th. This week, the Literary Squared Circle blog takes a look back at his 2000 memoir I’m Next: The Strange Journey of America’s Most Unlikely Superhero by Bill Goldberg and Steve Goldberg (Crown, 2000).
I’m Next begins not with Goldberg’s childhood, but with his decision to become a professional wrestler while recovering from a football injury at the age of 30. Unlike many wrestlers who pen memoirs, Goldberg did not grow up as a wrestling fan who one day dreamed of entering the squared circle. He saw professional wrestling as a way to make a living after his football career met a premature end.
The book details Goldberg’s journey from his training at the WCW Power Plant to all that went into making the Goldberg character unique: his look, his moves, his music, his pyro, etc. He describes his character as, “a cross between Bruiser Brody, Nikita Koloff, Buzz Sawyer, Ken Shamrock, and a wrestling character from one of my favorite movies, Paradise Alley – Franky the Thumper.”
Goldberg discusses his WCW debut and his subsequent winning streak, which would go on for the first year-and-a-half of his career. During his win streak, Goldberg would capture the United States Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Along the way, Goldberg lists things such as the best parts of being on the road, the worst parts of being on the road, and all of the celebrities he encountered during his championship run.
In addition to Goldberg’s narrative, readers hear from those who know and worked with Goldberg, including Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, and Arn Anderson just to name a few. His family and football coaches also chime in to provide insight as to what kind of person Goldberg is.
The wrestling portion of I’m Next ends with Goldberg injuring his arm in late 1999. He severed tendons when he punched his fist through a limousine window. While rehabbing from the injury, Goldberg reflected back on his spectacular, yet brief career in professional wrestling, and wrote I’m Next with his brother Michael Goldberg.
The remainder of the book features Goldberg talking about all of his famous friends, including, but not limited to Adam Sandler, Jean-Claude Van Dam, and Jimmy Buffett. Though he is name dropping, Goldberg also uses his platform as a celebrity to work with a variety of charities such as Special Olympics, the American Diabetes Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Association, D.A.R.E., and the Humane Society.
After two chapters which were not authored by Bill Goldberg himself, but instead one by his brother and another by his father, Goldberg returns to discuss his childhood, his days playing college football at the University of Georgia, and his NFL career.
Overall, I really enjoyed I’m Next: The Strange Journey of America’s Most Unlikely Superhero. It provided readers with all aspects of Bill Goldberg’s story, even though it was presented in a very unorthodox manner. As I have said about other books I’ve reviewed, notably by Kurt Angle (LSC #14) and Rey Mysterio (LSC #10), the book was written very early on in Goldberg’s wrestling career. It would be nice to see a second memoir written covering all that has transpired over the past two decades including the end of WCW, his run in the WWF, and his return(s) to WWE as Universal Champion, WWE Champion, and Hall of Famer.
Hopefully, wrestling fans and Goldberg fans in particular can look forward to a follow-up book somewhere down the road. Until then, they’ll have to make do with I’m Next.
4 Stars out of 5
I’m Next begins not with Goldberg’s childhood, but with his decision to become a professional wrestler while recovering from a football injury at the age of 30. Unlike many wrestlers who pen memoirs, Goldberg did not grow up as a wrestling fan who one day dreamed of entering the squared circle. He saw professional wrestling as a way to make a living after his football career met a premature end.
The book details Goldberg’s journey from his training at the WCW Power Plant to all that went into making the Goldberg character unique: his look, his moves, his music, his pyro, etc. He describes his character as, “a cross between Bruiser Brody, Nikita Koloff, Buzz Sawyer, Ken Shamrock, and a wrestling character from one of my favorite movies, Paradise Alley – Franky the Thumper.”
Goldberg discusses his WCW debut and his subsequent winning streak, which would go on for the first year-and-a-half of his career. During his win streak, Goldberg would capture the United States Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Along the way, Goldberg lists things such as the best parts of being on the road, the worst parts of being on the road, and all of the celebrities he encountered during his championship run.
In addition to Goldberg’s narrative, readers hear from those who know and worked with Goldberg, including Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, and Arn Anderson just to name a few. His family and football coaches also chime in to provide insight as to what kind of person Goldberg is.
The wrestling portion of I’m Next ends with Goldberg injuring his arm in late 1999. He severed tendons when he punched his fist through a limousine window. While rehabbing from the injury, Goldberg reflected back on his spectacular, yet brief career in professional wrestling, and wrote I’m Next with his brother Michael Goldberg.
The remainder of the book features Goldberg talking about all of his famous friends, including, but not limited to Adam Sandler, Jean-Claude Van Dam, and Jimmy Buffett. Though he is name dropping, Goldberg also uses his platform as a celebrity to work with a variety of charities such as Special Olympics, the American Diabetes Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Association, D.A.R.E., and the Humane Society.
After two chapters which were not authored by Bill Goldberg himself, but instead one by his brother and another by his father, Goldberg returns to discuss his childhood, his days playing college football at the University of Georgia, and his NFL career.
Overall, I really enjoyed I’m Next: The Strange Journey of America’s Most Unlikely Superhero. It provided readers with all aspects of Bill Goldberg’s story, even though it was presented in a very unorthodox manner. As I have said about other books I’ve reviewed, notably by Kurt Angle (LSC #14) and Rey Mysterio (LSC #10), the book was written very early on in Goldberg’s wrestling career. It would be nice to see a second memoir written covering all that has transpired over the past two decades including the end of WCW, his run in the WWF, and his return(s) to WWE as Universal Champion, WWE Champion, and Hall of Famer.
Hopefully, wrestling fans and Goldberg fans in particular can look forward to a follow-up book somewhere down the road. Until then, they’ll have to make do with I’m Next.
4 Stars out of 5
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