Goldberg wants to make something clear. He’s not afraid of anyone. Not then, not now, not ever. “You know who I am, right? You know what I’ve done. No one on the planet scares me.”
So when he talks about Haku, the legendary Meng, wrestling’s most feared tough guy, Goldberg doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t mythologize the man who supposedly bit off noses and terrified locker rooms. He honors something deeper.
“Meng never scared me,” Goldberg states flatly. “I just greatly appreciated everything that he did. Most of all, the person that he was, the human being that he was outside of the ring, inside the ring.”
How The WWE Legend Influenced Goldberg
This is the Goldberg that fans rarely see. Stripped of the pyro and the undefeated streaks and the spear, he reveals himself as a student of the game who found his greatest inspiration not in championships, but in character.
Goldberg’s career was built on monstrous collisions. His rivalry with Brock Lesnar stands as perhaps the definitive example of two forces of nature colliding. Their trilogy, WrestleMania 20, Survivor Series 2016, and WrestleMania 33, represented something rare in wrestling: two legitimate athletic specimens with shared football backgrounds who understood each other on a primal level.
Lesnar, to his credit, never hesitated to put Goldberg over. In an industry where egos often overshadow business, Lesnar recognized that Goldberg’s mystique required preservation. Their Survivor Series match lasted under two minutes, yet it meant everything. Two monsters, one decisive outcome, mutual respect.
But Goldberg’s most meaningful relationship wasn’t with the Beast. It was with the Tongan legend that he was taught what being a monster truly meant.
“It’s like you hear a whistle in a football game,” Goldberg explains, describing his mindset. “I put my helmet on, when I hit that last strap, it’s all going. So, it didn’t matter who I was in there against.”
That intensity made Goldberg unstoppable. But it was Meng who showed him how to channel it.
“Meng was an idol of mine, and Meng was one of my biggest mentors,” Goldberg admits. “1,000%, absolutely. How could you not look at a guy like Meng, both in and outside of the ring, and not think that he could be an unbelievable person to follow in their footsteps?”
The revelation reframes both men. Meng, the terrifying enforcer, becomes a teacher. Goldberg, the unstoppable machine, becomes a grateful student. Behind the suplexes and the spears, behind the undefeated streaks and the world championships, Goldberg found his greatest victories in the relationships he built.
In a business built on manufactured conflict, Goldberg’s genuine admiration for his mentors and peers cuts through the noise. The man behind the monster isn’t afraid of legends. He’s humble enough to learn from them.