Ahead of his WWE Championship match this Sunday at the Royal Rumble PPV, Goldberg made an appearance on the After The Bell podcast. Here are the most notable points from the episode:

On his match this Sunday with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre

“In all honesty, my biggest issue is getting myself ready for anybody, or getting myself ready form my personal standards. Taking Drew McIntyre into consideration, he is a different beast. He is extremely athletic, it’s like going against an extremely athletic Gronk (Rob Gronkowski). The guy can move, he’s fast, he’s nimble. He’s got everything and every box checked off. But I want to see if he’s got the intestinal fortitude to take me down. It’s a box that needs to be checked.”

On training for the match

“I don’t even know where to begin. It’s like shoving 50 pounds of crap into a 10 pound bag. At 54 years old, but if I didn’t think I could do it, I wouldn’t be putting myself through all of it. The conundrum is, at 54 your metabolism isn’t like it used to be, your muscles don’t respond like they used to. You have a short period of time and try to get as much done as humanly possible. My issue has always been gaining weight. To gain weight, I have to cut down on my cardio. So do I keep in good shape, or do I look big? In three to four weeks it’s difficult to do that period. I’m not going to moan or cry, I am ecstatic to be in this position. I’m going to answer this question for both me and everybody else.”

On touring nutrition and being Goldberg

“One reason why I travelled alone was because my touring food was hard boiled eggs. I learned that from Curt Hennig. That’s one of my go to. Being Goldberg has being one of the biggest honours in the world. I have been cast in a business that I did not aspire to be in. I was a football player who was a fan. I was between a rock and a hard place, I had to make a career decision. I was in the right place at the right time, so many times throughout the years. When I broke in the business, there were so many people who helped me when my back was up against the wall. Guys like Hennig and the Steiner brothers.”

On comparing the previous generation of superstars to today

“Days are completely different, the locker room, the business and the people are different. I don’t think days could go like they did back in the day. When you hear the comments about me coming for one or two matches a year, people are saying “he doesn’t deserve it,” or “he hasn’t paid his dues.” People forget very quickly what all of us did back in the day to earn those spots. The business is softer than it was, but the business is in 2021. Things have to change and things have to be different. It’s hard in this generation to build stars larger than life. When I was speaking to Drew, I was speaking to everyone, because he is the locker room leader. When legends came in when I was in the business in the beginning, I was greatly appreciative. One day those young kids are going to be in my position. At 54, I don’t know one of those kids that could be doing what I’m doing. There is not much trust left, you can’t confide in people without them putting it on social media. Everybody has got to pay their dues, you have to pay it in a different way. When I came in, I did whatever I could to solidify my place correctly. There were a lot of badass dudes back then. Things have changed exponentially and I can’t say that it’s for the better.”

On social media and internet critics

“I have learned to shut the door on those people. They sit behind their computer and justify their existence by putting negative things out just to p*ss people off. Some of the fans these days that start chants to try and take over the show. I don’t really give a damn anymore I’ve got a family and I have a standard that I set myself. I have to be realistic to what I can provide to the people and the company. If I’m cool within myself, I don’t give a damn what other people say. I’m trying to put 10-15,000 calories a day down my throat. It’s just one of those things, you find out what works for you. It’s not hard to get into Goldberg mode, it’s hard to get into Goldberg physique.”

Image credit

WWE.com

Full episode available here