WWE Missed Opportunities: Stone Cold vs. Bill Goldberg

At the height of the Monday night wars between WWE and WCW, two stars shined brightest, one for each company.

When WCW began to notice the success WWE was having with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, they countered with Bill Goldberg.

While Austin was well-known throughout the industry from his time as Television Champion in WCW as well as a brief run in ECW before WWE, Goldberg was an unknown.

Goldberg, who had s short stint in the NFL, appeared on WCW Nitro to little fanfare. He started at the very bottom. With a fairly plain look, it appeared he'd be one of the guys WCW used as an enhancement talent to help put over the bigger stars of WCW.

But after his debut match against Hugh Morrus, that was hardly the case. It was clear Goldberg had some uniqueness to him. That became more and more evident with each opponent he mowed down on WCW programming.

But as Goldberg was coming up the ranks in WCW, Austin was at the top of the food chain in WWE. But it wouldn't be long before people frequently mentioned the two Superstars in the same sentence.

In the midst of an incredible undefeated streak, Goldberg would become the WCW United States Champion. Then, less than three months later, Goldberg got the victory that would forever etch his name in wrestling history.

In July 1998, Goldberg defeated Hollywood Hogan to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. At the same time in WWE, Austin was WWE Champion, having won the title from Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14.

By this time, the two men drew comparisons on a regular basis. Not only did they have a very similar look, but they were also the top stars in their respective promotions. Fans dreamed of a match between the two men, though it didn't seem likely at the time.

By March 2001, WCW was being sold to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Suddenly, McMahon owned his competition and had the option to bring in as many members of the WCW roster as he saw fit. But due to some of the WCW wrestlers being under contract to AOL/Time Warner, WWE chose to let those run out.

Because of this, Goldberg wasn't seen on television for two years. In that time, he worked some matches over in Japan.

Goldberg finally struck a deal with WWE in the early part of 2003. The first vignette promoting his debut was shown on the WrestleMania 19 pay-per-view.

WWE fans were finally going to get Goldberg. But what they didn't realize at that time was that another major star would be competing in his final match. That would be Austin.

At WrestleMania 19, Austin battled The Rock, the third time the two men had faced off at WrestleMania. Austin was defeated in that match and never competed in WWE again. Concerns over a previously sustained neck injury forced The Texas Rattlesnake into retirement.

WWE fans couldn't have had worse luck. The dream match they had waited years to see would never happen.

Goldberg only competed in WWE for one year, having plenty of success. He had feuds with The Rock, Chris Jericho and Triple H. He also won the World Heavyweight Championship. But the match with Austin is what the people wanted.

The closest fans would ever get was at WrestleMania 20. On that night, Goldberg faced Brock Lesnar. Austin was inserted as the special-guest referee.

Though the match was marred by the fact that fans were aware that Lesnar and Goldberg would both be leaving WWE following the match, Austin still did his best to entertain.

After the match was over and Goldberg was victorious, Austin delivered the Stunner to Lesnar right after Lesnar disrespected the crowd with a middle finger. But Austin didn't stop there.

He offered a beer to Goldberg to celebrate the win, but in typical Austin fashion, he delivered a Stunner to him as well. Though it was far from the match fans had hoped for years before, the crowd at Madison Square Garden that night seemed to truly enjoy the moment.

When you look back on wrestling history, this will undoubtedly be one of the biggest matches that never happened. WWE wasn't at fault; it was just a case of bad timing.

With that said, maybe these two legends were meant to become stars on their own and not together. Perhaps a match between the two was never meant to be.