Goldberg is recognized by WWE as a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, being the first man to hold both the WCW and WWE incarnations of the Big Gold Belt. He is also recognized by WWE as a two-time United States Champion as well as a former World Tag Team Champion with Bret Hart during his time in WCW. Before he was a professional wrestler, Goldberg was a college and NFL football player. After retiring from wrestling, he began working as a commentator for the mixed martial arts promotion EliteXC until its closure.

Goldberg played for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team as a defensive end. He was taken in the 11th round with the 302nd overall selection in the 1990 NFL Draft. He played for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1990 NFL season, followed by a stint with the Atlanta Falcons from 1992 to 1994. After being cut from the Falcons, in 1995 he was selected by the new expansion team, the Carolina Panthers in the 1995 NFL Expansion Draft, but never played a game with the team.

After training at the WCW Power Plant, Goldberg made his televised debut when "Rowdy" Roddy Piper brought out a group of unknowns. Goldberg, sporting red hair, was soon made over with no hair and plain black trunks. On the September 22 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Goldberg defeated Hugh Morrus in his debut match. Soon afterward, Goldberg's succession of wins saw him quickly advance up the card, and he was pushed as a singles wrestler. Goldberg made his pay-per-view debut at Starrcade defeating Steve McMichael. In early 1998, Goldberg defeated Brad Armstrong at SuperBrawl VIII and Perry Saturn at Spring Stampede in squash matches. Around this time, WCW began counting Goldberg's consecutive wins on television as he continued to climb up the ranks. Goldberg's win over Saturn was his 74th consecutive without a loss, and the next night on Nitro he challenged Raven for the United States Heavyweight Championship that Raven had won the night before at Spring Stampede. Despite interference from Raven's Flock Goldberg overpowered them all and defeated Raven for his seventy-fifth straight win and his first professional wrestling championship. Two days later, on the April 22 edition of WCW Thunder, he made his first successful title defense against Mike Enos. Goldberg then started a feud with Raven and The Flock. At Slamboree, he ended his feud with the Flock after a successful title defense against Saturn. Goldberg would continue to make successful title defenses against Konnan at The Great American Bash and Curt Hennig.

As Goldberg was getting over as a main eventer, he continued to defend the United States Championship and was slowly becoming a contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship that was held by nWo Hollywood leader Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Hogan eventually promised Goldberg a title match, which was to take place on the July 6, 1998 edition of Nitro. However, Hogan elected instead to make Goldberg earn it in a match with his stablemate Scott Hall which Goldberg won. Thanks to a distraction provided by Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone, with whom Hogan was feuding at the time, Goldberg was able to defeat Hogan later in the evening to become a world champion and extend his winning streak to 108 matches. As a result, Goldberg vacated the United States title. Goldberg retained his title in his first World Heavyweight title defense against Scott Hall in a dark match. Goldberg then began a feud with Curt Hennig and retained the title against him at Bash at the Beach. At Road Wild, Goldberg won a battle royal, consisting of New World Order (nWo) members.

After Diamond Dallas Page became the number one contender for the WCW Title, Goldberg and Page began a feud with each other. At Halloween Havoc, the feud was settled after Goldberg defeated Page to retain the title. At Starrcade, Goldberg's undefeated streak was ended at 173 victories when he lost his title to Kevin Nash after Scott Hall made a run-in and shocked Goldberg with a cattle prod. Goldberg, however, avenged this act by facing Hall at Souled Out, in a Ladder Taser match. Goldberg won when he used the taser, which was hung high above the ring, requiring the ladder to obtain it. At the same time, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) began mocking Goldberg with the character Gillberg, a perennial jobber who dressed similarly to Goldberg and mocked his signature entrance and mannerisms.

At Spring Stampede, Goldberg gained his revenge against Nash after defeating him. Soon after, Goldberg was "injured" and took some time off to prepare for his movie Universal Soldier: The Return. He returned two months later and defeated Rick Steiner at Road Wild. Goldberg then restarted his feud with Diamond Dallas Page also involving Page's allies, The Jersey Triad, which culminated in a match at Fall Brawl that Goldberg won. After Goldberg settled his rivalry with Page, he began focusing on Sid Vicious and challenged him to a match to end Sid's winning streak. The two feuded with each other, which culminated in a match at Halloween Havoc for Sid's U.S. Title. Goldberg defeated Sid via referee stoppage, and thus won his second United States Heavyweight Championship. Later that night, he answered an open challenge from World Heavyweight Champion Sting and defeated him to win the championship. On the next night's edition of Nitro, commissioner J.J. Dillon ruled that the match had not been sanctioned by WCW and that, therefore, Goldberg's victory was void. The title was vacated and a 32-man tournament was held to determine a new champion, which started that night. Goldberg entered the tournament and wrestled his first match against Bret Hart later that night, choosing also to defend his newly won U.S. Title in the match. Interference from Sid Vicious cost Goldberg the match and the title as well as his second official WCW loss. Goldberg continued his rivalry with Vicious and defeated him in an "I Quit" match at Mayhem.

Shortly thereafter, Goldberg joined forces with Hart, teaming with him to defeat Creative Control for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. One week later, they lost the title to The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash). At Starrcade, Goldberg challenged Hart for the World Heavyweight Championship. In the course of the match, Goldberg delivered a stiff kick to Hart's head, legitimately giving him a concussion and tearing a muscle in his neck. After being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, Hart wrestled only three more matches and retired several months later. Despite that, Goldberg lost the match to Hart, but Hart vacated the title the next night on Nitro, saying he did not want to win that way and granting Goldberg a rematch. Goldberg was defeated again due to outside interference from the Outsiders, who began to beat on Goldberg with baseball bats. In a swerve, Hart took one of the bats from The Outsiders and began beating on Goldberg himself, doing enough damage to score the pin and regain his championship. After the match, Hall, Nash, Hart, and Jeff Jarrett announced the reformation of the nWo, and gave Goldberg a new target for a feud. However, it would not last long.

Shortly after his title match loss, Goldberg was accidentally injured during a sequence where he chased the nWo limousine into the parking lot. A spot in the sequence called for Goldberg to pound on the windshield of the limousine with his hands. To ensure his safety, Goldberg had protective covering placed over his hands and the windshield glass was also covered with plastic. However, Goldberg got a little too overaggressive in his pounding, broke through the plastic covering the windshield, and severely injured his forearm when shards of the glass sliced it, causing him to miss the January 4, 2000 New Japan Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome show, where he was scheduled to face Manabu Nakanishi. After taking time off to recuperate, Goldberg returned to WCW on May 29, 2000 interfering in a match between Kevin Nash and the team of Tank Abbott and Rick Steiner on Nitro. At The Great American Bash, Goldberg betrayed Nash during Nash's World Heavyweight Title match against Jeff Jarrett and turned heel for the first time in his career, aligning himself with The New Blood faction. This did not last long, as Goldberg would again be lost to injury and miss time. As a result of this betrayal, Goldberg feuded with Nash and defeated him at Bash at the Beach, with help from fellow New Blood member Scott Steiner. Goldberg participated in a triangle number one contender's match against Nash and Steiner at New Blood Rising, which Nash won. Goldberg turned face again after Bret Hart attacked him on an edition of Nitro and then he and Steiner began a feud with each other, culminating in a no disqualification match at Fall Brawl, which Goldberg lost.

He began a new undefeated streak in October 2000, with Vince Russo threatening to "fire" him if he lost. Goldberg defeated KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) at Halloween Havoc in a handicap elimination match to begin his undefeated streak. He started a feud with Lex Luger, who claimed to be the first wrestler to end both Goldberg's streak and career. This culminated in a match at Mayhem, which Goldberg won. They continued their rivalry and battled in a rematch at Starrcade, which if Goldberg lost, he had to retire. Goldberg won the match, but after the match, he was attacked by Luger's partner Buff Bagwell. Goldberg feuded with both Luger and Bagwell, who called themselves Totally Buff. His streak was broken at Sin when Goldberg, teaming with his Power Plant trainer Dwayne Bruce, lost to Totally Buff in a tag team no disqualification match after a "fan" maced him, enabling Totally Buff to pin him. The storyline was intended to enable Goldberg to have shoulder surgery, but WCW was sold to the WWF in March 2001, while Goldberg was still recuperating. The WWF did not buy out Goldberg's contract with Time Warner (the parent company of WCW) as they had done with several other WCW employees, so he was not involved in the WWF "Invasion" angle. Goldberg instead remained under contract to Time Warner until May 2002, when he agreed on a contract buyout.

Goldberg had suffered an arm injury during the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at the Long Beach Grand Prix in April 2002. In August 2002, he returned to the ring in Japan. He initially joined All Japan Pro Wrestling, defeating Satoshi Kojima and Taiyō Kea. He went on to defeat Rick Steiner in a match for the W-1 promotion, and teamed with Keiji Mutoh to defeat KroniK. His success in Japan led the WWF - now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment - to begin contract negotiations with him.