Triple H Calls Out Stephen A. Smith’s Goldberg Pick in GOAT Wrestler List

Triple H just threw some shade — and a whole lot of logic — at ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith for putting Goldberg at the top of his list of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

During an appearance on First Take to promote WWE’s new ESPN partnership and the debut of WrestlePalooza, the WWE Chief Content Officer was hit with a curveball when Stephen A. casually dropped his personal top five wrestlers ever. What started out reasonable took a sharp left turn by the end.

Smith’s picks? He named The Road Warriors at number five, The Rock at four, Hulk Hogan at three, and Ric Flair in the number two slot. Then came the shocker — Goldberg at number one.

Triple H didn’t hold back when responding to the list. While he praised some of the choices, he immediately called out the Goldberg selection as a deliberate attempt to spark outrage.

“What he does for a profession is piss people off, right?” Triple H said. “So what he did is he bait and switched it. He set up a list that is arguably accurate: the Road Warriors, The Rock, Hogan, Flair. He left out a few because it’s just a top five. But then what he does is he comes in and he ‘Stephen A’s it,’ and he goes Goldberg at number one, because he knows that is the name that is going to piss off the maximum amount of people.”

Even though he didn’t agree with the ranking, Triple H made it clear he wasn’t trying to disrespect Goldberg’s legacy.

“I’m not going to say he’s not great. I love Bill. I think he’s a great performer, had great moments in this business, but putting him at one…”

The rest of the panel jumped in with their own picks, suggesting Randy Savage, Dusty Rhodes, and Roddy Piper as names that deserved more consideration — not to mention glaring omissions like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels.

Triple H came to talk about the future of WWE with ESPN, but thanks to Stephen A.’s wildcard ranking, the conversation quickly turned into a viral debate about wrestling’s true GOAT — and the reaction is exactly what Smith likely wanted.