Former WWE superstar Bill Goldberg on his role in “Check Point” and current events

When former WCW and WWE superstar Bill Goldberg read the script for “Check Point,” he knew it was something he wanted to be a part of.

The movie set for release Memorial Day 2016 surrounds a vagrant who discovers a sleeper terrorist cell in a small town. A team of unlikely heroes go into action to fight the enemy within their own country.

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Along with Goldberg as T.J., the eclectic cast also includes Kenny Johnson (“Bates Motel,” Sons of Anarchy”), William Forsythe, (“The Rock,” “Raising Arizona”) Michelle Lee (“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Pacific Rim”) and more. Like most potential projects, he had his wife Wanda give this one an initial look before passing it on to him. She approved.

“The character, the timing of the plot, the timing of the subject matter couldn’t be on point as we are seeing right now,” Goldberg said.

“There was a great group of people working on this. Everybody on set made it a good experience. Everyone is extremely patriotic, which also helped. Everyone had a vested interest in it. This wasn’t your normal movie project. It was a very touchy subject matter and one that needs to be addressed. We need to raise people’s awareness. If any time they need it to be aware, it’s right now.”

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Goldberg is a strong supporter of the United States military and makes a number of appearances to show his gratitude for their service. For the retired pro wrestler, it’s surreal to hear about recent terrorist attacks in places like Paris and Beirut.

“It shows you the day and age we live in,” he said.

“There are some highly radical human beings on this planet who choose to do nothing other than terrorize its citizens. As a true red-blooded American, I am up in arms. I am disgusted with what is going on. I am tired of sitting back and waiting for things to happen. We need to be proactive. I think we need to shore up our borders. I think there are many things that are coming to light right now that need to seriously be taken into consideration.

“In this day and age of political correctness I truly believe our country’s safety is much more important than that. It’s a fine line. I mean look at the refugees right now. It’s a horrible situation, and my heart goes out to them. But at the end of the day opening our arms to refugees coming to our borders without putting them through stringent background checks or whatever it may be is asinine. Let them in, but they have to go through a process.

11050680_10207708106441478_3119808185980305442_o“I truly feel for them. At the same time, in no way, shape or form am I going to sacrifice my safety or my son’s or my wife’s safety to help somebody out. At the end of the day we are a country who cares and who does open our arms to the needy, but our desire to help others can’t supersede our own safety.”

Goldberg, whose resume includes TV hosting gigs and movies such as The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler, feels a background in the ring can help ease the transition into other avenues of entertainment. The multi-time world champion will never forget his time in pro wrestling, and neither will his fans.

12143214_1677448555802070_7663891377804038107_n“I can’t tell you what a huge honor it is to have them remember so much,” Goldberg said.

“I must have done something right. There isn’t a day that goes by where someone doesn’t come up to me about the career I had in a wrestling ring. It just makes me proud. I was able to get people to buy into what I was doing and follow me and put me up on this pedestal. I greatly appreciate it. I will always pay homage to those people no matter how I feel about the business. Those fans are truly the best fans in the world. I’m awed and humbled every day somebody would ask me if I still had interest in getting back into it.”

Despite moving on from his days spearing opponents out of their boots on a nightly basis, the popular performer has always let the wrestling door open a smidge. He does autograph signings at conventions and remains in good shape at the age of 48.

“Everything has to be taken into consideration if I had another match,” Goldberg said.

“I was very lucky in that I did not kill myself during my tenure in the wrestling world. My body still can take some serious abuse as we see with me training Muay Thai kickboxing three days a week. As long as I got this little boy with a desire to see me do something in the ring, there is the idea of never say never.”

According to the man himself, he has not gotten any offers or gotten any present interest from WWE.

“When something supersedes your business sense, it has to be ego or something ridiculous. I surely am not going to miss a bit of sleep if I don’t get a phone call from them. I just got contacted by TNA a couple of days ago. I don’t know. They want to promote the movie since one of my adversaries in the film is Bram (Thomas Latimer), who works for them. I’m greatly appreciative they want to help the movie out. Now at the end of the day, promoting the movie is one thing, but getting a guy like Goldberg in your wrestling organization is a completely different story. We’ll see.”

Since Goldberg is an avid MMA fan, I had to get his opinion on Ronda Rousey’s shocking loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193.

“I think what happened to Ronda is called karma,” Goldberg said.

“You have to treat people with respect. I don’t care how tough you are or big and bad you are. Look at J.J. Watt. J.J. is one of the baddest men to put on a football helmet. At the end of the day he will bend over backwards to do something for the people behind the camera out of the spotlight. He is just a good person. I would like to say Ronda would do the same. It’s the same thing with Jon Jones. You can be the baddest thing on the planet and have more talent in the world, but there is a way to carry yourself.

“I will use the J.J. Watts reference again. Before a game in Cincinnati he went up in the stands hours before people got there. He sat up at the top of the stands and looked out and he soaked it all in. Sometimes you need to ground yourself and realize that 20 or 30 years ago you were a fan like everyone else. Now you have this opportunity to perform in one of the coolest jobs on the planet and use your stardom and position to do good for people. I love the guy and respect the hell out of him.”

9b83eb_c269068e035e4e78a0f81ab492aba888In the months leading up to Check Point, Goldberg is busy working on a car show with History Channel and has four more scripts currently on the table. There is also the talk of a Check Point sequel. Needless to say, the wife has some reading material to get through.

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Photos Courtesy: Chasing Butterflies Pictures