Goldberg brought an over 20-year career to a close when he battled Gunther for the WWE Heavyweight Championship on this past weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, as his return and the subsequent match were all framed under the Goldberg’s Last Ride banner by WWE. Goldberg would deliver a strong showing in that match, though Gunther would ultimately take the win and retain his Title. Goldberg recently spoke with Ariel Helwani about his final WWE run, and not only did Goldberg reveal what pissed him off most about how everything went down, but he also addressed the future and if this was truly his final match.
What Went Wrong
During the interview (via Fightful), Goldberg was asked whether facing Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event was always the plan, and he replied, “Yeah, I can’t say I was too thrilled about part of that.” When asked why, Goldberg revealed it was more of an issue with the format of live TV and the lack of control over how things played out.
“Saturday Night’s Main Event. Live TV in Atlanta. You always have your dreams of how you’re going to do things, and ultimately, to have a little bit more control over the time and the space would have been much more preferred. Let’s just put it that way. To be given that opportunity on such a special show with the lineage of the show to be able to go against the World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. It was an honor and a privilege to be given that opportunity. I had to make the most of it,” Goldberg said.
A consequence of the live network TV format was that his speech after the match was cut extremely short and ended abruptly for those watching on NBC. The full cut was 10 minutes long and was uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel, but Goldberg wasn’t at all happy with how that played out.
When asked if he would have preferred a premium live event due to getting more time, Goldberg said, “Yeah, absolutely. They cut me off in friggin’ 20 seconds with a microphone in my hand. I got two weeks before I can really spill the beans and make my feelings known about the entire rundown from the inception of the idea to its delivery. It was a little less than to be desired. I’m not going to complain because not many people get that opportunity. There are a number of variables where such, you get put behind the eight ball and to be able to perform a 12-13 minute match, what felt like 115 minutes, it was a great opportunity and Gunther was an unbelievable guy to work with. It was awesome. I had a good time. I was laughing in there when he was chopping me. I actually had fun. In two weeks I’ll be telling everybody about the whole story.”
Goldberg was asked if it was an NDA, and he replied, “Let’s just say that.” Goldberg was then asked why the build only ended up being three weeks when plans were put in place last November. “I would have loved for them to announce it in January and had a build up to it and do something like that, that I thought was maybe worthy of my career. Let’s just say they chose to do it with three weeks notice. It is what it is. It’s part of the package. It’s part of the meal you get dealt and I would be remiss in thinking I thought the meal would be different, but shame on me for thinking it would be different,” Goldberg said.
That’s when Goldberg expressed his frustration on how he ultimately went out, and thinks it could have been done better in a number of ways. “Let’s just say I’m pissed off at the way that I went out. I put so much into it and I don’t feel the effort was reciprocated to put a stamp on what I accomplished. I’m not going to say I’m not ecstatic about the opportunity that I got. I was a WCW guy. I think it could have been done a little bit differently, that’s all. I’m happy with my performance and the setting, but could it have been better? Absolutely, it can always been better,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg was also asked what could have been done differently. “There are a bout 100 things. I did three interviews. Three in six months. They cut me off 30 seconds into my speech. You don’t do that,” Goldberg said. As for his speech at the end, it was always planned for the end of the show, but it was never stated it would be 28 seconds.
“100%. I never heard I was going to speak for 28 seconds. I got the opportunity to speak for 28 seconds,” Goldberg said. When asked how he reacted when he got backstage, Goldberg said, “It’s not worth me….I’m not going to snivel over it, by any means. I got the opportunity to have it for 28 seconds. Not many people get that. Everything throughout the years built up to the ultimate rib. I guess that was the ultimate rib.”
While Goldberg doesn’t think it was done on purpose, he also points out a few people this wouldn’t have happened to. “I’m not saying it was done on purpose. I’m saying that it wasn’t prepared for on purpose. They wouldn’t do that to Taker [Undertaker], right? They’re not going to do that for Cena [John Cena]. Cena is going around the world doing his retirement thing. Mine was just a World Heavyweight Championship match. To be honest with you, I’m going to catch hell for this, I don’t care. I had World Heavyweight Championship matches all the time. That doesn’t do anything for me. It does, but make it different than an angle in the end. Do something. Say something. It just felt ‘eh’ for me. I’m not here to bitch and moan because I don’t do that. I’m not complain by any stretch of the imagination. You ask and I answer,” Goldberg said.
Was This His Real Final Match?
When asked if he would ever wrestle again, Goldberg said that in principle, he’s done, but he couldn’t say he would never wrestle again directly. “I can’t say that. In principle, yeah, I’m done, but I worked my ass off for five months. I don’t think I’ve dedicated that much of my life towards one goal, one night. I would be remiss in saying it didn’t feel as though it was a waste because I only went out there for 14 minutes and that was it. I’m 58 years old. My body is kind of torn to shreds. Hopefully, I was able to cover a lot of it up. I had my retirement match. I have 91 people fly in from all around the world that were personal guests. I don’t know if I want to kick start that again and say, ‘Guess what, I didn’t retire. I want to go one more time.’ You don’t plan stuff like that. In the world of professional wrestling, I guess you’re not retired until you’re dead. In principle, yeah, I’m retired,” Goldberg said.
When asked if he might be lingering around WWE in the future, Goldberg said that isn’t really in the plan, but he also added one caveat. “I don’t think I’m lingering anywhere around the WWE anytime in the future, by any stretch of the imagination. Wrestling world, you’re never retired until you’re dead. I ain’t dead yet. It was reinvigorating. It was a lot of fun. It taught me that I could do things that I never thought that I could do,” Goldberg said.
What did you think of Goldberg’s final WWE match, and do you think we’ll see him return for one more match down the road? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
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