Goldberg is undeniably one of the most famous wrestling icons to ever step into the WWE ring. However, as the saying goes, "With great power comes great responsibility." This is where Goldberg may have struggled to deliver. Despite some fans appreciating him for the nostalgia factor and his powerhouse gimmick, there has always been a very vocal majority of fans who have criticized Goldberg for various reasons.
Watch this video to learn why and how Goldberg's WWE run failed.
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#goldberg #brocklesnar #braywyatt #undertaker #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
Watch this video to learn why and how Goldberg's WWE run failed.
Also, make sure you subscribe to Sportskeeda Wrestling for more such wrestling videos.
You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#goldberg #brocklesnar #braywyatt #undertaker #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Was Goldberg's return in WWE from 2016 to 2022 a failure or a success?
00:08 It depends on what perspective you look at it.
00:10 In a financial sense, in a viewership sense, it was a success, but almost everything else
00:16 that happened, kind of a failure.
00:18 It all started, well, in 2016 when he returned after 12 and a half years to a hero's welcome.
00:26 Squashing Brock Lesnar in 26 seconds turned out to be a stroke of genius and although
00:31 his Universal Championship win in 22 seconds wasn't under the best of circumstances,
00:37 he managed to overcome a ghost of his past.
00:39 The Wrestlemania 20 stinker against Brock Lesnar.
00:43 A quick rundown.
00:45 Lesnar and Goldberg had an absolute flop of a match at Wrestlemania 20 because fans knew
00:50 they were both leaving and they were given a lot of crap for it and put on one of the
00:54 laziest matches imaginable.
00:57 Wrestlemania 33 was different however.
01:00 All the lessons had been learned and Lesnar and Goldberg had perhaps the greatest 5 minute
01:04 match in WWE history.
01:07 It was a good end to his run.
01:08 He overcame the past debacle of a match and went out by elevating his rival.
01:14 But he wasn't done just yet.
01:17 Despite his Hall of Fame introduction in 2018, he was brought back the next year for a dream
01:23 match and we say that with the biggest quotes imaginable against The Undertaker.
01:29 This match, even calling it bad would be an understatement.
01:33 It was so obvious that both men were far past their primes that it looked like a plea for
01:39 help rather than a blockbuster WWE main event.
01:43 Despite The Undertaker's equal participation in the match, Goldberg got the lion's share
01:48 of criticism.
01:49 You could argue that criticism was a bit too much, but it wasn't exactly uncalled for
01:55 either.
01:56 To many fans, Goldberg was taking up a spot that could have been given to a younger, more
02:01 capable superstar.
02:03 To get past the criticism, Goldberg would have a fun little squash match against Dolph
02:07 Ziggler at Summerslam 2019 before returning in early 2020 to challenge The Fiend Bray
02:15 Wyatt who was the dominant Universal Champion at the time.
02:18 The Fiend was already a revered character who dominated everybody in his path with relative
02:24 ease.
02:25 He had momentum on his side.
02:27 Bray Wyatt was finally having his moment in the sun until the darkness inevitably came
02:31 in the form of a 54-year-old Hall of Famer well past his prime.
02:36 Although it looked like a moment where Bray Wyatt would have the biggest win of his entire
02:40 career over a bonafide established legend, that wasn't what happened.
02:46 What did happen has been considered the worst decision in WWE history by many.
02:53 The Fiend's momentum was squashed in a matter of minutes, three minutes to be more precise.
02:58 That's all it took for Goldberg to destroy all the momentum that Bray Wyatt had built
03:03 up.
03:04 Wyatt quite literally went into a dark headspace away from the world while figuring out his
03:09 new character between 2018 and 2019.
03:14 Fans knew that he had all the love, passion and dedication to the craft and was deserving
03:20 of a spot in a world title match at WrestleMania.
03:24 Now this isn't confirmed, but to many it was a sign of clear pot licking from Goldberg.
03:30 It should be said that Goldberg has denied this allegation, but we can't really put
03:34 into words the outrage towards this decision.
03:38 It seemed like it completely tarnished Goldberg's legacy, but even if it did at the time, fans
03:43 weren't around to see it.
03:45 COVID had hit the world and fans were no longer allowed to attend shows, forcing WWE to change
03:51 the venue of WrestleMania 36 and all events to the Performance Center in Orlando.
03:58 His advertised dream match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36 was abruptly cancelled
04:05 when the big dog decided to take some time away.
04:09 In hindsight, this was the best decision Roman Reigns made in his entire career.
04:15 Goldberg would lose the Universal title to Braun Strowman and he most definitely would
04:20 have lost it to Roman Reigns.
04:22 But this left a lot to be desired.
04:24 It was still quite clear that he didn't actually need to win the Universal Championship
04:29 from The Fiend.
04:30 And just like everybody knew, Goldberg was gone after WrestleMania while Bray Wyatt would
04:35 stick around.
04:37 This was a general sentiment surrounding part timers, but Goldberg received a lot more flack
04:42 because his stories and matches had been failing to deliver time and time again.
04:47 This changed in 2021 in what turned out to be possibly Goldberg's best year in WWE.
04:54 First he returned to challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble,
05:00 but lost in what was a pretty good match.
05:03 Goldberg returned to feud with the then WWE Champion Bobby Lashley at Summerslam.
05:09 He would lose this match, but his son Gage got involved, getting assaulted by the Almighty.
05:16 This turned into a serious feud for Goldberg, who had one of his best character moments
05:21 when he said that he didn't even care about the WWE Championship anymore, he wanted vengeance
05:27 against Lashley.
05:29 It led to what might be one of the best matches of his career as he defeated Bobby Lashley
05:34 in a no holds barred match in Saudi Arabia.
05:38 It was pretty damn good at the time, and it's still pretty damn good when you watch it now.
05:44 It would have actually been a perfect time to end his career on a high, but we all knew
05:49 that wasn't how it would go down.
05:51 Goldberg came back a few months later to challenge the Tribal Chief nearly two years after they
05:57 cancelled their match.
05:59 Unfortunately, the match itself turned out to be bad and it's hard to blame Roman Reigns
06:04 for his opponent having in-ring limitations.
06:07 That marked an abrupt end to Goldberg's career, which would have been better off ending
06:11 at Crown Jewel 21 against Lashley.
06:15 Vince McMahon promised Goldberg a retirement match, but with him now completely out of
06:19 the picture, it's hard to tell whether that promise will be fulfilled.
06:23 WWE doesn't need him, and that's a fact.
06:27 But there are really two schools of thought when looking back at this 2016-2022 run.
06:34 On one hand, he was without a doubt one of WWE's biggest draws, and he had direct impact
06:40 on the ratings going up when he was advertised beforehand.
06:44 He was one of the last superstars to be presented as a larger than life good guy, which made
06:50 him a big hit amongst kids who never watched his WCW days.
06:55 But even then, his runs were marred by bad decision making and bad matches too.
07:00 You could argue that he had more creative control than 99% of superstars in WWE, but
07:06 there was always a lot left to be desired after his matches and storylines.
07:11 Thankfully, WWE seems to be taking a slightly different approach with part timers these
07:17 days, and if Goldberg does get that retirement match he's promised, you can be sure that
07:23 it isn't going to be at the expenses of another younger star.
07:27 Thank you for watching.
07:28 (upbeat music)
07:30 (upbeat music)