WWE legend Bill Goldberg fought his retirement match against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event XL. While this could have been a big moment for the fans of both the Stamford-based promotion and WCW, the iconic moment left everyone salty, including the Hall of Famer himself.
Here are three reasons why the former Universal Champion is unhappy with his exit from the company.
#3. Goldberg’s retirement speech was cut off
Goldberg delivered a very moving speech following his bout with Gunther. Despite losing the World Heavyweight Championship match and not getting his revenge for the shade thrown his way by The Ring General, Da Man had a smile on his face while speaking. However, not all of his words made it to the broadcast. Speaking at The Ariel Helwani Show, even Goldberg expressed his frustration at the move.
"Let's just say I'm pissed off at the way I went out… I put so much into it and I don't feel as though the effort was reciprocated to put a stamp on what I've accomplished... I think it could have been done a little bit differently, that's all,” he said. [H/T: Bleacher Report]The official YouTube channel of WWE carries the full address made by the 58-year-old. Several fans in the comments have noted how the company, as well as NBC, shouldn’t have slashed the farewell speech of the Hall of Famer. Goldberg even revealed that the company was already aware that he was going to speak to his home crowd after the match.
#2. Lacklustre buildup to the final match
The confrontation between Gunther and Goldberg carried a lot of weight owing to the personalities of the two wrestlers. The seeds for this feud were planted at the 2024 Bad Blood when The Ring General insulted Da Man in front of his family and his fans in Atlanta. However, when the match was finally made official, not much was done to build the hype for it.
The former Universal Champion did an interview with Michael Cole and stated his reason for picking up a fight with the Austrian. The monologue he delivered would have carried a lot of impact if, instead of a video package, Da Man had directly spoken to the crowd.
The legend also posted a tweet on X where a video clip showed him dominating Brock Lesnar at the 2016 Survivor Series. While this did create a buzz, a promo with the fans for his retirement match should’ve been a must-have. When this was followed by the slashing of his farewell speech, it further frustrated the WCW icon.
#1. Goldberg lost his final match
While losing retirement matches is usually the norm in pro wrestling, there are also some exceptions. When superstars who defined pro wrestling and paid big dividends with their matches and promos retire, they also walk out of the ring for the final time with a win.
This was seen in the retirement match of Sting, when he teamed up with Darby Allin and defeated The Young Bucks. The duo successfully defended the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the 2024 AEW Revolution as the legend hung up his wrestling boots.
However, in the case of Goldberg, the outcome was pretty much predetermined when Gunther reclaimed the World Heavyweight Championship from Jey Uso. The company could have waited to dethrone The Yeet Master, considering that the match between Da Man and The Ring General would have held everyone’s attention even without the WHC on the line.
All the belt did was make the result predictable, despite the fight between the two men being a grudge match. Interestingly, AEW commentator Jim Ross recently spoke about this match on his Grilling JR podcast, saying that this may not be the last match of Goldberg after all. It would be interesting to see if Da Man indeed unretires and steps in the ring once again in a different promotion.
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Edited by Sanchari Bhattacharya