WWE Star Disappointed To Miss Out Goldberg Retirement Match
What if a different WWE star was able to share the ring with Goldberg one last time?
On the June 16 edition of Monday Night Raw, Goldberg finally stepped back onto WWE television and laid down a giant World Title-sized challenge.
With Gunther in the midst of celebrating his victory over Jey Uso as he reclaimed the World Heavyweight Championship, fans loudly chanted Goldberg’s name. The packed house then got their wish as the WWE Hall of Famer came to the ring to tell the champion that he’s next.
The match was confirmed for July 12 at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Atlanta, Georgia. Although no official announcement has been made, the match is expected to be Goldberg’s last before he retires.
Big E Wanted To Retire Goldberg
During an appearance on the Raw Recap, Big E admitted he would have loved to be the one to retire Goldberg. Big E has repeatedly stated that he was a huge fan of the WCW legend growing up, but conceded a match is “off the table.”
However, he went on to Gunther’s involvement in the match adds its own special level of intrigue.
“Look, it was like I was 13 years old once again. It was like, I hearken back to him winning the title at the Georgia Dome. I met this man at a Walmart signing like 25 years ago. Like we got to do a Hot Ones together. This man, my wrestling fandom is so deeply connected to this man. My most famous promo of all time has to do with that man. I wanted his retirement match. That’s obviously off the table.
I will say, if this is indeed it, Gunther is so intriguing. I love the clash of eras. I think, and this is, I want to see, obviously, seeing Jey not have the title is disappointing. But I want to see Gunther be in the ring with the biggest fish.
Sometimes that’s the best guys in the roster, but like us, I think back to when we were really rolling with the New Day and the Dudleys came back. So you’re not only getting an opportunity to share the ring with the best of your time, but you’re also getting to share the ring with legends, and when you look back, look, I think a lot of our hardcore fans might roll their eyes and say, why Goldberg?
But if you’re a Gunther fan, I think when it’s all said and done, you want to look at the list of names on his resume that he’s beaten and it’s going to have guys from who had their heyday 20 years ago guys now younger guys who are going to be future world champions so I think it’s such a great test for Gunther I think, honestly, I think for a lot of fans, they want to see Gunther move on from Jey and this is such a unique out of the box (idea).
My fianceé was asking me, who do you think is up next for Gunther? I had forgotten about the whole Goldberg thing and I didn’t know that we were just quick balling, and when his music hit, it was like, oh. That’s so fun. Yeah. That’s what I love about our industry is you get to make these matches and these moments that a lot of times you would never expect.”
Big E has been out of action since March 11th, 2022. During a tag team match on SmackDown, the star landed high up on his neck while taking a Belly-to-Belly Suplex outside the ring from Ridge Holland. Although he avoided surgery, he hasn’t wrestled since.
In more recent times, the former World Champion has stated that while he’d love to wrestle again, he’s come to terms with the fact that his in-ring career might be over.
H/t to Fightful