Goldberg and Roman Reigns, two notable WWE personalities, finally had their much-anticipated fight, much later than expected. The wrestling match, however, was not well-received by Goldberg, a prominent inductee in WWE’s Hall of Fame.
Goldberg and Reigns were initialy planned to battle it out at WrestleMania 36. However, Reigns revoked his participation in the event owing to COVID-19 related apprehensions. They finally met in the ring at the 2022 Elimination Chamber event, where Reigns, styled as the Tribal Chief, emerged victorious over Goldberg, preserving his WWE Universal Title.
On the recent “Insight” podcast, Goldberg expressed his discontent with how the match transpired. He recounted,
“It sucks. I had been hit by COVID three weeks earlier before I was requested to do it. It was awful. No, it was a favour. You know, it was my duty. I’m not going to decline, I’ve never declined, really. And I was asked to compete twice a year. They found themselves in a tight spot and I was their solution. I reckon I did him a favour and that’s why I speculated that the favour would be reciprocated. But it is what it is.”
“I can clearly remember the phone call I received when I was sick in bed. I couldn’t even breathe and felt dreadful. I couldn’t even rise. [Vince asked,] You can make Saudi in three weeks? Sure I’ll be there. You promise me a match after that. [Vince affirmed] Sure. I should have delivered better. That’s my mistake.”
Contrary to this assumed promise, Goldberg did not get another chance to fight in WWE post his confrontation with Reigns, and his contract rounded off in December 2022.
Reigns retained his WWE Universal Champion title till WrestleMania 40 in April of the current year. Thereafter, he lost the now combined WWE Championship title to Cody Rhodes.