Goldberg was in the headlines recently after making it clear he wasn't happy with how WWE allegedly backtracked on their promise of his retirement match. Following his conversation with Triple H, he posted a six-word warning on Instagram.
Goldberg had a long-time handshake agreement with Vince McMahon that a retirement match was on the cards at some point in the future. It just seemed to be a matter of when, and not if. However, with the change in management, it seems like priorities changed, and the former Universal Champion felt that his match against Roman Reigns a few years ago wasn't the right way to go out, as he took the bout with just one month's notice. He even stated that he had COVID then and found it difficult to train.
However, he has since spoken to Triple H and agreed that he will have his 2025 retirement match as he wanted. Using Dolph Ziggler as an example from their SummerSlam 2019 squash match, Goldberg sent a six-word warning on Instagram.
"Be careful what you ask for," wrote Goldberg, along with the video.
What were the original plans for Goldberg's retirement match?
With all the talk about Goldberb's retirement match, what exactly were the plans before things started to fall apart?
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original plan for the WCW legend's retirement match was against none other than Gunther. However, it was noted that the idea was always for it to happen once Gunther dropped the World Heavyweight Championship.
So if he does happen to lose to Jey Uso at WrestleMania, then it's possible that a clash against the former WWE Universal Champion could happen in the coming months. One would think that SummerSlam 2025 would be the perfect stage to do so, as it's a two-night event starting this year.
To have the retirement match of a legend of his caliber would do a great deal to boost the hype behind the event. Not to mention, Gunther is perhaps the best person to bring something great out of Goldberg.
The last great match that he had was against The All Mighty Bobby Lashley during their feud in the second half of 2021. While Lashley controversially defeated the Hall of Famer at SummerSlam during their WWE title clash, the involvement of his son Gage led to it becoming a grudge feud.
It culminated in Saudi Arabia in November 2021, where he defeated Lashley in what was arguably among the best matches of his career. Many were in agreement that it was the WWE legend's best match by far in the 21st century.