AEW could be the stage for Goldberg’s retirement match if recent statements from both the WWE Hall of Famer and AEW CEO Tony Khan are any indication. That raises several questions but of note: how do you integrate Goldberg into AEW’s product?
How Would Goldberg in AEW Look?
You’d think this would be simple “Yes, sign him!” given that it’s Goldberg. That’s the thing with legends of the 90s: many have reached that “It’s (them)” stage. Darby Allin and Sting are a ridiculously over tandem in AEW and it’s your modern-day seasoned veteran-young up-and-comer tag team. Sting does his thing in the match and whether it came off well, looked botched, or was just too dangerous, fans typically go “That’’s Sting.”
Goldberg has that say appeal. We can’t forget when the Goldberg vs. Roman scuttlebutt started and some minds mentioned that technically Roman had more in-experience and industry experience than the former WCW World Champion given he’s been active the whole time with few hiatuses or retirements.
Regardless, everyone was glad to see the guy because “It’s Goldberg.” So, picking him up might just work for AEW on an eyeballs-on-the-show level. The product is another story. How would his retirement build play out? How much time are they giving this and will other matches be involved?
There’s a predictability factor to Goldberg where you know how his storylines tend to flow. The payoff varies but Goldberg is kind of like late-career The Undertaker where you have to talk him up: call him out. Have something going on and just…name drop him. High chance he shows up.
It’s rare that Taker or Goldberg just show up at a show. It’s often someone looking for trouble—but it could occur when these two happen to just show up. That brings us to another point: how does he show up? While he’s part of TBS and TNT’s broadcast history, Goldberg has little to do with AEW—outside of having good talks with Tony Khan.
Does It Even Require Build-Up on TV?
There are other factors into this speculation such as fans and observers’ takes but that could take all day. Some people like the idea, there are indifferent fans, and you’ve got the folks who don’t like it at all and—I don’t know—fear that Goldberg’s 7-10 minute retirement bout could influence the AEW style forever.
We’re definitely going to see the Cornette Driver and wrestlers spamming the Spear after this! Also, best final opponent is another piece for another time. While Flair’s retirement had build-up and promotion, Goldberg wanted a hosted match and not an accompanying show built around it—that’s more common in Japan.
If AEW didn’t want to bother with that investment of time and throwing opponents at Goldberg, the company could just announce the match for whatever event and continue to mention it. That’s where we get to the place of “It’s Goldberg” and he deserves more than that for his career.
That is until you look at the career and think of someone like Sting’s career where it was lengthy and he was active throughout it. His career has had hiatuses as well but when he returns he tends to get involved after wrapping up his return or debut storyline. Goldberg pops in then bounces most of the time.
Then it’s not like he had a reputation as a locker room leader and ended with an aging gunslinger retirement run like The Undertaker. He was never the soul of the company and had enough in his career to do a crazy invincible old man run like Sting. Goldberg was a destructive force and the story for the retirement of a destructive force should be at the hands of another destructive force.
Could we see this retirement match in an AEW ring or is all of this just to pressure WWE in signing off on a WWE retirement match? Sound off below!
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