Goldberg meets the Beast again
In less than 3 weeks …
I came across an interesting fact regarding our Jewish Superhero, Goldberg, since his return to the WWE when he decimated the Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar, at the 2016 Survivor Series this past November. In Goldberg’s last three in-ring appearances (Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and Fastlane), he has wrestled for approximately a combined 309 seconds. Since his return Goldberg has taken only one real bump at the hands of Brock Lesnar when the Beast F5’ed him on RAW 2 weeks ago. A “BUMP” is a wrestling term meaning to fall to the mat after being on the receiving end of a wrestling maneuver or blow to the body. With the presumed large “Pay Day” Goldberg is receiving per match since returning to the WWE, one can only wonder what his rate is per minute. With the Universal Heavyweight Title on the line at Wrestlemania, the Superbowl of Wrestling, I want to see more than a 2 minute match, especially since this is likely to be the Main Event match closing the show.
With other contact sports like Professional Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) the outcomes are very unpredictable based on the skill level of the competitors. With Professional Wrestling, which is characterized as Sports Entertainment by the WWE, a 10 – 15 minute competitive match between Goldberg and Lesnar is definitely workable. Except for the 10 year age difference, both competitors are equally matched.
Over the past few weeks the Goldberg chants have definitely weakened a bit as wrestling fans want to see more physicality from Goldberg. This past Monday on WWE RAW Paul Heyman, the mouthpiece for Brock Lesnar, entered the ring with his advocate to deliver the opening promo and monologue to the show. Despite Paul’s best efforts to make Brock the heel (another wrestling term meaning the “bad guy” wrestler or “villain” character), the cheers for Brock and Goldberg were equally split. Heyman focused on the F5 his advocate bestowed upon Goldberg the previous week, laying Goldberg out. Heyman said “the greatest champion in wrestling history, a resurrection of biblical proportions will take place at WrestleMania, referring to Lesnar winning the championship. He said Heyman’s theory of WrestleMania relativity goes like this: F-5=Lesnar goes up=down goes Goldberg”. Goldberg is scheduled to appear on the RAW emanating from Philadelphia, PA on March 27th, one week before his match with Brock and his first time back since being F5’ed by the Beast. It will be interesting to hear the reaction he gets in a city which has some extremely raucous wrestling fans.
So as we draw closer to this epic encounter and rematch, in what is likely to be the last confrontation between these two competitors, what are you looking to see in this match? Do you think Goldberg has what it takes to conquer the Beast one final time?
