WWE WrestleMania 33 Rumors: Goldberg Will Lose to Brock Lesnar

At WrestleMania 33, Brock Lesnar is reportedly expected to defeat Goldberg for the WWE Universal Championship.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Goldberg will lose his Universal Championship to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33. I hesitate to file this under a “spoiler alert”, despite this news giving away the result for one of the two main events for the biggest show of the year. But we need to be honest with ourselves for a moment. Does anyone really believe WWE will continue to disrespect the man to whom Vince McMahon has given significant power and control even with a part-time status?

Even casual viewers of WWE programming can also come to the conclusion of Lesnar winning, if only because he has been made to look so weak against Goldberg over the past several months, with the exception of his surprise F-5 last week on Raw. Even by professional wrestling standards, it is difficult to continuously sell a story wherein a 50 year old man routinely defeats a 39 year old man with such relative ease. I’ve purchased two timeshares and even I wouldn’t buy that storyline. The WWE is hoping that a solid performance will make fans forget about their awful match at WrestleMania XX which may prove correct since we know at least one of them will be sticking around.

Meltzer reported that the initial plan was for Lesnar to win at Survivor Series and thus end Goldberg’s return since the WWE had bigger plans at the time for the Beast Incarnate. But Vince didn’t count on Goldberg being so over with fans, and instead chose to let the hot hand ride which has paid dividends for the company. Before Goldberg’s hot streak, Meltzer stated that the plan was for Lesnar to resume his place atop the Raw food chain and ultimately be dethroned at WrestleMania 33 by…wait for it…Shane McMahon

It almost makes sense when you remember Lesnar gave Shane an F5 at Summerslam last year after the TKO victory over Randy Orton. The WWE was at a crossroads over whether to push Lesnar vs. Shane or Lesnar vs. Goldberg with Vince ultimately deciding on the latter. While there are some reservations about two part time wrestlers essentially headlining WrestleMania, there are even more issues with Shane McMahon (or any McMahon for that matter) being involved in a match of that magnitude.

The logic behind this finish for Goldberg vs. Lesnar III is that Goldberg’s limited run with the WWE did not extend beyond WrestleMania and Vince would never allow someone to retire with one of his belts. It should be noted that since this is professional wrestling, plans can change from week to week and it is possible the company comes to a long-term agreement with Goldberg. Even if this comes to pass, it’s difficult to see them continuing to bury Lesnar who recently retired from UFC and thus can now spend more time in WWE harassing the roster as they desperately try to make the Universal Championship mean something.

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