WWE WrestleMania 33: Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar Deserves Better Than Tug of War

Anything better than a tug of war to close the build for Raw’s part of WrestleMania 33, right?

The build to WrestleMania 33 has been suspect on Raw, to say the least. Filler, the absence of the part-time Superstars and booking decisions that have done little to entertain the masses have made it feel drip drab. Exceptions could be made for certain feuds, but the opinions on them vary.

On Monday night, the Flagship Show will close their WrestleMania build. Undertaker is not advertised to appear, but Brock Lesnar and Goldberg are going to be there and go head-to-head. They are competing for the WWE Universal Championship at the show.

The last time we saw Lesnar hyping a WrestleMania main event, he was defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns. This came off Reigns’ meteoric rise to the top just nine months after the Shield broke up, three of which saw him miss time with an injury. Lesnar still had the momentum from ending Undertaker’s Streak too. We then saw Seth Rollins cash-in on their match and win the title.

However, the build to this WrestleMania 31 (and even WrestleMania 32) main event had little flair. It had the potential to be one with Paul Heyman’s promos and a possible brawl between Lesnar and Reigns. We got the former, but not the latter. Instead, we received the now infamous “tug of war” over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the go-home episode of Raw. Yes, that’s Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns tugging on the WWE’s top belt like they’re fourth graders on the playground.

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You’d think something else follows this, right? Nope — the show faded to black.

WWE still hasn’t confirmed the main event of WrestleMania 33, but if we’re talking headlines and any sort of publicity they can get, then Lesnar vs. Goldberg will close the show. Fans may not like this over Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton; it’s a business decision. So if that’s the case, then we better get some pretty darn good final promotion for this match on Raw.

We’ve already seen Lesnar and Goldberg come to blows at Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and Raw, so we know what can happen between these two. This even goes back to WrestleMania 20. Security also was involved between these two before Survivor Series, leading to Goldberg attacking them and missing out on the Beast Incarnate.

So what can WWE do that we haven’t seen before with them? Well, a page can be taken from a past Lesnar feud, and one that wasn’t long ago. This featured Lesnar and the Undertaker having a never-ending brawl throughout Raw in the leadup to SummerSlam 2015. They would then be separated, find each other, and kick the you-know-what out of each other.

This wasn’t even a go-home show either, as it came one month before SummerSlam. However, it packed a major punch and was the crux of this main event build. Excitement came about that made you want to see these two have their WrestleMania 30 rematch, as well as feeling this feud being personal.

The road to Lesnar vs. Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 has been fine, but nothing has stood out. Heyman’s promo work can’t be complained about, it’s just a lack of memorable words he’s produced. Lesnar has also F-5’d the former WCW star, which is about as far as this has gone.

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What we haven’t seen is these two having a long brawl to hype either of their matches. The first was a wait-and-see situation with Goldberg’s return to the ring, understandably so. This made his match feel more important and give some intrigue as to what would happen when he fought Lesnar.

This time around, we know what we’re getting when we see these two fight at WrestleMania, so what’s there to hold back by brawling outside the ring? It’s not like their match is going to be a No Disqualification bout, unless something changes on Raw. So let them go around ringside, the crowd, and backstage and just destroy each other. Have everyone in the locker room try to hold them back, which won’t work after one or two tries and lead back into the arena. They’ll eventually be separated, but not without getting multiple hands on each other on a few occasions. Raw then fades to black.

How exciting would a Lesnar-Goldberg brawl be to make fans think “After all that’s happened, maybe I want actually to see this match!” This is instead of “Really? This again?” If WWE goes to a “tug of war” style for the final build or just have them back away from each other with no physicality, then it leaves Raw‘s WrestleMania 33 build feeling uninspiring.

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When Goldberg and Brock Lesnar meet on Raw, all the necessary stops need to be taken to give their match intrigue. If not, then we’ll be heading into WrestleMania on another depressing note.