WWE WrestleMania 36: Roman Reigns is the right person to retire Goldberg

At WWE WrestleMania 36, a perfect scenario would see Goldberg offering his final match to Roman Reigns in a high stakes, retirement match for the Universal Title.

We are mere weeks away from the company putting on what’ll easily be the most perplexing and polarizing Mania in the event’s history, as WWE WrestleMania 36 will hail from their Performance Center.

Let’s not let the strange circumstances of this upcoming Mania distract us from the fact that it will house one of the hottest main events on the card: Goldberg defending his WWE Universal Championship in a dream match against Roman Reigns. And if you ask me, it’s a match where – if it’s set to end with Roman getting his arm raised, which seems likely – it should end with Goldberg laying down for his last match.

Ignore the fact for a second that a WWE Hall of Famer having his final match inside of a crowdless training facility. Think of the bigger picture – or the bigger story, rather – surrounding a scenario where a man like Goldberg ends his career by bowing out to a guy like Roman Reigns.

Think of it like this: Goldberg represents everything that Reigns’ critics have falsely accused Roman of being.

Since becoming a singles star, Reigns has been accused by his detractors as an overpushed meathead who can’t wrestle and has been shoved down our throats forever and is annoying because he beats everybody.

Prior to winning his first WWE Championship, he had been wrestling since 2010. I’d imagine he learned how to wrestle in five years time. Plus, we can’t say that he beats everyone when he’s lost a fair share of big matches over the years, especially prior to his first World Title win; losing to Seth Rollins and The Big Show mere weeks before his first Mania main event. Hell, his first World Title reign only last three minutes!

And let’s not forget that in being outside of the World Title picture for over a year now, he’s lost several big PPV matches. For crying out loud, 2019 saw Reigns lay down for guys like Baron Corbin and Erick Rowan. Rowan! I love the big red oak, but he’s not exactly a main event caliber star (yet, he’s on a steady rise) compared to Reigns, which devalues the whole “overpush” narrative.

Then, you’ve got Goldberg. While it took Reigns a decade to get where he is today, Goldberg entered WCW with an undefeated streak despite having little to no wrestling experience. He had his first televised match (second match ever altogether) in June of 1997 and by July of 1998 was World Heavyweight Champion.

Was Goldberg over enough to justify the quick push? Of course, more often than not, but halfway into his first reign with the WCW, you could tell the crowd were getting sick of him. Half of the stuff we cheer him for nostalgia over today, was slowly starting to get him mixed reactions week after week in the 90’s.

I don’t say any of this to bash Goldberg. I love the guy. But the parallels are strong here. Strong enough that I feel like Roman Reigns beating Goldberg at Mania would be oddly perfect.

There’s a strange, if not fitting poetic justice in Goldberg taking his final bow to Roman Reigns and regardless of the match’s quality, if Big Bill does decide to hang up for good after Mania, falling to The Big Dog would make a perfect storybook ending to a well storied career.