WrestleMania 36: 5 replacements for Roman Reigns against Goldberg
4. Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston has been with WWE for over a decade, and one of the highlights of 2019 was certainly seeing him finally capture the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35. If you go back to that story, it was a situation that wasn’t initially intended for Kingston.
In reality, Kingston replaced Mustafa Ali in the 2019 Elimination Chamber because Ali was unable to compete. After years of scratching and clawing, continuing to do the work, Kingston finally got an opportunity by being the man the company could always rely on.
Once he had that opportunity, the crowd latched on and WWE had no choice but to crown him at WrestleMania 35. This situation could be very similar. Kingston is still someone the company can always depend on.
After spending months struggling following his devastatingly quick loss of the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar, rebounding by taking another unintended opportunity to defeat Goldberg for the Universal Championship would be undeniable poetic justice.
5. Matt Riddle
While every single option here seems like a great choice, none would fit quite as perfectly as Matt Riddle. Again, similar to Bryan, we know Riddle is in Orlando and available as he competed on yesterday’s episode of NXT.
On top of that, Riddle has an extensive history with Goldberg. The two reportedly have real life beef, and Riddle hasn’t been shy about criticizing Goldberg online. Now could be the perfect moment, especially since Goldberg only has so many matches left in him.
Matt Riddle has also expressed interest in retiring Brock Lesnar, and what better way to chart the path towards that than by making his main roster debut by destroying Goldberg in record time and capturing the Universal Championship?
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There’s also precedent for Riddle to get a spontaneous victory. Back at NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2018, he took out veteran Kassius Ohno in only six seconds. While we wouldn’t get an immediate crowd reaction, the internet might literally explode if Riddle destroyed and embarrassed Goldberg in the same fashion at WrestleMania 36.