Goldberg will enter “WWE Saturday Night’s Predominant Event” together with his decades-spanning profession functionally on the road, wrestling WWE World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER in what has been treated as his final bout. Nevertheless, Goldberg himself noted that things could get somewhat more interesting should he manage to dethrone the “Ring General,” who shall be making his first defense since wresting the title back from Jey Uso on the June 9 episode of “WWE Raw.”
This shall be Goldberg’s first bout in three years — having last challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber, losing via referee’s decision — and his thirteenth bout since returning to the ring in 2016. Seven of those matches had a world title on the road, with Goldberg winning and losing the Universal title on two occasions before difficult unsuccessfully for the WWE and Universal Championships twice and once respectively. Nevertheless, this shall be the primary time that GUNTHER and Goldberg will step within the ring with each other, with the reigning champion boasting a near-decade-long record with the corporate and only five losses via pinfall or submission, and in addition up until this stage never having had a title reign that did not hit triple digits.
The stage is about for Goldberg to either exit on his sword or collect a fourth WWE world title reign, while GUNTHER shall be seeking to make an announcement by snuffing the flame of a monster from a by-gone era. With that in mind, let’s take a have a look at the story that led us so far — the story of Goldberg vs. GUNTHER to date.
The road to Goldberg’s last match
Having spent the years since his loss to Roman Reigns making it clear he wanted his profession swan song in WWE, Goldberg and his son, Gage, were in attendance for Bad Blood 2024 of their hometown of Atlanta. That got here into play throughout the event, with CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque coming all the way down to the ring to announce the Champion vs. Champion bouts for the Crown Jewel Championships on the namesake event in Saudi Arabia. With the announcement pitting him against WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, who could be in motion afterward, GUNTHER then got here all the way down to the ring to chop a promo touting his confidence in beating his counterpart.
GUNTHER spotted Goldberg in the gang, shifting his attention to slamming Goldberg for his parenting and prompting the veteran to leap the guardrail and confront him within the ring. Officials separated them as GUNTHER was then attacked by Sami Zayn, with Goldberg closing the segment together with his signature warning, “You are next!”
After months of coaching and injury setbacks, Goldberg finally emerged on the June 16 episode of “WWE Raw” to confront and formally challenge GUNTHER for the World Heavyweight Championship he had pried from Uso the week before. The match was then announced for “Saturday Night’s Predominant Event,” emanating from Atlanta, on July 12. GUNTHER has since proclaimed his intent to quash the legend of Goldberg and reveal that his time has passed before himself asking, “Who’s next?” After he called out Goldberg on the July 7 episode of “Raw,” nonetheless, the living legend showed up in person to run the champion out of the ring, with GUNTHER only just managing to roll to the skin before Goldberg could hit his signature Spear. If he connects with that move on Saturday, Goldberg might find he has one other match or two in him in any case.