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When Bill Goldberg took the ring against Gunther in the final WWE match of Saturday Night's Main Event, the eyes of the professional wrestling world were on the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
After watching Seth Rollins suffer an injury earlier in the night, which certainly tweaked the rest of the card due to the freed-up time, some wondered how this would impact Goldberg's big sendoff and if it would leave him exposed as a 58-year-old part-timer who hasn't worked a match since February of 2022.
Fortunately, the in-ring effort was actually pretty good, even if it was a little long, with Gunther making his foe look like a million bucks. But after the match, things took a turn when the promotion cut off the retiring legend mere seconds into his post-match speech.
Discussing what happened and how he felt about it on The Ariel Helwani Show, Goldberg admitted he was a bit “pissed off” at how things shook out, noting that he didn't feel as though he was given the same respect he felt he deserved.
“Let's just say I'm pissed off at the way I went out, you know, I mean, because it was, I put so much into it, and I don't feel as though the effort was reciprocated to put a stamp on what I accomplished. Again, I'm not going to say that I'm not ecstatic about the opportunity that I got, but you know, I was a WCW guy, man,” Goldberg noted.
“I was, I don't know, man, I don't know. I think it could be done, could have been done a little bit differently. That's all. I'm happy with my performance, I'm happy with, you know, the setting, you know, but could it have been better? Absolutely, it can always be better.”
So what went wrong? Well, as Goldberg noted, his wrestling exit wasn't really treated with the gravity he felt it deserved.
“Well, there's about a hundred things. I mean, I did three interviews beforehand, Ariel, I did three, right? In six months, you know,” Goldberg noted. “It's just, it would, they cut me off 30 seconds into my speech, bro. You know, I mean, you don't do that, but you know, it's all good. It's all good.”
Did WWE know he had a speech planned, Helwani asked?
“I think it doesn't matter because it's live television, and you can plan for it. That's all, that's all,” Goldberg said. “So, and I know it is what it is, and you know, the match might have gone long, and this and that, and whatever it is, but you know, I just think that it could have been, it could have been a little classier prepared than it was. And I'll just say, and that's a mild understatement, yeah, man, come on.”
Originally booked as counter-programming for AEW's biggest show of the year, All In, Goldberg's retirement match was purposefully left off of a Premium Live Event in the hopes of taking some attention away from WWE's biggest competitor. Unfortunately, it might have done the opposite for WWE, as now fans are talking about Goldberg's hurt feelings while they continue to celebrate AEW's efforts.
Goldberg says he’s pissed off at the way he went out:
"Let's just say I'm pissed off at the way I went out. I put so much into it and I don't feel as though the effort was reciprocated to put a stamp on what I've accomplished.”
(via @arielhelwani)
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) July 15, 2025
