9 Ups & 11 Downs For WWE In 2025
4. Goldberg's Retirement
Goldberg's losing crack at Gunther's World Heavyweight Championship was, on balance, a perfectly decent bit of business bell-to-bell, but Big Bill ultimately only got the send-off WWE believed he deserved rather than one that his biggest fans might have pined for.
'Da Man' put forth a commendable effort on the July 12th Saturday Night's Main Event, going 15 minutes with 'Der Ring General' in an impressive headliner on the show's 40th edition. He left it all in the ring, but so did WWE - there was almost no time left at the end for Bill to deliver the leaving speech he wanted, and by then the market leader had already gotten what they wanted out of the show by diverting even a portion of the conversation away from AEW All In: Texas taking place at the same time.
He later complained about his big night being used as little more as a counter-programming method, but that's where the sympathy rapidly drains away. Just like the rest of us, Goldberg presumably saw how former colleague Sting was handled by the opposition, and could have had a fast-track version of that from lifelong fan Tony Khan. He chose the profile (and cash!) of the market leader - had he watched more of it in the years he was away, he might have remembered that you are only ever a spoke on the wheel.