AEW's Next Big Thing (... Is The Last Thing YOU Want)

Goldberg's legendary undefeated World Championship Wrestling run is spoken about with such reverence because it was the right booking for the right man at the right time. It was difficult to end and difficult to come back from after the fact, but the former NFL man's remarkable charisma and the lightning-in-a-bottle nature of how he got over made for one of the more captivating snowball pushes in wrestling history.

It worked twofold for WCW too - the squashes were electrifying, but the more of a star Goldberg became, the more his contests with established stars suddenly felt closer to dream matches.

If Tony Khan's been guilty of one thing when it comes to manifesting a range of different (and often unthinkable) combinations, it's that he's inadvertently presented just as many missed opportunities. If CM Punk never wrestles for All Elite Wrestling again, a minimum of two generations of the fanbase will rue that Punk/Kenny Omega and Punk/Cody Rhodes never happened despite there being time to get both done.

The Omega/Vikingo graphic drop for the March 22nd edition Dynamite resulted in a conversational kick-off from the worst Twitter accounts you know, but in reality there should be loads more like this. AEW has reimagined the old model clung to by WWE in the monopoly years, and power to them for it. The gauntlets are old hat now, but they've existed to allow the likes of Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera, Bandido and others to walk through the front door and make a bit of television magic.

Few wrestlers could be slotted in under those circumstances as well as Bill Goldberg. He'd kick the door down and kick *ss from night one.

CONT'D...