Goldberg vs. John Cena is The Retirement Tour Match WWE Fans Deserve
Erik BeastonOctober 9, 2024
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Goldberg’s appearance at Bad Blood had fans and analysts wondering if we might be in store for one last run from the legendary WCW competitor.
Triple H even teased talks between WWE and the 2018 Hall of Famer on X:
Triple H @TripleHThanks for coming to #WWEBadBlood @Goldberg. We’ll talk more very soon… pic.twitter.com/9Teo8F69fp
If so, the only match befitting a star of that magnitude is a showdown with John Cena as part of the latter’s 2025 retirement tour.
There will be a number of people reading this right now whose first inclination is to denounce the idea of Goldberg ever stepping back inside the squared circle.
They will point to the disastrous match against The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia in 2019 or the diminishing returns the longer his last run he got. And they have a point.
Still, for every diehard fan who sat through those underwhelming performances, there are nostalgic fans who remember watching Da Man obliterate opponents with the damnedest Spear and Jackhammer combo during the Monday Night Wars
They remember the aura, which he still possesses when he steps through the curtain. They recall how badass he was as he stared unflinchingly across the ring at his next victim. He still does that, too.
Goldberg is the perfect choice for a dream match in a battle of eras against one of the greatest ever in Cena.
One of the most adaptable marquee stars of all time, The Cenation Leader made a career out of working with and, sometimes, around his opponent to deliver main events worthy of the show they appeared on.
He could go toe-to-toe in a brawl with Batista or Brock Lesnar, deliver a five-star classic with AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan or CM Punk and also have a WrestleMania epic with The Rock.
Sometimes all within the same year.
Even at the age of 47, Cena’s recognition and understanding of crowd psychology and how to craft a match to get the desired reaction at the right time is somehow underrated and would benefit a battle of industry giants.
His promo work as WWE’s greatest hype man would only add the cherry on top.
There is even a perfect place for such a match: the debut episode of WWE Raw on Netflix.
What better way to kickoff Cena’s retirement tour and introduce a potential new audience to WWE’s red-hot product than by taking two of the most recognizable stars the industry has produced and matching them up on what is sure to be a buzzworthy broadcast?
WWE gets the publicity of promoting a WrestleMania-worthy dream match on that debut broadcast with the streaming giant, potentially attracting countless new viewers but not sacrificing any of its young or homegrown talents to either veteran.
Would it be a five-star classic? No.
Would Dave Meltzer discuss the intricacies of its star rating in the Tokyo Dome? Nah.
What it would be is a nostalgic battle between two megastars who have never wrestled each other, a momentous matchup for whichever card it appears on and an opportunity for Goldberg to go out on a positive note against a guy who has made a career out of proving he can get a quality match out of anyone.
The fans deserve it, Cena’s retirement tour would greatly benefit from it, and Goldberg has earned it as one of the biggest, most recognized and celebrated stars of the last 30 years.
