Inside the week “ tumultuous ” from Goldberg: ad-up to wwe withdrawal against Gunther hindered by tragedy, injury

Goldberg terrorized WCW in the late 1990s with unequaled domination. Almost three decades later, he hooked more than assault towards the ring – but when he faces Gunther to WWE, the main event on Saturday evening in his retirement match, he does it with familiar intensity.

“The circumstances are not always to your liking,” said Goldberg at CBS Sports. “But you adapt and overcome yourself. This is a very overwhelming period for me … I will not sit here and feel sorry for myself that at 58 years old. I do not sleep, and I run on one side of the country to the next, four or five days before playing in front of millions of people on television in my underwear and being the guy they remember.”

His left knee compromised deprives the explosion of his signature lance. A bite shoulder threatens its hammer finisher. He also underwent several minor injuries during the preparation of his retirement match. It is not only the “old body” of Goldberg that tests it. His retirement week was a storm of tragedy and “tumultuous” unhappiness.

“My stepfather died last weekend,” said Goldberg. “The floods of July 4 in the country of the hills were completely devastating. This is something that I can’t even put into words, living there.”

Goldberg did not expect to fight for a last world championship at 58 years. The WWE Hall of Famer planned to have a retirement match shortly after fighting on Roman Reigns in 2022. It did not go, and with all that Goldberg Jongle, it would be logical for him to postpone the appointment. But Goldberg is not looking for easy exit.

“Everyone would like to have the opportunity to go out alone and take care of it, and that’s my way of doing it,” he said. “Few people have this opportunity … I will not miss the opportunity to put a stamp on my career, according to my conditions. It is a privilege, it really.”

This is not the first time that Goldberg has felt like he was fighting up. When every moment is large, each gap is amplified. The concussion of Bret Hart, meeting Brock Lesnar in Wrestlemania 20, and crushing “The Demon” Bray Wyatt is amplified under lively lights.

“There are ups and downs. Everyone crosses it,” said Goldberg. “I am not immune to the realities of being a human being. And things like it hurts because I want everyone to appreciate what I do, and I want everyone to be entertained and excited that I know.

“At the end of the day, what I taught to my son is that you transform this into fuel. And you use it to push you.”

Discover the full interview with Goldberg below.

For each disputed career moment, there are much more memorable. The demolition of the 86 seconds of Goldberg de Lesnar was a legitimate shock in 2016. His quarrel page with Diamond Dallas is held with tenderness as the best work in the Goldberg Ring. The 173 -game victories sequence that catapulted Goldberg from the WCW World Weightweight Champion’s WCW remains one of the most astounding races.

As Goldberg is the most expensive, however, took place far from the wider public eye. Once the nitro WCW left the air after Goldberg beat Hulk Hogan from “Hollywood” to become a champion, the new world order handcuffed Goldberg and beat it. Goldberg’s rescue was his former Atlanta Falcons teammates, including the athletes star Cornelius Bennett and Jessie.

“I look up and see guys with whom I bled, crying and sweated on a football field – where my love and my passion are – and they, during these five minutes, could not be happier to do what they were doing,” said Goldberg. “They defended me in a ring of professional struggle.”

He continued: “It was a poetic justice. I felt that I had completed the loop because I wanted nothing more than being like them. During this short period, I think they wanted nothing more than being like me. It is by far the best time.”

Goldberg, almost 27 years old for the day he cherished so affectionately, is looking for an additional time. He returned to his second Atlanta house to challenge the world heavyweight champion Gunther during the main event on Saturday evening. Goldberg will give him everything he has, damned his condition. Because not only is Gunther then – in Atlanta, he is the last.