This Sunday night,WWE Survivor Seriesbrings us the Mega Match.
Fantasty Warfare Just Got Real.
Bill Goldberg will face Brock Lesnar.
Its a rematch to a memorableWrestleManiadream match.
Now, in wrestling, trying to redo a classic usually ends badly.
What sets this apart from those is that the first Goldberg vs. Lesnar wasoutright terrible.
One of the most infamously bad high-profile battles in wrestling history.
The other guy has been basically going through the motions for the past year.
It will be a must-watch match this week, dont get me wrong.
Just not in the way they intend.
Its going to be a flimsy attempt to redo what should have been a great showdown.
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Plus, thematically, this years battle might represent the same thing as 2004s.
Its the end of an era for WWEs lazy business practices.
Lets go back to the beginning.
Through short matches, he came off as unbeatable and took out any midcarder in his way.
As months passed, he won his way into United States Championship contendership.
The problem was they did it in a really shortsighted way.
Regardless, Goldberg was one of the most popular wrestlers in wrestlings most popular era.
He was The Man.
He looked like what Vince McMahon wished Steve Austin looked like and had a presence others would kill for.
In terms of in-ring talent, he was what he was.
The bad decisions piled on and WCW eventually crumbled.
During this Attitude denouement, WWE introduced Brock Lesnar.
With Paul Heyman barking orders, Lesnar destroyed a handful of midcarders like they were nothing.
He rose up the ranks like no other.
Similar to Goldberg, he crushed Hulk Hogan in dominant fashion on free TV.
To say McMahon and friends were high on him would be an understatement.
Lesnar was a basket and they were giving him all the eggs.
Around this time, WWE finally got around to hiring Bill Goldberg.
He debuted the day afterWrestleManiato Spear the Rock and set up a dream match atBacklash.
How WWE treated Goldberg is something thats up for debate.
Then he won the World Heavyweight Championship atUnforgivena month later.
Regardless, WWE was definitely smart about one thing: they kept Goldberg and Lesnar on different shows.
Goldberg was in the title picture forRawwhile Lesnar was in the title picture onSmackDown.
That is, untilSurvivor Series 2003.
Goldberg tried to be respectful when introducing himself to the fellow top champ, but Lesnar responded with attitude.
Skip forward two months.
Goldberg had lost his championship to Triple H, but won the #30 spot at the Royal Rumble.
At the show, he came across Lesnar, still WWE Champion.
Goldberg got his revenge a month later at theSmackDownPPVNo Way Out.
No longer bound by any title matches, the two were very obviously going to clash atWrestleMania XX.
It made all the sense in the world.
Not only that, but the writing was on the wall when it came to Goldbergs future.
What better way to go out than to be used to really solidify Lesnars godly status?
It was needed, too.
The dream match well had dried up.
Just about every possible realistic pairing had been done.
The top names were mostly off the table at this point.
No, WWE had to focus on the roster at hand and build towards the future.
For them, Brock Lesnar was the future.
Steve Austin was brought in as the special referee for added flavor.
It helped in two major ways.
Even in the build, Goldberg accidentally Speared Austin, which added tension to theWrestleManiamatch.
That meant that Austin and Lesnar had to carry things via their animosity towards each other.
It didnt matter that Goldberg was leaving.
A main event match, probably!
Then…things got really interesting.
Around a week or two before the big event, Brock Lesnar decided he was tired of wrestling.
He wanted out of WWE.
Between his addictions and the constant travel, he needed to get away.
He intended to try out for the Minnesota Vikings and see how that would go.
Still, the match itself had potential, right?
Lesnar was a great worker and Goldberg was capable of strong matches.
A dream match is a dream match, yeah?
Lesnar, as intended, was booed.
Then Goldberg got some initial cheers, but once that died down, the boos came pouring in.
It was aWrestleManiacrowd in Madison Square Garden.
They were in the know.
Some say the match happened to be bad due to their inability to gel.
Perhaps the agents were to blame.
Others would claim that Goldberg and Lesnar sandbagged their performance out of retaliation.
Either way, this thirteen-minute match felt like thirty.
Chants came in and out like waves.
NA NA NA NA!
The two wrestlers did nothing to help.
They did rest holds despite a lack of previous action.
It felt like there was a total of twenty seconds where stuff actually happened.
It was a colossal dud, saved by a crowds rebellion.
The atrocious snoozefest finally came to an end with Goldberg hitting the Spear and Jackhammer.
He pinned Lesnar to relative silence.
Disgruntled, he briefly left the ring.
Austin delivered a Stunner, celebrated with Goldberg for a moment, then delivered a Stunner to him.
In the end, it wasnt so predictable after all.
Goldbergs leaving was more professional and courteous, so he got to get the pin.
Still, nobody looked good coming out of this and it caused some ripples.
In the aftermath, Goldberg stayed away from wrestling almost completely, but did a handful of movies.
In the years that followed, WWEs treatment of Goldberg vs. Lesnar was curious.
On the WWE web link, its the original audio.
The gameWWE 2K14featured both wrestlers as playable as well as 2K Showcase where youd go through thirty years ofWrestleMania.
The mode definitely had its fun with the situation as Goldberg would receive, YOU SOLD OUT!
chants during his entrance and post-match you got to control referee Steve Austin while being awarded infinite stored Stunners.
Brock Lesnar came back to WWE in 2012, a big shot with outside notoriety.
When necessary, Lesnar could truly go in the ring, but the hype made him complacent.
WWE got cold feet with Roman Reigns and then rolled their eyes when Dean Ambrose had his chance.
Hell, the rumors are that were getting Lesnar vs. Shane McMahon at this yearsWrestleManiaand whos been asking forthat?
Its crazy, really.
From the reflection, we could see a sign for Suplex City.
That was suddenly the games selling point.
shrug
Then it became like one of those chess-by-mail matches, only with promos.
Paul Heyman would show up and cut a promo.
Then Goldberg would show up a week later and cut a promo.
Then Heyman would show up a week later and cut a promo.
Then Golbergyou get it.
Despite having some good moments in there, it also had a bunch of missteps.
They seriously tried to get Brock Lesnar booed in Minnesota and it didnt work.
Not good when Lesnars still a beast.
We may get something passable this time.
While thats possible, all signs point to history repeating itself in different ways.
First, its in Toronto.
Theyre probably going to be just as vocal as those mid-00s New Yorkers, especially towards Goldberg.
Get ready for the commentators to call them Bizarro World because of it.
Second, nobody stands to gain much here.
Its not nearly as bad as their first bout, but it does put a damper on it.
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Back in the post-Attitude Era, it was understandable to play with their big name wrestlers like action figures.
They were still modern and they were full-timers.
The fault came from not building up new stars and they corrected that mistake eventually.
You know, the kind of thinking that got CM Punk fed up.
This is the best they have?
Well get in with the new sooner than later.
Lets just see how they handle getting out with the old this Sunday.
