On this week's episode of Monday Night Raw, Drew McIntyre accepted Goldberg's challenge for a WWE Championship match at the Jan. 31 Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
McIntyre tested positive for COVID-19 (he's asymptomatic) and was pulled from the show. The hope is that if McIntyre continues to not feel any symptoms during quarantine, he'll be back ahead of the Royal Rumble.
On paper, this looks like a can't-miss dream match featuring arguably the top superstar in WWE right now against an all time wrestling icon. But there are many fans and wrestling prognosticators who aren't so thrilled about the McIntyre-Goldberg showdown, and understandably so.
Naturally, many fear that Goldberg is going to do to McIntyre what he did to Kevin Owens and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt. That is, he'll squash McIntyre, dethrone him as champion and thus end his massive and highly successful main event push.
WWE stopped using Owens in the main event scene when he dropped the title to Goldberg at Fastlane 2017. And that simply led to Goldberg dropping the title several weeks later to another part-timer, Brock Lesnar, at WrestleMania 33.
Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back, dethroning Owens while he was flourishing as the WWE's top heel was a terrible booking call by WWE. And for what? Just so Goldberg could hold the title and pass it on to Lesnar?
The Fiend is among the most popular and intriguing characters to come around in recent memory. The fans basically turned on longtime fan favorite Seth Rollins in favor of Wyatt during their feud. With The Fiend, WWE had something special to build around.
All of that hard work and effort WWE put in to build up The Fiend was washed away when Goldberg easily defeated him at Super ShowDown 2020 to win the title. Despite the latter's status as a massive babyface, the general WWE Universe didn't approve of the ending whatsoever.
Once again, WWE used a part-time performer to defeat a surging and top-tier main event star. 11 months later, many of us are still scratching our heads over that booking decision.
To Wyatt's credit, he kept his character fresh and interesting and didn't lose all that much momentum after he was defeated by Goldberg. But WWE hasn't used him in the main event scene that much ever since.
As far as the WWE television product goes, you can't help but wonder how much better things would have been if Wyatt didn't drop the title in the first place.
Vince McMahon didn't learn his lesson from the Owens-Goldberg booking decision in 2017. If he did, he wouldn't have had had Goldberg defeat Wyatt at Super Showdown. It's time for him to stop booking part-timers (Lesnar as well for that matter) to defeat marquee main event stars in the midst of their peaks.
The thing with Goldberg is that he's like Lesnar, The Undertaker, Triple H and John Cena. He's simply a big enough draw as is, and a championship reign isn't necessary at all. Fans will watch and pay to see him regardless.
The Undertaker especially remained a major draw up until his retirement. A friendly reminder that he didn't hold a single world title (WWE, Universal or World Heavyweight) for the final 10 years of his career.
So McMahon can easily do the same with Goldberg. Fans will be happy with him sticking around as a popular attraction as long as he isn't defeating younger full-time talents to win a championship.
So yes, Goldberg vs. McIntyre can be an all time Royal Rumble classic if WWE books it right. That is, if they actually have Goldberg put McIntyre over and allow the latter to retain his championship.
For nearly a decade, WWE has been searching for its next franchise star. They haven't found Cena's successor. The Roman Reigns project didn't work out, but McMahon might have it right here in McIntyre.
But if WWE suddenly decides to throw away McIntyre's rising stardom in favor of another part-timer holding the title? Well, we'll all be out of answers at that point.
WWE has something special here in McIntyre. He checks off practically all the boxes you want in the No. 1 face of the company. His character, intensity, charisma, personality, appeal to the fans and overall in-ring work make him a true MVP to build around long-term.
A victory over one of wrestling's true legends would only add to McIntyre's greatness. So here's hoping WWE makes the right booking decision when the two superstars face off in 19 days.