As expected, the show will be held on Friday, June 7. it will take place at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah and will air live on the WWE Network.
King Abdullah Sports City Stadium also hosted the Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018, while Crown Jewel took place in Riyadh in November.
The first eight wrestlers have been advertised for next month’s show, with Goldberg the most notable name among them. It’s also advertised that the event will feature Roman Reigns, The Undertaker, Kofi Kingston, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, and Brock Lesnar.
Goldberg was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018. His most recent match was against Lesnar at WrestleMania 33 in April 2017.
The name of June’s event has yet to be announced.
This will be the third show in WWE’s 10-year agreement with the Saudi General Sports Authority. WWE has received significant criticism for their relationship with the country. Women haven’t been allowed to wrestle in Saudi Arabia, and WWE went on with Crown Jewel as scheduled despite the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The climax of Sunday’s Survivor Series will surely be remembered for one of the most memorable and controversial finishes in pro-wrestling history.
That the match between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar ended so quickly was a welcome deviation from standard WWE booking as no headliner in history is better suited to short matches than Goldberg. Furthermore, main events in all promotions are increasingly hurt by fans knowing that nothing will end the match within the first ten minutes. The occasional quick ending helps keep everyone on their toes by reminding fans that a fight can end at any minute.
But the benefits of having Goldberg beat Lesnar are far less clear cut with a final decision that can both strongly praised and firmly condemned. Here’s a few of those talking points:
The Case for Putting Goldberg Over
Other than talents such as Kurt Angle or Steve Austin who have serious health issues, Bill Goldberg is the last major superstar who could have been brought back for a nostalgia run. Since he returned, he’s been featured in three excellent segments that have been head and shoulders above anything else presented on Raw. So far, he’s a rare example of a babyface receiving cheers from the crowd and encouraging more people to pay money to see the product.
With all this momentum, it was clearly not the time to beat him considering that historically, losses have hurt Goldberg more than most because his aura is based on being an unbeatable monster. Goldberg’s win was a babyface triumph in an increasingly heel-dominated promotion that so rarely gives fans a happy ending.
The Case Against Brock Lesnar Losing To Goldberg
No one in today’s WWE comes close to Brock Lesnar. Other than the false finish at SummerSlam 2015, he has not been defeated since he lost to HHH at WrestleMania 29. Since then, he has ended the Undertaker’s Mania streak and destroyed John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Randy Orton. Having Lesnar ride roughshod over the roster was an investment in the future as the more his aura of invincibility grows, the more his inevitable defeat means.
By having Lesnar lose to someone that is not a member of the full time roster and physically unable to have even a long part-time career with WWE, this investment is now wasted. Whereas defeating Lesnar should have given a rising star the credibility and momentum to be the next big thing, it’s instead would be used to prolong another feud with someone that won’t be around that long.
An Avoidable Dilemma
The reality is that both sides of the argument are correct. Goldberg really has been so awesome in the role of the returning babyface that it would have been a shame to have him lose his first match back. WWE really has spent too much time building Lesnar up to not have his defeat announce the beginning of a new year led by a new babyface.
The fatal flaw with the WWE’s booking was not the finish but the match itself.
That fans would flock to Goldberg should not have been a surprise. The success of Sting should have told WWE that fans would enthusiastically welcome him back. As this stale, bland era of WWE continues, the Monday Night Wars still shine bright in the eyes of so many.
Goldberg is everything that current babyfaces are not; a persona that is somehow both larger than and true to life, a wrestler who dominated his opponents, and a person who refused to kowtow to management. It did not take a genius to realise that Goldberg would get over.
That being the case, a smart booker would have done the deal for a two-match return. Goldberg facing Braun Strowman may not have meant as much for Survivor Series as hotshotting the Lesnar match, but the former WCW Champion squashing RAW’s unbeatable monster would have been the perfect steppingstone to a blockbuster Royal Rumble main event. It allows you to give fans the happy ending at Survivor Series before giving Lesnar another dominant victory to maintain his aura of invincibility.
Once again, WWE was trapped due to their inability to understand what their audience wants and think through even the medium-term implications of their booking.
Will Cooling writes for Fighting Spirit Magazine, the UK’s biggest and best combat sports monthly. This month, he looks at how WWE has mishandled Dean Ambrose.
The most wonderful time of the year is nearly upon us and there’s lots of ground to cover this week from your hosts Vic Sosa and Les Thatcher.
We start with a few words on Timothy Thatcher (7:12) who recently suffered a concussion at a recent EVOLVE show, plus some thoughts on Drew Gulak and Tony Nese (10:38) who recently signed WWE deals.
The 13th of this month marked the anniversary of Eddie Guerrero’s passing (16:07), so we’ll spend a few minutes on the WWE Hall of Famer as well. In addition, the guys talk Brock vs. Goldberg at Survivor Series this weekend (22:39), and the dismissal of Joey Styles from a number of companies this week based on what happened in Evolve last weekend (30:51).
We then move on to the mailbag where we’ll tackle whether or not WWE missed a marketing opportunity Monday night (46:42) and formatting a 1 hour wrestling TV show (51:03).
After an unscheduled and exasperating break, Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa return to talk about another return; Goldberg on Raw this week, as well as a few legends and a peek inside the mailbag.
We start with the big WWE story, which is Goldberg walking through the hallowed halls of McMahon land for the first time in 12 years and immediately becoming the top babyface and best promo on the Raw roster in one segment. After that, we’ll discuss three legends who were born in the month of October: Bob Armstrong (22:19), Eddie Guerrero (29:07) and Dusty Rhodes (32:36).
The mailbag closes the show with your questions on emotional promos (39:49), the state of TNA (43:47), whether or not Les has ever been a part of anything on the same shaky ground TNA currently occupies (51:36), and the build for Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte in the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell match (54:24).
At this point, a Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg match is all but confirmed for WWE Survivor Series on November 20 in Toronto.
There had been rumors from inside WWE that a deal for such a match had been completed over the weekend and two WWE sources over the last two days also indicated such a match was either finalized or at least in heavy negotiations.
Numerous sources have stated this is the battle plan for the show.
Goldberg will be on ESPN SportsCenter Wednesday night to promote WWE 2K17, and is expected to at least tease the idea of the match. During Raw Monday, they teased that the announcement that Goldberg’s current situation with WWE would be addressed.
It would be Goldberg’s first WWE match since his WrestleMania XX match with Lesnar more than 12 years ago. Goldberg, 49, remains in great shape and has trained hard in muay thai on a regular basis for years. He was WCW’s top attraction and is best remembered from that era.
He did work for one year with WWE in 2003 and early 2004 with both sides wanting out at the end of the contract which left both sides with ill will.
Since making a deal with 2K Sports, Goldberg said that he considers those issues water under the bridge and was open to working with WWE.
This would be the third time in a row that a 2K Sports signee ended up with a WWE deal following Ultimate Warrior and Sting.
