Goldberg Was Hoping Retirement Match Would Be At PLE, Not Happy Over Being Cut Off On The Mic, ‘I’m Pissed Off At The Way I Went Out’

Goldberg had his retirement match at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, taking on Gunther for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

After Goldberg lost, he briefly got on the mic to thank the fans before the show went off the air on NBC.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the Ariel Helwani Show, Goldberg detailed how everything went down with his retirement match.

Goldberg noted that his retirement match was set in November, which was announced by WWE at the time.

Asked if facing Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event was always the plan, Goldberg stated, “Yeah, I can’t say I was too thrilled about part of that.”

Asked which part, Goldberg said, “Saturday Night’s Main Event. Live TV in Atlanta. You always have your dreams of how you’re going to do things, and ultimately, to have a little bit more control over the time and the space would have been much more preferred. Let’s just put it that way. To be given that opportunity on such a special show with the lineage of the show to be able to go against the World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. It was an honor and a privilege to be given that opportunity. I had to make the most of it.”

Goldberg said he 100% would have preferred his reitrement match to take place on a Premium Live Event.

Asked if that’s because he would have gotten more time, Goldberg replied, “Yeah, absolutely. They cut me off in friggin’ 20 seconds with a microphone in my hand. I got two weeks before I can really spill the beans and make my feelings known about the entire rundown from the inception of the idea to its delivery. It was a little less than to be desired. I’m not going to complain because not many people get that opportunity. There are a number of variables where such, you get put behind the eight ball and to be able to perform a 12-13 minute match, what felt like 115 minutes, it was a great opportunity and Gunther was an unbelievable guy to work with. It was awesome. I had a good time. I was laughing in there when he was chopping me. I actually had fun. In two weeks I’ll be telling everybody about the whole story “

Asked he if signed an NDA, Goldberg said, “Let’s just say that.” 

Goldberg had his trademark walkout that included former WCW head of security Doug Dillinger, Ernest “The Cat” Miller, Josh Barnett, and more.

Asked if he wanted the walkout, he said, “1000%. There were a couple of things I asked for. I’m not going to ask for green M&Ms but there were a couple of things that I thought were cool that I asked for. A couple were granted, and a couple weren’t. I’m not going to throw wrestlers out as far as who I want in the crowd because I don’t want to get into the relationships between WWE and current and past wrestlers. I didn’t put many people down. I put a lot of football players and Tyrone Spong was originally supposed to be there and CT Fletcher was going to walk me out. We were going to do all kinds of different stuff. All throughout the build up, I only had three weeks. We only had three weeks to get all of these people. It was tough to be able to get everyone because everyone’s schedule was booked, whether on tour or doing something. My coach from the Falcons was in Ireland. I can’t get a hold of these people three weeks before and expect most of them to be able to make it. The people that did make it were a huge part of my life. It was awesome.”

Goldberg said that teammates from the Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Bulldogs were there along with the writer from NCIS and his accountant.

Asked why they only got three weeks notice when plans were put in place last November, Goldberg said, “I would have loved for them to announce it in January and had a build up to it and do something like that, that I thought was maybe worthy of my career. Let’s just say they chose to do it with three weeks notice. It is what it is. It’s part of the package. It’s part of the meal you get dealt and I would be remiss in thinking I thought the meal would be different, but shame on me for thinking it would be different.”

Goldberg went on to state, “Let’s just say I’m pissed off at the way that I went out. I put so much into it and I don’t feel the effort was reciprocated to put a stamp on what I accomplished. I’m not going to say I’m not ecstatic about the opportunity that I got. I was a WCW guy. I think it could have been done a little bit differently, that’s all. I’m happy with my performance and the setting, but could it have been better? Absolutely, it can always been better.”

Asked what could have been done differently, he said, “There are a bout 100 things. I did three interviews. Three in six months. They cut me off 30 seconds into my speech. You don’t do that.”

Asked if he believes that was a WWE call or a NBC call, he said, “I think it doesn’t matter because it’s live television and you can plan for it. That’s all. I know it is what it is. ‘That match went long.’ Whatever it is. I just think it could have been a little classier prepared than it was. That’s a mild understatement.”

Goldberg confirmed that they knew he was going to give a speech after the match.

“100%. I never heard I was going to speak for 28 seconds. I got the opportunity to speak for 28 seconds.”

Asked how he reacted backstage, he said, “It’s not worth me….I’m not going to snivel over it, by any means. I got the opportunity to have it for 28 seconds. Not many people get that. Everything throughout the years built up to the ultimate rib. I guess that was the ultimate rib.”

He gave more insight into whether he believed it was done intentional by saying, “I’m not saying it was done on purpose. I’m saying that it wasn’t prepared for on purpose. They wouldn’t do that to Taker [Undertaker], right? They’re not going to do that for Cena [John Cena]. Cena is going around the world doing his retirement thing. Mine was just a World Heavyweight Championship match. To be honest with you, I’m going to catch hell for this, I don’t care. I had World Heavyweight Championship matches all the time. That doesn’t do anything for me. It does, but make it different than an angle in the end. Do something. Say something. It just felt ‘eh’ for me. I’m not here to bitch and moan because I don’t do that. I’m not complain by any stretch of the imagination. You ask and I answer.”

Goldberg’s speech was uploaded in full on the WWE YouTube channel.

“I knew they were going to cut me off at some point because they mentioned they were going to run it online. Why not get a lot of views online when you know you’re going to cut him off on live television?” Goldberg questioned.

Goldberg’s retirement speech, which included an appearance by Cody Rhodes, is ten minutes long on the WWE YouTube channel.

Fightful will have more fallout from Goldberg’s retirement match when he speaks in two weeks.

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