Goldberg reveals backstage details on Roman Reigns' last-minute withdrawal at WrestleMania 36
WrestleMania 36 was supposed to be the coronation of Roman Reigns as the new Universal Champion when he was to face off against Goldberg. But, that match did not happen after The Big Dog pulled out of the match as he did not want to risk getting infected after someone was sick at the Performance Center.
While speaking on the Carcast podcast, Goldberg gave some backstage information about Reigns' withdrawal from the match. The former Universal Champion said that Reigns was willing to wrestle until the last minute, but pulled out after someone was sick:
"I don't know why it was even considered [from] the beginning except for the fact that we'd invested time and WWE invested money in the angle and the match. [But] until the 23rd hour, it was still a possibility that he and I were going to wrestle. I think what happened was someone was sick, and Roman heard about it. They just had the flu. But just the fact that somebody was sick in those circumstances, at the end of the day, he just couldn't do it. It's Roman's decision, and whatever he decided, everyone had to go with because none of us are in his shoes." (H/T ESPN)
Goldberg said that it was possible for him to wrestle Reigns by April 5, but with that not being a possibility, he faced Braun Strowman. The Monster Among Men decimated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship, for the very first time in his career.
He also said that he had travelled back home after the match was virtually cancelled, but got a call "in the middle of the week" to tell him that a match would happen at WrestleMania 36.
By the way, while you are going through this article, why don't you take a look at this video below where Sportskeeda's own Tom Colohue, Korey Gunz, and Rick Ucchino talk about the first-ever WrestleMania that occurred for two nights and other things?
At The Show of Shows, which was held at the Performance Center, Goldberg defended the Universal Championship against Braun Strowman, for the first time since winning the title at Super ShowDown. The Monster Among Men landed a few Running Powerslams to get the win and his first world title in WWE.
Goldberg had surprisingly won the title from The Fiend at Super ShowDown, which did not please fans as most felt that it would hurt The Fiend's phenomenal momentum and popularity that he had.
It will be interesting to see whom Strowman feuds with next in his first reign as Universal Champion, and how long before Roman Reigns enters the feud.