This day in Pro Wrestling history - 9th Feb: Daniel Bryan explains his retirement
WWE might be seeing an influx of talented competitors to the main roster, but the majority of wrestling fans still miss Daniel Bryan inside the ring. He might be an authority figure on SmackDown, but his portrayal of the Ultimate Underdog was the most over act in the WWE in a long time.
Bryan’s career would wind down after his Intercontinental title victory at Wrestlemania 31 and his final WWE match would be alongside John Cena in a tag tam bout. This edition of ‘This day..’ takes a look at Daniel Bryan’s retirement from in-ring action and the reasons for the same.
Also on this edition, a WCW legend gets taken to wrestling school and the first ever Triple threat Wrestlemania main event takes shape.
#1 William Regal vs Goldberg – 9th Feb 1998
If the rampant rumours about Raw are to be believed, Kevin Owens is scheduled to drop his Universal title to Bill Goldberg at Fastlane. Not only would it undermine the great work Owens has done over the past months as Champion, but it would also justify the criticism concerning the WWE not truly embracing their young talent save Roman Reigns.
Goldberg did have a solid run in the company for a year in 2003-04 but has worked less than 10 minutes in the ring on his return. It is a guarantee that his match with Owens at Fastlane will not be a wrestling classic. In fact, Goldberg was not known for the quality of his matches even when he was in his prime.
Never was it more apparent than on an episode of WCW Nitro on February 9th, 1998, when Goldberg faced William Regal. Based on which source you believe, Goldberg was supposed to win the match by squashing Regal. He was supposed to win after a technical bout.
Anyways, Regal outwrestled the much bigger Goldberg and it was embarrassing to see WCW’s new poster boy getting owned in the ring. The former football player was no match for Regal’s technical prowess and the Blackpool native wrestled circles around Goldberg.
Goldberg would somehow win the horrible match and the episode would only be a minor blip to his aura, but Regal did remind the fans about the technical aspects of wrestling that night.
Regal was fired immediately after the match, though.