WWE Rumors: WWE prevents veteran world champion from joining AEW
What's the story?
As announced by the WWE this week, Goldberg will be making his in-ring WWE return at the next Saudi Arabia show.
The announcement certainly caught the fans off guard, who weren't even expecting a show to take place in the Middle Eastern country this year.
Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker are some of the big names that have been confirmed for the upcoming show. However, why did WWE decide to get the former WCW Champion back on such short notice?
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer revealed the reason behind WWE's sudden move and claimed that WWE did so to avoid AEW from getting Golberg's signature on the dotted line.
In case you didn't know...
Goldberg last appeared as part of the WWE of Fame Ceremony in 2018, at which he was the headline inductee. His last match came against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33, where he dropped the WWE Universal Championship in a wild 10-minute showdown.
Incidentally, it was Goldberg's first clean loss in singles competition. While he has been on a hiatus since the aforementioned match, Goldberg never ruled out a potential comeback to the squared circle.
The heart of the matter
As speculated by Dave Meltzer himself on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE reportedly approached Goldberg regarding a return for the Saudi Arabia show.
WWE may have done so to prevent AEW from signing Goldberg to a contract. The WWE officials apparently don't want any mainstream superstar joining the new promotion as the curiousity could boost the viewership of the Tony Khan-led company.
Meltzer stated, “The Bill Goldberg deal, they called Bill Goldberg obviously… Bill Goldberg didn’t call them. And the Bill Goldberg deal is to sign him to a deal, which they wouldn’t have done except they feared that he would go to AEW. And they wanted to make sure that there was no mainstream guy that they can add to that roster that might get them off, that curiosity that might get viewership or anything like that.”
What's next?
The Saudi Arabia show will take place at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on June 7th and will feature the likes of Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins and AJ Styles.
All Wrestling Elite's first show, Double or Nothing is scheduled to happen on May 25th at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.