Goldberg was supposed to defend the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36 , but those plans were changed after the challenger pulled out of the event over coronavirus concerns. As quoted by ESPN , the Hall of Famer recently spoke to the Carcast podcast and gave some backstage information about Reigns’ withdrawal, revealing that the challenger was willing to wrestle until the very last minute.
“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.”
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Reigns backed out of the event after The Miz showed up to the Performance Center displaying signs of illness. Since Reigns has underlying health conditions due to his history with leukemia, the superstar chose to sit out of the show, and there’s no telling when he’ll return to WWE television.
Goldberg also revealed that he returned home and stopped working out, under the impression that he wouldn’t be competing at WrestleMania . That was until he received a phone call informing him that a match against Reigns was still a possibility, until it was confirmed that he’d face Braun Strowman instead.
During the interview, Goldberg also opened up about his own decision to participate in this year’s WrestleMania , even after his match against Reigns was canceled. According to Goldberg, he felt as if he had a “responsibility to the public” because WWE is one of the few forms of entertainment that’s still producing television through the pandemic.
FOUR @Goldberg Spears cannot keep The #MonsterAmongMen @BraunStrowman down! #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/ApS1EYhtEi
— WWE (@WWE) April 5, 2020
Goldberg acknowledged that WWE is perhaps being “irresponsible” by continuing to put on the shows. He then went on to state that the company is still a business at the end of the day, and understands Vince McMahon’s motivations for continuing to produce content for the fans.
Goldberg also revealed how McMahon was present at the show and willing to put himself at risk, so he wasn’t asking his performers to make any sacrifices that he wasn’t willing to make as well. The company pre-taped several shows in the lead up to WrestleMania , so fans can expect to see fresh content for the next few weeks.
