Goldberg made his return to WWE in 2016 and defeated Brock Lesnar in under two minutes at Survivor Series. Goldberg then competed in several high-profile matches at WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Saudi events.
The WWE Hall of Famer last competed at Elimination Chamber in 2022, where he lost to Roman Reigns. Goldberg’s WWE deal expired in December of last year. The company didn’t offer him a new contract.
In an interview with Steven & Captain Evil, Goldberg said that Vince McMahon asked him to put Roman Reigns over at Elimination Chamber last year. Goldberg said that he agreed to do it under one condition. The former Universal Champion said he demanded a retirement match, but the company didn’t give him that.
“Vince [McMahon] is like Dana White. He’s the big boss and he makes everything happen, and in all honesty, he gave me the opportunity to put my wife and son on the front row and gave me the ability to perform again in front of them. So, I owe him everything, until we went to Saudi Arabia and he asked me to put Roman Reigns over, and I had COVID. I remember calling him from my house and [saying], ‘Listen, here is the deal. I’ll do it if you give me a retirement match.’ I did what he asked. As a performer, I was 56 years old. As a human being, you’re conscientious about how you look in a bathing suit, especially two months prior to being in that bathing suit, you couldn’t work out because you had COVID. I put myself in a horribly sh-tty situation to get what I wanted but to satiate him and give him what he wanted. [The] problem is, he never held up his bargain. Vince is a piece of sh-t as far as I’m concerned.”