Should WWE Have Saved Rock VS Goldberg For Wrestlemania XX ?

[Mitch Henessey]

When Goldberg first came to WWE, it was HUGE moment. Goldberg still had plenty of mystique left, and he made a huge impact his first night on Raw.It was the night after Wrestlemania 19, where The Rock had finally beaten Stone Cold at Wrestlemania. Rock said it was time to retire because he had beaten every one there was to beat in WWE, and then he asked the question, "Who's next?", and of course Goldberg came out to give him his answer. They would go on to have what I like to call a very weird match at Backlash 2003. No matter how awkward or bad the match was, the crowd still went nuts when Goldberg beat The Rock.

I think WWE rushed this match to quickly. I know Goldberg only had a one year contract with WWE, but I think they could've saved this match for later. Rock VS Goldberg can be looked at as a dream match because of the star power both of these guys had. WWE went to this feud so quickly, that there really wasn't enough time to let the anticipation build.

Goldberg would of course go on to wrestle Brock Lesnar in that travesty of a match at Wrestlemania 20. Rock VS Goldberg would've been a better match at Wrestlemania 20 because people would've been more excited to see it. Since Goldberg was leaving, and was most likely going to be booed out of the building by the MSG fans anyway, why not have him turn heel. The people would cheer the Rock no matter what, and the epic feel to this match would've been a lot bigger because it was happening at Wrestlemania. It's not like The Rock and Foley VS Evolution in the handicap tag team match was something memorable, so why not have this match at Wrestlemania? The match between Goldberg and Rock wasn't a classic in any way, but it still was a better match than Goldberg VS Lesnar.

Should WWE have saved Rock VS Goldberg for Wrestlemaina XX? Thoughts?

 

[Cookie14]

wwe knew that goldberg would only be there for a year, so they had to rush as many fueds as possible. to be fair he did manage to fued with brock, the rock, undertaker hhh and stone cold (even though he was not an active wrestler at the time) Not bad for 12 months work. In fact, I cant think of any superstar EVER to have more fueds, and bigger fueds within a calender year. feel free to correct me if i'm wrong

 

[justinept]

Why would The Rock vs Goldberg have been a dream matchup?

Goldberg was just another guy with decent size who got by on a gimmick that deemed him unstoppable. He is nothing more than a flash in the pan, and nowhere near a legend in the industry.

So to answer your question - No. The WWE should not have saved Rock/Goldberg for WrestleMania ... for two reasons:

1) The Rock was gone by Wrestlemania XX ... appearing on the show in a tag match with Foley as a send off.

2) It wouldn't have lived to the hype you have given it.

 

[avi01]

It is an interesting thought. The impact the night after mania x9 is difficult to match. I do remember to read that Rock wanted to work with one of the big guys at WM XX, including Goldberg. Maybe they should have kept the match at backlash as it is and have the Rock return and try 'to do it all' by beating Goldberg.
That would imply still a heel Rock but I think that if the match was at Wrestlemania XX, the crowd would have been soooo over the Rock. Already at backlash, good part of the audience was cheering for him.

 

[Dan E. Inferno]

It's an interesting idea you've come up with HHHKING and, in retrospect, saving The Rock vs Goldberg could have worked out better but I think the WWE did the right thing at the time. Like you said, it was set up perfectly. The Rock beats Austin, claims there's no competition and Goldberg appears for his debut. It was a good moment and after doing that and teasing a match between the two, it had to be delivered sooner rather than later. The Rock's future was somewhat sketchy anyway so I think the WWE did the right thing in setting up the match right away.

The only problem was that the match didn't quite live up to expectations, but having the match at Wrestlemania would not neccessarily have helped the match quality. Also, WWE didn't know at that time that the Goldberg vs Lesnar debacle was set to happen at Wrestlemania. I mean that had all the tools for a good match under different circumstances. Also, I quite enjoyed the Rock'n'Sock connection reunion and their match against Evolution.

Like I said, it's an interesting idea that would have prevented Lesnar vs Goldberg and possibly improve the quality of The Rock vs Goldberg, but I feel WWE did the right thing with setting the match for Backlash. To be fair, Goldberg never really impressed with his matches against Jericho and HHH either, so maybe The Rock and Goldberg were never going to have a great match no matter when it took place.

 

[Zeedeevel]

They had to rush the match simply because it was unclear when the Rock would decide he was done. If they waited they might never have been able to do it because the Rock would have been too busy as an actor

 

[Tastycles]

Goldberg's tenure in WWE was pretty awful from start to finish, but the main reason that he was brought in was to replace Austin, who left and Rock who was going to be on a reduced schedule. As a result, they were always going to rush their match together. Hypothetically speaking, it was a Mania quality matchup, but the practicality of waiting a year was never going to come through. It's just one of those things that was never meant to be, but in all honesty, I imagine the WWE knew that Goldberg wouldn't be around forever, and planned accordingly.