Don’t be surprised if Goldberg is in the main event of WrestleMania 36

Goldberg is still a draw, folks. At least that’s what the quarter hour ratings for last week’s (Feb. 7) episode of SmackDown seem to indicate.

Here’s what Dave Meltzer said about it on Wrestling Observer Radio:

“The quarter with Bill Goldberg was through the roof...It was by far the biggest quarter that they’ve had in a long long time.”

Meltzer later said that the quarter hour drew 3 million viewers across the ten biggest markets. The second hour of SmackDown as a whole averaged closer to 2.5 million viewers, so that’s why the numbers for Goldberg’s segment stand out.

It’s worth pointing out that Goldberg’s segment with Bray Wyatt didn’t go more than 5 minutes, and the rest of that quarter hour included the brawl between Roman Reigns and King Corbin.

With WrestleMania 36 right around the corner, this has me thinking that Goldberg actually has a legitimate chance to get booked into the main event match on the biggest card of the year.

The most obvious way to get there is to have Goldberg defeat The Fiend for the Universal title on Feb. 27 in Saudi Arabia at Super ShowDown. This might sound like a terrible idea from a longer term perspective, but WWE doesn’t really do long-term booking. If the idea is to put the spotlight on the biggest star right now, I can see Vince McMahon talking himself into putting Goldberg in that spot for a match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. The two stars have already taken shots at each other just one month ago. Ultimately the decision might come down to the answer to the following question: Which match has more fan interest and star power right now - Reigns vs. Wyatt, or Reigns vs. Goldberg?

Another way to get there is by going the dream match route, and pairing Goldberg up with John Cena. I admit that it seems unlikely that two guys who are rarely on television would close out the biggest show of the year against each other. But if WWE is determined to keep having these marathon length WrestleMania cards with a crowd that has to sit there for 7+ hours, maybe it’s more practical to end the night with a five minute Goldberg match than a more typical 25 minute main event match.

Finally, Triple H needs a match at WrestleMania, and there is no obvious candidate for his opponent at the moment. There is some past bad blood between Goldberg and Triple H that could be used in a worked shoot style angle for a future match. Hey, you never know.

The bottom line is that WrestleMania is usually centered around big stars, and Goldberg is a big star. If there really are no plans for Ronda Rousey to be part of WrestleMania this year, then Vince McMahon could very well fall back on Goldberg as his WrestleMania headliner.

Do you want to see Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns headline WrestleMania 36?