Goldberg is here to pass the torch, unless he drops it first

The match

Roman Reigns defends the Universal championship against Goldberg at today’s (Sat., Feb. 19, 2022) Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The story

There isn’t much of a story here, unfortunately.

Goldberg and Roman Reigns were originally supposed to clash over the Universal title two years ago at WrestleMania 36, but the fight never happened; Reigns was replaced by Braun Strowman on the day of the show with no explanation given by WWE.

Fast forward two years, and WWE has a show planned for Saudi Arabia on Feb. 19. Goldberg apparently has a special deal for these Saudi events, so he showed up out of nowhere on the Feb. 4 edition of SmackDown to announce that he’s getting a title match with Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2022.

Why does Goldberg deserve a title match against the Tribal Chief? No explanation was given. Considering Goldberg pulled this very same tactic and was awarded two separate matches for the WWE championship in 2021, I suppose I can’t blame him for trying it a third time.

This feud feels forced due to WWE’s Saudi Arabia events schedule. Let’s face it, Goldberg is just showing up for a couple weeks so he can lose a quick match at Elimination Chamber and get paid a huge amount of money.

This is the final match on Goldberg’s WWE contract. He said he’s not ready to pass the torch to Roman Reigns. Given Goldberg’s history in Saudi Arabia, he’s just as likely to drop the torch before he can formally pass it. And does Roman even need Goldberg’s torch handed to him? Reigns has been the top guy in WWE for like, what, at least six years? The torch was handed to Roman quite a long time ago.

This match had more juice to it two years ago when it was the battle of the spears. Now it’s just Goldberg showing up and going through the motions to get a huge Saudi payday while Reigns awaits Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 38.

Goldberg’s promos over the last couple weeks have been uninspired and awkward. First he said Roman was next. Then he changed his mind and said that Goldberg is next. Whatever. WWE just hasn’t been able to find an interesting hook for a match that we were supposed to see two years ago.

Will the match turn out to be better than the promos? Hopefully! Roman Reigns has vowed to ‘Goldberg’ Goldberg, so we’ll see if he can deliver on that threat.

Find out who wins by tuning into Elimination Chamber and keeping it right here at Cageside Seats!