Goldberg’s using imaginary torches, Bloodline trash talk to sell Reigns match

Tasked with promoting an Elimination Chamber match many are already looking past in favor of his opponent’s already announced WrestleMania 38 one, Goldberg hit The Bump this morning (Feb. 9) to talk up his showdown with Roman Reigns in Saudi Arabia.

A match between Goldberg and Reigns was supposed to happen at WrestleMania 36, back before Roman took time off at the start of the pandemic and returned as the Tribal Chief. That feud got rolling with some smack talk about the two men’s college football careers: Goldberg’s at the University of Georgia, and Reigns’ at Georgia Tech. The Hall of Famer tried to bring it back to that by making himself the holder of a torch representing collegiate football players-turned-pro wrestlers, and saying he’s not ready to pass that torch to Roman yet.

Props for making this a promotional two-for-one by also mentioning fellow Bump guest Ron Simmons, who will be on Broken Skull Sessions the day before Elimination Chamber.

“I mean, as much... disdain I have for Roman and his position right now, I do ultimately respect him because he followed in the footsteps of guys like myself and Ron [Simmons]. Now, granted, he probably will be much more successful than myself. But at the end of the day, it’s not only the physical attributes, but it’s the mental aspect of the game.

“I’m about 10 days away from game day and right now, I’ve already made that transition into Godzilla. It’s tough to be around me at this point — in a lot of respects, but I know where I have to be, and I have to be in the zone, and I have to bring 1,000% of what Goldberg used to be and what he currently is to be able to compete against a guy like Roman right now. But I can do it, I have the faith in myself and truthfully, I’m doing it for guys like Ron, I’m doing it for all the guys who stepped before me because I’ve got the torch right now and one of these days, I get to hand it off. But right now Roman actually wants to steal it from me and I’m not going to let him.”

Goldberg also brought up the fact he’s beaten Reigns’ cousins The Rock & Umaga [when he was Jamal of 3 Minute Warning], and his brother Rosey. There’s also some Steiner math thrown in:

“First and foremost, I’m batting 1000 against his family — I’ve never lost to anybody he’s related to. So that’s something that I want to carry on. And true, he’s got quite a different character, athlete than two years ago. He’s progressed, he’s evolved, and he’s much more dangerous than he was back then. And I probably have gone the other way. But I’ve always said that 70% of Goldberg is 100% better than 99% of the people out there. So I still believe that I can rip his face off, and as long as I think that here [points at his head], as long as I’m prepared as much as I can be physically for it, it’s still attainable.”

Sold?