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WWE Pushes Goldberg Despite Creating Some Peeved Diehard Fans?

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 08:55 PST, Feb 9, 2017

It doesn’t take long for a new WWE fan to learn how the luck of the draw has no place in the WWE, and today Goldberg offers up the perfect example of this. There’s no luck about the WWE at all; it’s about the numbers. If someone like Goldberg or Roman Reigns draws in the viewers, they slide into the spots that should be reserved for those who made their way to the head of that line first. That’s not the way it works in the world of WWE.

This doesn’t sit well with fans who believe the WWE of yesteryear had the right idea. A couple of decades ago a wrestler in the featured match of a big WWE event was there because it was earned. One of the latest matches to peeve off the WWE fans came via the announcement of Goldberg facing Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship. The booking strategy used by the WWE for planning for Goldberg’s match isn’t a WWE fan favorite, to say the least.

Forbes cites a “method to the madness” of the WWE when it comes to pushing stars like Goldberg ahead of others. Goldberg is getting this push from the WWE because of one simple fact – “he draws.” Years ago being a superstar in the ring was enough, but in a world run on technology, the WWE has wrapped up much of their star power into the DVD sales and WWE Network subscriptions.

It was the sales of DVDs that led the WWE to bring Goldberg back into the ring last year after he had banner years in DVD sales for 2013 and 2014. Even Triple H, a real fan favorite, couldn’t hold a candle to Goldberg’s sales of WWE Goldberg-The Ultimate Collection back in 2013 when the two had similar DVD releases.

It was in 2014 when Goldberg followed up his banner year with his DVD selling more than 100,000 copies. He was the only one out of the four big superstars of that day to reach that 100,000 milestone in sales. He outsold The Rock, CM Punk and even The Undertaker. This is what sparked a second honeymoon for the WWE and Goldberg when he came back last year.

What enticed this union was mostly the benefits they would reap outside of the WWE ring in the form of a pre-order bonus of the latest WWE video installment. When Goldberg returned, he became the center of the WWE marketing for the WWE 2K17, the newest video offering from the WWE. And why wouldn’t the WWE use him for this, considering his history with video game sales?

Goldberg’s stats are stellar when it comes to being a draw for Monday Night Raw. When he made his return to Monday Night Raw back in October 17 of 2016, 372,000 more fans had tuned into see him than the previous episode of Raw. With 3.13 million viewers tuning in to watch that one event, there’s no doubt that Monday Night Raw is big business.

For this reason, you send in the big guns, but unlike years ago when those big guns meant muscle, today they are merely numbers that convert into the almighty dollar. You are as good as the numbers of viewers you draw, which is pretty consistent across the board for any TV show when it comes to ratings.

With WWE topping off their views with such large numbers with Goldberg back, this guy’s name on the marquee is WWE gold. According to CBS Sports, Goldberg will fight Kevin Owens for the title, then step into the ring with Brock Lesnar at the WWE’s WrestleMania 33 in April. The last match between the two is memorable. Back in November, it took Goldberg only 90 seconds to beat Lesnar.

Goldberg has orchestrated one fight after another for himself. He challenged Owens to fight after he interrupted the Universal Champion and Chris Jericho doing some WWE gloating over their success. Goldberg came out to accept Lesnar’s challenge but interfered in the gloating event between Owens and Jericho with his own acceptance speech.

CBS News explains that after Goldberg had accepted Lesnar’s challenge, “Goldberg was bothered by Owens and decided to challenge the champion to a title match at Fastlane on March 5.” Fastlane goes off only one month before WrestleMania 33. It wasn’t Owens who accepted, but Jericho who accepted on behalf of Owens after Goldberg seemingly intimidated Jericho.

Later, the match was announced as official, so the path is paved to WrestleMania 33, as was predicted. It looks like Goldberg and Lesnar will fight for the Universal Title. Between now and then, CBS predicts there will be two more matches for Goldberg.

AS Forbes suggests, the WWE is pushing Goldberg despite the resistance from fans because Goldberg’s return has boiled down to big draws for the WWE. For this reason, it is understandable from the business aspect why the likes of Lesnar and Owens, along with other wrestlers in the WWE, have no choice but to step aside to make way for Goldberg today.

[Featured Image by Adam Hunger/AP Images]

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