On Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, Bill Goldberg didn’t take long to defeat Dolph Ziggler in their scheduled match, as he disposed of his younger opponent in quick and decisive fashion. This was a contrast to his widely-panned performance two months ago at Super ShowDown , where the WWE Hall of Famer lost to The Undertaker in a match that featured numerous botched moves from two legends in their early 50s. However, one former WWE superstar didn’t seem to be impressed by Goldberg’s SummerSlam match.
As reported by Wrestling Inc ., former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger fired off several tweets at Goldberg following his win over Ziggler, starting with a post where he suggested that the next time Goldberg has a match at SummerSlam , it should be one where he is “actually able to work.” This didn’t go down well with some of the professional-wrestler-turned-MMA-fighter’s followers, including one who suggested that the 52-year-old Goldberg might have a chance of beating Swagger in a mixed martial arts fight.
After Swagger responded to the follower by saying that he doubts Goldberg can “touch” him, the Hall of Famer fired back at Swagger by remarking that he could easily defeat him. This led to a number of follow-up tweets from the MMA heavyweight, who kept on taunting Goldberg and making references to how he feels he can no longer compete in the ring like he used to. Swagger also took some direct shots at Goldberg’s age, calling him “grandpa” in a response to one Twitter user.
“Nah I’m rich and not losing to people who would break their hip trying to compete w me,” Swagger said, in response to yet another fan looking forward to an MMA fight between the two former WWE titleholders.
. @HEELZiggler WAS NEXT. #SummerSlam @Goldberg pic.twitter.com/Ica939Jrc0
— WWE (@WWE) August 11, 2019
In another tweet cited by Wrestling Inc ., Swagger seemed to be referencing WWE’s penchant for hiring older part-time wrestlers to compete in major pay-per-views such as SummerSlam . This was his reaction to a fan’s remarks that Swagger shouldn’t get annoyed when “old guys” make one-off returns to WWE as it isn’t his fault that the company “ruined” him by giving him a bad gimmick.
“Don’t get upset when someone takes food off your table? Good luck w that.”
A longtime mainstay of WWE until his release in 2017, Jack Swagger has since transitioned to mixed martial arts, where he competes in Bellator MMA’s heavyweight division under his real name of Jake Hager. The 37-year-old Swagger has also been open in interviews about the disappointments he and many of his colleagues dealt with in the WWE locker room. Wrestling Inc . previously cited one such interview in May, where Swagger blamed poor storylines as one of the reasons why several WWE superstars have tried to leave the company in recent years.