WWE ‘s decision to have 53-year-old Bill Goldberg defeat “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship last week at Super ShowDown turned out to be a very controversial move for the company. Many fans around the world, including celebrities such as Macaulay Culkin , openly expressed their disappointment in the result, which essentially allowed a part-timer to defeat a much younger full-time competitor for Friday Night SmackDown ‘s top championship. As it turns out, Eric Bischoff — the blue brand’s former executive director — also had some critical remarks about what happened at Super ShowDown , as he suggested in the most recent episode of his podcast.
As quoted by Wrestling Inc ., Bischoff said on this week’s edition of 83 Weeks that he was “surprised” by the result, given how he recalls Wyatt as one of WWE’s most marketable superstars during his most recent stint with the company. The former World Championship Wrestling executive and on-air authority figure further elaborated on this point, saying that he felt the 32-year-old Wyatt could one day become an “Undertaker-esque character” — a potential all-time great with a similarly dark gimmick.
“Given the trajectory of The Fiend character, I was really surprised,” Bischoff continued.
“Nothing against Bill. He’s not a full-timer. He’s a part-timer, and Bill pretty much sh*t the bed last time he was in Saudi Arabia so I found that shocking particularly as quickly as they did it. A lot of that may have been due to the fact that Bill is not really the right guy to go out there and have a 20-minute match with a guy like The Fiend. I don’t know. It’s interesting though.”
After 4 spears and a Jackhammer, Goldberg pins The Fiend and becomes the NEW Universal champion ?
Wild. #WWESSD pic.twitter.com/nSOXoTl2sJ
— B/R Wrestling (@BRWrestling) February 27, 2020
Bischoff’s comments were in reference to Goldberg’s last match in Saudi Arabia, where he lost to The Undertaker at last year’s Super ShowDown in a contest that was heavily criticized by fans. That match, as previously reported by The Inquisitr , was an error-filled contest where the two legends botched multiple moves, forcing Goldberg to take to social media and apologize to his fans for what he felt was a subpar performance.
Bischoff wasn’t the only former WWE personality who had something negative to say about Goldberg’s win over Wyatt at Super ShowDown . Earlier this week, Wrestling Inc . quoted Ryback, who questioned why someone like Goldberg — an older wrestler who is only effective in occasional, super-short matches — would pick up the win. He also criticized WWE for once again excluding Wyatt from its “circle” of wrestlers that receive a consistent push and get to win marquee matches at WrestleMania .