WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg made a heroic return to the WWE in the autumn of 2016 with a shocking win over Brock Lesnar at that year’s Survivor Series. However, it all went downhill for him from there. Apart from his explosive Universal title match against Lesnar at WrestleMania 33, he was generally criticized for the quality of his matches. That, however, did not stop him from being booked on WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows, where he received huge checks for his matches.
Goldberg was a mainstay at WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows due to popular demand, and he was rewarded handsomely for it. In fact, he was making much more in a single match than most wrestlers do in a year!
Goldberg was paid $2 million per match he had in Saudi Arabia by WWE!
Since making his WWE return in 2016, Goldberg has wrestled in 12 matches. A third of those matches have taken place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His first appearance in the desert country was against fellow Hall of Famer The Undertaker.
The match was widely criticized for the number of botches it featured from both men. In fact, fans demanded that the two call it a day before they end up hurting themselves.
His next appearance was against The Fiend. Goldberg came under a lot of criticism once again due to him squashing The Fiend in a matter of seconds. Many believed that the result could halt Wyatt’s momentum and chided the Hall of Famer for not putting the younger star over.
His next two matches were against Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns, where he won one and lost the other.
Over the course of his four appearances, he was reportedly cashing in a salary of $2 million per appearance, according to Dave Meltzer.
He wrote that the former WWE Superstar was making bank despite making minimal appearances, before adding that if he were to move to AEW, he may not make the same amount.
“Goldberg made so much money for so few matches in his WWE deal, reportedly $2 million for each of his Saudi Arabia matches, and for AEW, that kind of money per match simply isn’t cost-effective.”
Goldberg once claimed he would wrestle in Israel if WWE did not give him a retirement match
During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Goldberg claimed that he was owed a retirement match by WWE. If the wrestling promotion did not heed to his demand, he threatened to wrestle in Israel, a country that is currently in the middle of an ongoing political conflict with the desert kingdom.
“You never say never, especially in wrestling, and they owe me one. That’s all I can say. I made a deal with the devil and I did my job, and they owe me a retirement match. At the end of the day, at 56, it’s not something where I’m sitting by the phone waiting for a call. I’ve got a few ideas of how to do it on my own, possibly in Israel. So never say never.”
It appears that the WWE is not concerned with Goldberg’s threats or even the possibility of him appearing in rival promotion AEW. It remains to be seen what Goldberg has planned for his future.
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