Event: Survivor Series (2016)
Date November 20, 2016
City: Toronto, Ontario Canada
Venue: Air Canada Centre
Main Event Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg
LIVE STREAMING LINK
WWE is using “Fantasy Warfare” to describe their Brock
Lesnar versus Goldberg main event. A fantasy matchup bout typically
poses two opponents that have no logistical avenue to fulfill this. Can the 1995-96 Bulls take on the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors?
I don’t know. And we won’t know because those two parties are from
different eras, but that’s what hypothetical matchups all are about.
Let’s leave it to the collective imagination to play out all the
possible scenarios. There will be no consensus.
But WWE’s use of the phrase is perplexing, if not
expected of them. Lesnar and Goldberg have fought before. The two faced
off as both superstars were on their way out of the company. Goldberg’s
year-long WWE tenure became more of a victory lap to celebrate his WCW
accolades. Lesnar, in his 20s with arguably the brightest future out of
anyone on that roster, put his wrestling career on hold to give the NFL a
shot.
Just like in 2004, this match is free from all the narrative of brand loyalty that is emphasized in every match of this year’s Survivor Series.
At the risk of falling too much into WWE’s narrative, this is a fight
instead of a match. Its origins want you to believe that, too, as the
feud initially began seemingly out of nowhere during an ESPN interview
in which Goldberg promoted WWE 2K17.
And in a time where WWE wants fans to watch up to 10
hours of original content a week in order to give the illusion that they
are their own competition, Goldberg’s interview distanced himself from
that.
He was Bill Goldberg, the father and husband, explaining
the impact of Goldberg, the character. In that respect, Bill Goldberg
challenged Brock Lesnar, the part-time UFC fighter and sports
entertainer, instead of the “Beast Incarnate.”
But if you go back and watch WrestleMania XX, their match
was bad. And don’t forget that. The fans, aware that the two were
leaving, diluted any tension by chanting. “You sold out,” and “This
match sucks” filled Madison Square Garden as Lesnar and Goldberg
attempted to forge a feud that all but eroded by the time the two
stepped into the ring.
Lesnar was the WWE Undisputed Champion a month before and
lost to the late Eddie Guerrero, in part because Goldberg interfered.
Losing the company’s top title due to interference is an exemplary way
to begin a big-match fight, one where the thought of annihilating your
opponent would isolate anything else.
But that didn’t happen! Brock Lesnar picked a fight with
Stone Cold Steve Austin, who later became the special referee for the
match. Austin became the vehicle through which WWE would be declared the
moral winner.
The WrestleMania match dragged on. The first half of it
featured both wrestlers staring each other down and occasionally looking
at Stone Cold for a cue. They were also waiting for the crowd’s jeers
to stop, which didn’t work. Lesnar and Goldberg spent the rest of the
fight in holds that resembled tug-of-war.
A Goldberg spear and Jackhammer would mark the end of the
match. Brock Lesnar got up with ease after, only to give the middle
finger to both Austin and the fans at MSG. That’s when Austin, already
retired as evident by the knee braces that enveloped his entire legs,
hit the Stunner on Lesnar and ended his short career. Goldberg thought
he could celebrate with Stone Cold, but he was wrong and got the Stone
Cold Stunner, as well.
Wrestling rules dictate that a departing wrestler has to
go out on his back to emphasize the importance their opponent. But with
both superstars leaving, Austin and the veil of the Attitude Era — which
was over by then — only remained.
With the end of that match, WWE inadvertently set the
standard that it views itself in. It’s self-aggrandizing and nostalgic
which is tantamount to how it promotes its bigger fights and the WWE
Network. What happened at WrestleMania XX was a live revision of
history.
And revisionist history is where WWE excels. One of their cornerstone programs on the Network when it first aired was the Monday Night Wars,
that repeated the phrase “a king to be crowned” and showed Vince
McMahon basking in spoils of war, overlooking the various contributions
that WCW and ECW gave to wrestling. Through that, they have every means
to paint Lesnar-Goldberg as a battle between pro wrestling mammoths
going to war, but very little of that will be true.
But despite all of that, the rematch — if you’d even like
to call it that — has the potential to be the main event its hyped up
to be. The last time we saw Brock Lesnar compete in a WWE ring, he
pummeled Randy Orton so badly that he was gushing blood. That was also
main event described as a fight between two superstars whose shared origins began in the early 2000s. The end was as real as professional wrestling gets.
Goldberg can either be the indomitable force he was in
WCW or a dad who only wants to relive his heyday for his son. In his way
is Brock Lesnar, who doesn’t care and will continue wrecking people in
his way. Whether he continues that or WWE opts for a win that appeals to
nostalgia, remains to be seen.
“This is about finality,” announcer Jim Ross exclaimed at
WrestleMania as a tongue-in-cheek way to let viewers know that the two
superstars were on their way out. As a fan watching live at the time I
believed it. Neither wrestler was coming back. But in professional
wrestling, finality is a foreign concept when the right money and the
desire to relive wrestling’s glory days is always on the table.
