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I'm always getting into arguments about what draws and what doesn't in pro wrestling here with readers within my columns exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. Some are quite insistent that their favorite NXT wrestlers or Indy prospects are the "next big thing", but I'm often reminding them that the WWE is a different landscape. Within a WWE audience, you have parents and children who might not like someone who is technically sound in the ring but is more charismatic with their personality or antics. When you get the perfect storm in the WWE, like Steve Austin, Rock, or John Cena where BOTH in-ring ability and personality are strongly present, that creates your big draw. Right now, and this is MY opinion, is that the WWE doesn't have strong drawing power within their roster. Sure, John Cena is still there, but longevity isn't his friend. We've seen him accomplish about everything in the WWE with the exception of a true bigtime match-up with the Undertaker at a Wrestlemania (possibly happening at 33?). WWE has had many wrestlers come and go from OVW and Florida/NXT, but nobody has captivated an audience and convinced them to spend money on merchandise like John Cena. WWE is trying to brainwash us that Roman Reigns is that next guy but everybody can see how synthetic he is as Vince McMahon's pet project. There are MANY wrestlers that I personally like who have arrived from Florida/NXT, but nothing that has yet to mature into a bigtime draw. And that's why it's OK that Bill Goldberg is coming back to wrestle Brock Lesnar. Sorry, but nobody on the WWE roster RIGHT NOW who hasn't wrestled Brock Lesnar before (thus we're excluding John Cena, Undertaker, Randy Orton, Big Show, Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins, etc.) could draw strong with Brock Lesnar. Sure, I'd like to see Rusev or Bray Wyatt get their shot, but at their current stages in their career, they need WINNING STREAKS to actually happen to build them up just to face Lesnar. AJ Styles would be fun, but there's just no way that Styles would look convincing enough to beat him. Too small in comparison to the former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Possibly Samoa Joe, but we're not talking mid 2000s Joe here. He just doesn't look like the dangerous threat that he once was, though NXT is trying hard with their Balor and Nakamura feuds. I've said that Batista could be a good opponent and maybe the Rock, but both are pretty focused on acting right now. WWE is in the business of convincing more people to place more eyeballs on their product. Because certain wrestlers need more seasoning, to which I'd argue Rusev and Wyatt as valid future opponents for 2017, WWE needs something to salvage what has been a somewhat disappointing year from Brock Lesnar in the WWE. Sure, he fought in UFC 200, but it was making that company money, not WWE. Bad publicity from the drug tests have eroded that great moment for him. I had higher hopes for Lesnar's matches with Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton, but things went wrong in both matches (still shocked that Ambrose called him lazy through the Wrestlemania 32 match plans, "met with laziness", ouch). WWE is about at the halfway point of the 3 year, $9 million extension to Lesnar's contract from 2015 around Wrestlemania 31. WWE has to figure out how to make up their money on that major contract. Enter Bill Goldberg. Sure, he's 49 years old right now and sure, he hasn't wrestled in a match since March 14th, 2004 and that was Wrestlemania 20... Hey, who was that against again? Oh yeah, Bill Goldberg BEAT Brock Lesnar 100% clean at Madison Square Garden in one of the most surreal match-ups in Wrestlemania history. Wrestlemania 20, ALONE, should be why any wrestling fan would want to see Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar occur more than 12 years later here in 2016. Goldberg BEAT him, but not only that, their Wrestlemania 20 match-up was an absolute trainwreck! Why? Through Wrestlemania 20, it was BOTH Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg's last match with the WWE. Bill Goldberg signed a 1 year deal with the WWE that began after Wrestlemania 19 during 2003 and both sides agreed to move on. Heading into Wrestlemania 20, as this match was actually considered during the Fall of 2003 (wrestlers first confronted each other at Survivor Series 2003), Brock Lesnar was in fact booked to WIN against Bill Goldberg. After all, Goldberg had the expiring contract and Brock Lesnar had many years left on his contract. But things began to unravel through late 2003 and early 2004... I have produced several columns on this before, so be patient with me if I'm repeating myself from past columns... During 2002-2006, I had some decent WWE sources who started off just disagreeing with my columns and defending themselves but it ended up opening some channels for backstage WWE stories. Some of which I forwarded onto LoP news staff, some of which I kept just to validate some strong opinions that I had at the time. One of those sources was a regular fixture on the Smackdown roster for both television shows and houseshows, and thus he was around Brock Lesnar often. This source said that during 2003, particularly during those intense feuds with Kurt Angle which would wear anybody out... Brock Lesnar began to become a big more vocal about the extensive road schedule. If you weren't wrestling, you were hitting the gym to maintain a physique... Any free time that you possibly had was eliminated when more personal appearances were thrown your way. During much of 2003, I'm told, Lesnar was battling through a few injuries that he expressed repeatedly to WWE managment that he needed time off to heal. They were reluctant, particularly as Kurt Angle was off and on. When you can't take time off, wrestlers often turn to something to numb the pain. Remember, this was pre-Wellness Policy era and many wrestlers became addicted to pain medicine and other substances. Barely any time off and injuries mounting up, Lesnar began to consider his career choice. Making matters worse, ironically, was his Wrestlemania 20 opponent Bill Goldberg. Goldberg's 1 year deal allowed him to wrestle ONLY television and Pay Per View events. No houseshows, much more time off than the rest of the WWE roster. And he was getting paid more to do less. Just the year before, the same WWE locker room witnessed Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash getting the same type of contracts... Television/Pay Per View and that's it, but with nice guaranteed money attached. These former WCW wrestlers were coming in from a promotion that sank like the Titanic, but yet they were receiving lucrative contracts with limited dates. Meanwhile, the top stars of the rosters from 2002-2004 where working almost nightly and were immediately shot down on any money or time off requests. The favoritism towards these old stars caused morale issues, but I'm told that the Bill Goldberg 2003 signing and then seeing how he wasn't quite the big draw as hyped really angered many wrestlers back then. By early 2004, Lesnar was burned out and was re-examining his life. Did he want to be a pro wrestler for the rest of his life, particularly for the WWE? He was still young and he wanted to try other athletic ventures. He began to inquire about a lighter schedule and a better monetary deal but the WWE stuck to the long-term deal that Lesnar signed. WWE wouldn't budge... They had already lost Steve Austin and Rock during the course of 2003 for good and the Bill Goldberg experiment wasn't fully panning out. Within his contract, he had a no-compete clause which included other pro wrestling entities and fighting competitions. Thus, Lesnar eventually found his out by announcing that he wanted to become a pro football player in the National Football League (NFL). That's a form of athletic competition allowed under Lesnar's no-compete and he actually went for it. Lesnar wanted out of WWE and he found a possible venture (played pre-season for the Minnesota Vikings but didn't make the roster). Suddenly, with Brock Lesnar leaving the WWE, plans for Wrestlemania 20 changed. The match result went from Brock Lesnar beating Bill Goldberg cleanly to Bill Goldberg beating Brock Lesnar cleanly. Additionally, the WWE had long-term plans of having (a) Brock Lesnar defeating Bill Goldberg and then (b) feuding with the returning "Deadman" Undertaker for much of the summer. Reportedly, Lesnar heard of those plans to wrestle the Undertaker and wanted no part of it. If you'll recall, the "Bikertaker" gimmick was dropped in favor of the traditional Undertaker "Deadman" gimmick at Wrestlemania 20. Chances are that Undertaker would get the better of that feud and Lesnar didn't want to exert the effort of a physical feud with the Undertaker and coming up on the short end of the stick. Hence, why there was heat for a long time between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar as seen by this UFC 121 video interview with the Undertaker. It wasn't until Wrestlemania 30 where the two would clear the air and then do better business together a year later for SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell. Fans were uncertain about Brock Lesnar's but chatter ramped up when Eddie Guerrero beat Lesnar for the WWE Title at No Way Out 2004. That title switch seemed to signify that Lesnar was on his way out and the online news about Lesnar's exit was leaking like a faucet. To make matters worse for the WWE, Wrestlemania 20 was in New York City at Madison Square Garden. New York fans can get rowdy and knowing that BOTH wrestlers were potentially on the way out, the fans let both competitors have it. For whatever reason, Lesnar and Goldberg had a very slow start with a bunch of staredowns between the 2 wrestlers. Lots of "BORING", "This Match Sucks", "You Sold Out", and other random chants were thrown at both wrestlers. It was possibly one of the first big stage examples of where fans hijacked the match. It was quite surreal to see this Dream Match between Lesnar vs. Goldberg being resorted to a bad in-ring match with WWE fans crapping all over it. And that's beauty of it, folks... It was a complete TRAINWRECK. You can't stop looking at it. To quote Bill Hicks, their match was like a sore tooth... You couldn't stop touching it. Fans who remember that Wrestlemania 20 match want to see if the same crowd disaster happens again or if they can actually produce a GOOD/GREAT match instead. For Brock Lesnar, this WM 20 match was the bookend to his first WWE career and it didn't end on a good note. Combine that with the allure of seeing legend of Bill Goldberg wrestle one more time, which as proven by his strong "Best of Goldberg" DVD sales, many fans still love the guy... They are eating mouthfuls of 'Member Berries to remember the good old days when the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW occurred. He has been gone for over 12 years from a WWE ring and yet he's still talked about. ESPN was quite willing ot have Goldberg on their network last week and that's the kind of mainstream attention that the WWE is hungry for right now. Then, put him with Brock Lesnar, the attention for Goldberg's first match in 12+ years increases. And again, Goldberg BEAT him at Wrestlemania 20... It's called heat, brother. WWE wants as many of those "Monday Night Wars" fans to try out the WWE Network as possible. While many fans who were born in the last 12 years won't care about the guy, their parents will. Bill Goldberg was the last great thing produced out of WCW. Once Goldberg beat Hulk Hogan for the WCW on July 8th, 1998 edition of WCW Nitro, it was all downhill from there. The NWO crumbled and there was a real lack of heels to feed Goldberg to continue that momentum. About everyone has a Smart Phone, Tablet, Blu-Ray Player, or Xbox/Playstation that can host the WWE Network. If the WWE can convince many former WCW fans to tune in for ONE night, particularly via the FREE trial, the WWE could hook many fans. After all, they can watch every single Pay Per View from the 1990's and inhale that Monday Night Wars documentary series. Man, that hooked me badly last year... It's one night only, sure... But nobody on the WWE roster is ready to wrestle Brock Lesnar in a high profile match that can actually draw. Bill Goldberg, for one night only, can still draw at 49 years old... Now, after that one match, Goldberg is likely to be done and will probably head into the WWE Hall of Fame during 2017. In the meantime between now and Wrestlemania 33 and/or SummerSlam 2017, begin to build up potential opponents. Build up Rusev, Bray Wyatt, Sheamus, Cesaro and others who haven't fought him yet. Eventually, someone has to BEAT Brock Lesnar in a big moment... It will probably be Braun Strowman. For now - Let the older fans have their day... If it happens on Survivor Series 2016, that's a big bonus for that lackluster event lately. And if you haven't seen Wrestlemania 20 yet, check it out... Enjoy that trainwreck of Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar and then you'll understand WHY many people want to see yet another trainwreck. Maybe WWE could feature Wrestlemania 20 prominently on the WWE Network for everyone to see? Oh, there's that World Heavyweight Championship win by THAT guy... Oh... SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2016
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