Hate him or love him, I would’ve never put Goldberg over the Fiend at WrestleMania. Goldberg had a wonderful career from 1997 to 1998 crushing the “Big Show” and “Mr. Perfect.” Many of the greatest wrestlers of the time went head-to-head. He went undefeated and had an unprecedented record of 173-0 armed with his signature moves the spear and Jackhammer. He has held countless titles over the years until he finally was defeated by Kevin Nash. Twelve years later, Goldberg retired from in-ring competition, leaving his record title wins behind him so the new and upcoming wrestlers could take over the business to write their own stories in the process of being great. At the 2019 Super Showdown, Goldberg made his return to the ring for the second time. The first time in, he defeated Brock Lesnar for the title at the 2016 Survivor Series in less than two minutes, showing off his dominance once again as “The Man.” Goldberg was 49 at the time and looking like his old self. This was great because Brock Lesnar was an already known superstar in his own right, dominating many of the WWE men rosters.
The Fiend, Goldberg’s opponent, was not an ordinary superstar. Bray Wyatt, the original persona of Windham Lawrence Rotunda (later changed to The Fiend), is an up-and-coming wrestler who was struggling to find himself. Before fighting Goldberg, he fought a superstar named “John Cena.” Everyone, even the writers at the WWE, said that John Cena buried his career which was true. Bray Wyatt was written off the show which gave Windham Lawrence Rotunda the idea to create the well-known character today, “the Fiend.”
Windham Lawrence Rotunda started to build The Fiend up. He started by using a TV show vessel on the WWE events to show how he really felt. This vessel is used by Wyatt to brainwash kids and influence them to let him in. It was very popular with the people and was something they could look forward to because he did not seem to disappoint anyone on what he delivered to the WWE universe. Even I was excited to see The Fiend in action especially when he debuted in his first match; everyone was scared by the music and the mask he had on but it was cool to watch him crush his opponents. When he beat Seth Rollins for the Universe title, we were shocked to see him lose to Goldberg. The quicker he got the title, the faster he lost it. When interviewing Camron Nealy about the subject, he said,”I would never put Goldberg over Fiend. He is not that likable in my opinion.” He seemed mad at the way they booked the ending of the match to make Goldberg win. Seeing Goldberg earn the victory really made him want to get out his seat and throw the TV, and I could not agree more on the matter. He shouldn’t have lost the title to Goldberg, who, later on, lost the title at WrestleMania to Braun Strowman.
