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Gunther on Goldberg’s retirement match: ‘I feel like we exceeded expectations’

Posted: Jul 31st 2025 By: Joseph Currier

Gunther believes he and Goldberg exceeded expectations with Goldberg’s retirement match.

On July 12, Gunther stood opposite from Goldberg at State Farm Arena in Atlanta as Goldberg competed for the final time. They wrestled for about 15 minutes before Gunther got the victory, retaining his World Heavyweight Championship by making Goldberg pass out in a sleeper.

The Ring General told Radio Times that having an extended match instead of just going a few minutes was important to him, and he feels like they told a good story by making the audience sympathetic toward Goldberg.

“I was very happy with how everything went and I feel like we exceeded expectations for the match,” Gunther said. “For me, it was important to not go out there and have the typical three or four minutes of action and that’s it.

“I wanted time to tell a story and take the audience on a ride and make them feel bad for him a little bit before it all ends. I think we succeeded with that. He can be very happy with the match and the connection that he had with the audience because that felt very special.”

While the 58-year-old Goldberg had some complaints about how the night went — like his retirement speech getting cut off at the end of the broadcast — he had a fun time overall. He came away from the match hugely impressed with Gunther both as a competitor and as a person.

Gunther’s next World Heavyweight Championship defense will go down this Saturday when he puts the title on the line against CM Punk at night one of SummerSlam. In his interview with Radio Times, Gunther called Punk one of the most unique performers in wrestling history. Gunther said matchups like these are why he decided to join WWE in the first place.