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Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar: WWE WrestleMania 33 Is Chance for Redemption

Posted: Mar 27th 2017 By: Ryan Dilbert

When Goldberg and Brock Lesnar crash into each other at WWE WrestleMania 33, the ghost of a match long past will follow them.

Florida's Camping World Stadium will host a reprise of a bout from 2004, one in which a New York crowd's disdain thundered. That contest was seemingly the swansong for both Goldberg and Lesnar, as each man left WWE immediately afterward.

But in a scenario that would have been impossible to imagine at the time, both powerhouses are back on top of WWE, ready to redo that off-key song. The Beast Incarnate is set to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Championship on April 2.

"I think most felt at the time neither would be back," Dave Meltzer, founder of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, told Bleacher Report. "Here we are 13 years later, and they're the main event."

Looking back at their first outing is a reminder of how much a resistant crowd can upend a match.

In 2004, Lesnar was ready to leave WWE to attempt to make an NFL team. Goldberg's contract was poised to end. And when fans caught wind of the titans' plans to depart the company, the news left them seething.

"The WWE fanbase was pissed off at both Brock Lesnar and Goldberg for leaving, and as paying customers, they let both Brock and Goldberg know it," Paul Heyman, Lesnar's on-screen advocate and spokesman, explained.

In the opening moments of Goldberg vs. Lesnar, the foes glared at each other from across the ring, two stalking predators awaiting the right moment to strike. They kept their distance, pacing between the ropes, even after referee Stone Cold Steve Austin urged the big bulls to fight.

Anticipation didn't crackle in Madison Square Garden that night, though. Derision echoed throughout the arena instead.

The WrestleMania crowd heckled the powerhouses from bell to bell. They chanted, sang and booed, their restlessness flowing out of the stands.

Referee Steve Austin watches on as Goldberg smashes into Brock Lesnar.
Referee Steve Austin watches on as Goldberg smashes into Brock Lesnar.Credit: WWE.com

Andy Malnoske, a sports director for WETM NBC in Elmira, New York, attended the event with his friends. He expected to see an entertaining match between two of WWE's big men but watched as the backlash overtook the action.

"You could feel the emotion in the crowd," Malnoske said. "Fans were almost rabid. The chants of 'You sold out' were as loud as any [in any] venue I've ever been in. A totally chaotic, raw reaction."

It's that reaction—not any of the moves performed that night—that everyone remembers about that bout.

"It was one of the most unique crowd reactions ever," Meltzer said. "The crowd turned on both from the start, so whether they had a good match or not, the crowd wasn't going to cheer them.

"The crowd reaction was the story of the match."

Heyman viewed this backlash as the audience simply expressing itself: "People who laid out money for premium [tickets] voiced their opinions in regard to two performers who were no longer going to perform for them after that day."

Goldberg and Lesnar's long wait to lock up only worsened the negative reaction. It left ample white space for the bitter fans to paint over.

The early delay is still clear in Malnoske's memory. "It seemed like an eternity," he said.

While the leviathans sized each other up, the Madison Square Garden crowd was busy voicing its disapproval. Malnoske noted that a group of fans next to him started to say: "WrestleMania: where the fans entertain themselves."

He said: "It was so loud [that] if you were in the ring, you had no choice but to listen."

Goldberg outlasted Lesnar, hitting his trademark spear-Jackhammer combo for the win.

Austin followed up by hitting a Stone Cold Stunner on both combatants. The special guest referee celebrated by banging two cold ones together and chugging them down. That elicited the biggest, most positive reaction of the night, as the Garden fans roared for Austin.

Critical acclaim did not come Goldberg and Lesnar's way.

Wade Keller of PWTorch rated their match 1.5 stars out of five. Meltzer awarded it 1.25 stars in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t the Internet Wrestling Database). Cageside Seats columnist Geno Mrosko wrote of the match: "I think it's safe to say it's one of the biggest disasters in the history of WrestleMania."

On April 2, it's hard to predict what will unfold in the rematch.

For one, Goldberg is 50, a dad and has a graying beard.

It's unclear how much Goldberg has in him as an in-ring gladiator. His clash with Lesnar at last year's Survivor Series lasted under a minute and a half. His universal title win at Fastlane didn't even make the 25-second mark. WWE is clearly asking little of him.

And there is a portion of the WWE fanbase that has bemoaned the fact two part-time stars will claim the top spot on WrestleMania's card as opposed to young, rising talent. Heyman brushed off this notion.

"Critics are there to critique—there are always going to be those who want things a different way," he said, noting that detractors have said similar things about 16-time world champion John Cena. "There were those who said he's not ready; he's too young; he doesn't have the longevity; where's the decades of box office? But no one could touch Cena's numbers."

Lesnar and Goldberg are box office hits themselves, and it's surreal to see these two gladiators back in this spot over a decade after their first battle. In a business where stardom can be so fleeting, The Beast Incarnate and the universal champion sit on the marquee 13 years after their exits.

Heyman believes genuineness is a factor for that longevity: "What you see is what you get. Neither plays a character or even inhabits a persona. They're both authentic, and the audience feels that—and likes it."

Will fans better appreciate those qualities from Goldberg and Lesnar this time around?

When Goldberg returned to Raw last October, his first WWE appearance in 12 years, fans ate up every second of it. There were no boos, no go-away chants, only a hero's welcome.

"It's really telling how time heals all wounds," Meltzer noted.

At WrestleMania 33, Goldberg will get to rewrite the ending of his WWE story. He will have a shot to wipe out the memory of those 2004 jeers with something more palatable, something he can savor well into his retirement.

Lesnar has grown as a performer in the years since their first WrestleMania showdown. He's a marquee attraction like no other.

Combine that with the novelty of seeing Goldberg return all these years later and two men offered a chance at a mulligan, and WrestleMania 33 may turn out to see a redemptive ending.

Malnoske is certainly psyched for it: "Brock will be Brock; he's the baddest man in the game. The two biggest stars of an era will clash. Suplex City. Goldberg. The WWE universal title."

Heyman foresees another ardent response from the crowd.

"I anticipate a genuine expression that reflects the passion of the live audience, a torrent of emotion from those who paid for premium-priced tickets to witness a once-per-year historic event with the final chapter of a great story involving two larger than life but 100 percent legit bad ass athletes," he said.

How that story ends will depend partly on how the crowd in Orlando responds.

At WrestleMania XX, the two titans were unable to reverse the waves of negativity that filled Madison Square Garden. In a different city and a new decade, Goldberg and Lesnar will deliver the sequel, unsure of what the soundtrack to their battle will be.