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Charles Robinson admits to faking WWE broken rib injury from Goldberg spear

Posted: Sep 26th 2025 By: Joseph Currier

The broken rib that Charles Robinson claimed to have suffered at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event this July was not legitimate.

During Goldberg’s retirement match on the July 12 edition of SNME, there was a spot where Robinson — the referee for the bout — was taken out by a spear from Goldberg after Gunther moved out of the way. Robinson claimed to have suffered a broken rib, even sharing an image of an X-ray on Instagram that he said was his. But Robinson has now admitted that the injury was just storyline.

“No [the broken rib was not legitimate],” Robinson told Insight with Chris Van Vliet. “My girlfriend and I — I said, ‘What can I do to put this over to make Goldberg feel good?’ And I said, ‘Hmm, there’s an image of a broken rib online.’ So I just posted that.

“And I called [Goldberg] to tell him what I was doing. And he goes, ‘That’s a great idea.’ So he didn’t mind.”

Robinson said that, while the broken rib was a work, Goldberg’s spear did leave him feeling sore.

“Normally, he picks you up, lays you down nice and soft. He went right through me,” Robinson said. “Now, I was sore seriously for about 10 days. You know, coughing and stuff. You can’t do anything about a rib anyway, so why go get it checked?”

Goldberg’s career ended with a loss as Gunther defeated him at the July 12 SNME episode. Robinson said he’s heard that Goldberg hand-selected him to be the referee for the match, but he does not know that for sure. The two first worked together for WCW in the 1990s.

As far as his own future, the 61-year-old Robinson told Van Vliet that he would love to continue refereeing for 10 more years.