Despite having already wrestled twice this year, Goldberg made his return to WWE for the season premiere of SmackDown on Friday.
The WCW legend has already publicly stated that his WWE contract stipulates for him to compete twice a year and he has already done that; first by winning the Universal title from Bray Wyatt in Saudi Arabia and then dropping that same title to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania 36.
On Friday, Goldberg appeared on an LED board in WWE’s ThunderDome to watch the Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman match.
The story was clear for all to see with Strowman being the man that defeated Goldberg, but it was originally meant to be Reigns who challenged Goldberg at WrestleMania.
WWE sources have told Inside the Ropes that Goldberg’s return on Friday was designed to give SmackDown a boost in the ratings for its premiere episode and with the view to putting some wheels in motion for Royal Rumble/WrestleMania season.
That would suggest that Goldberg is going to factor in to the futures of Reigns or Strowman and many people will no doubt hope it’s not the former unless it’s a squash job for The Tribal Chief.
If there was a Saudi Arabia show next month, WWE would have almost certainly used the four-time world champion for the third time this year, we’re told.
Annoyingly enough for WWE, the overnight viewership on SmackDown was 1.987 million, which is down on the recent surge north of 2 million they’ve enjoyed since Reigns returned.
We’re also told “Vince McMahon couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about him using Goldberg” and the head honcho still believes there is value in the Goldberg name in WWE. One might argue that lessens every time the 53-year-old performs, but McMahon appears locked in to use Goldberg for a few years yet.