PARKS’S TAKE: Goldberg says he’s retiring next year, so who should his retirement match be against?

It was recently announced that Goldberg would be having a retirement match sometime in 2025. While Goldberg was synonymous with WCW and its rise in the ratings during the Monday Night War, he’s had his fair share of big matches in WWE since that time as well. The quality of those have been hit or miss, as have his storylines, but WWE can likely get some mileage out of his retirement, whenever that ends up occurring. It’s possible no decisions have yet been made about the “where” or the “who.” Here are a few possibilities for Goldberg’s final match:

-Bron Breakker: Breakker can wrestle the Goldberg formula match. If Goldberg wants to put over a new star on his way out – and who truly knows if he’s interested in doing business that way – Breakker is a guy that could use the rub he’d get from retiring a big star.

-Bronson Reed: A lot of the same reasoning used for Breakker could be used for Reed. Seeing Goldberg get Reed up for a Jackhammer would be a sight. They could also do a match where Reed destroys Goldberg, as they’ve been doing with others. I’m not sure how many Goldberg fans, tuning in for his finale, would want to see their hero dominated in such a way, however.

-John Cena: Having Cena and Goldberg’s retirements intersect in this way would be interesting, and it would certainly be difficult to top the star power that would be featured here. But would Goldberg want to share his retirement with the retirement tour of Cena? Would it be good business to do it that way, or keep them separate?

-Gunther: This may be the most obvious, since they set this up at a previous PLE event. Who knows if that tease was ever meant to lead to something more, though. If you want Goldberg going over in his retirement, this may not be the right opponent for him. And really, will that small interaction mean anything months from now when Goldberg comes back to set up his retirement match? Nevertheless, Goldberg vs. Gunther would be an intriguing clash of styles.

-Drew McIntyre: McIntyre’s current persona would be a great foil for Goldberg. Imagine McIntyre working over Goldberg on the mic the way he did C.M. Punk. And McIntyre has been so hot as a character, I’m not sure he’d lose much by losing to Goldberg. He did just lose to Punk in their blow-off match, but WWE could certainly spend time building him back up with wins before the eventual meeting with Goldberg.

-Dominik Mysterio: If you REALLY wanted Goldberg to have a vintage Goldberg squash match, I can’t think of anyone else that could be better utilized in that role than Dirty Dom. With as hot as he’s been as a heel, the crowd would eat it up.

-Kevin Owens: Another heel wrestler that would have no trouble absorbing a loss to Goldberg. Owens did wonders in his Wrestlemania match a few years ago with Steve Austin; could he do the same with Goldberg?

There really aren’t many options from Goldberg’s era that I could see getting this spot. Interestingly, many of those who would qualify – including Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho – are currently in AEW.