GUNTHER Says He Made Goldberg Look Good in WWE Retirement Match

WWE World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER isn’t just proud of retiring a legend—he says he gave Goldberg a performance that exceeded everyone’s expectations.

On July 12 at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Atlanta, Goldberg stepped into the ring for the final time in front of his hometown crowd. The WWE Hall of Famer challenged GUNTHER for the World Heavyweight Championship in what turned out to be his farewell match. While Goldberg later slammed WWE for cutting the TV feed during his post-match speech, he did show love to GUNTHER and Triple H for making the sendoff happen.

Now, GUNTHER is sharing his side of the story—and he’s not holding back on how good he felt the match turned out.

In an interview with Radio Times, the reigning World Heavyweight Champion explained that this wasn’t just another quick Goldberg match. He intentionally stretched it out to make it feel special:

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

GUNTHER made it clear that he wanted to put together a performance that actually told a story—not just a quick sprint to the finish line.

“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.”

And while Goldberg’s post-match frustrations with production made headlines, GUNTHER emphasized that the WWE icon left with a meaningful connection to the fans in Atlanta.

“He can be very happy with the match and the connection that he had with the audience because that felt very special.”

Goldberg may have closed the book on his career, but GUNTHER is just getting started. He’ll defend his World Heavyweight Title for the first time since Saturday Night’s Main Event at WWE SummerSlam 2025 Night One, where CM Punk will be waiting to take his shot.