Did you know that Goldberg came extremely close to working a Bloodsport event?
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion is retired. Well…given his comments following his retirement at Saturday Night’s Main Event, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bill had one more match where he went out on his own terms. However, Goldberg is retired until he says otherwise.
But before his retirement, there was a point where Goldberg also worked a Bloodsport show in 2024. At least according to Josh Barnett himself. Now Goldberg was a free agent in 2024. His second WWE contract expired in 2023 and Goldberg was searching for the perfect place to have his retirement match. But before his retirement match, Goldberg was scheduled to fight Josh Barnett at the Bloodsport Bushido in Japan; that news was revealed during Barnett’s visit to The Ariel Helwani Show with Ariel Helwani.
“When we did Bloodsport Bushido in Japan, the main event was me vs. Jon Moxley. In the creation of the event, the original main event was going to be me vs. Bill Goldberg,” Barnett revealed.
But the match ended up falling through. Why? Josh doesn’t give any details on why the match was ultimately scrapped, though he does sound as if Goldberg had other commitments in the works.
“Me and Bill came to an agreement about it and we were trying to make it happen, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t something we could put together. We agreed on pretty much all the necessary items. He’s a very important man with a lot of obligations and contracts and all sorts of stuff. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make that match happen,” he said.
Barrett as asked if he would like to still steal into the ring with the WWE Hall of Famer and seemed opened to the idea, though it would ultimately be up to Goldberg himself.
“I don’t know. Anytime Bill decides that is something he wants to do, I’m there. He’s had an incredible career. Very lengthy, very storied. It would depend on him.
Few people know this but Goldberg is trained in MMA. Though the former World Champion has never had a professional MMA career, he was interested in going in that direction before jumping to professional wrestling.
It’s doubtful that Goldberg would do the match at this point in his career, but the WCW legend was clearly pissed about how his retirement went at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Anything is certainly possible. It would be cool to see how Goldberg works under the rules of Bloodsport as it might benefit his in-ring style.