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Obviously, the major news coming out of Raw last night is the announcement that Bill Goldberg will face Brock Lesnar. The implication from the segment was that the return was a one time thing as he warned Lesnar that he was not only next, but "last." Goldberg and Lesnar will each be on a number of Raws building to Survivor Series and will be face to face on the 11/14 episode before the PPV.
There were a lot of lessons to be learned from the Goldberg return, ones that WWE should take to heart.
One, legitimate emotion will always decimate scripted material on pro wrestling TV.
The crowd reaction and Goldberg being overwhelmed by it was a great moment. I don't know how much of Goldberg's verbiage was scripted but he came across as if he was speaking from the heart and it was by far the best thing on last night's Raw, because it felt like a real moment, as opposed to something manufactured. When compared to the rest of a pedestrian Raw, with talents pretty much having the same promos, the same segments and the same matches that we've become accustomed to, Goldberg stood out far beyond everyone else - and he's not someone who was ever known for having a great promo. If Goldberg was speaking from the heart- or from bullet points, the company would be well advised to think about scripting less and providing more bullet points. It was the difference between someone who is playing a wrestler on TV and someone (Goldberg) who IS a wrestler.
The emotion, the attitude, the speaking as a real person as opposed to a scripted performer...all of that meshed together to make something was real, a segment that came off legitimate - to Goldberg, to the fans, to Goldberg's family and to the viewers at home. That legitimacy made that segment great. The moment Goldberg's wife began tearing up as he held his son up for the fans to see....that was the moment a great segment became a must see moment and one that will be remembered when we are talking about the highlights of 2016.
We all need more real moments in our wrestling.
Two, while nostalgia will always be sweet, it is also fleeting.
In the weeks leading to the Goldberg return, I compared it to the Ultimate Warrior debuting in WCW. There was a huge surge of interest (as I expect there is a huge surge for Goldberg; when the rating are released, we will see how much), but with each additional appearance on WCW Nitro, the excitement quickly subsided.
Now, we all know WWE will feature Goldberg on Raw at least a few times before he steps in the ring against Brock Lesnar, and for a build to a match between two ass-kicking monsters, less is often more, because the hype and anticipation is going to be what sells the match. Having them fight it out or even going back and forth on the mic regularly before the big match could result in the big match coming off as just another storyline.
The key is to keep Goldberg feeling special, because if the nostalgia wears off, the anticipation levels will quickly drop. If WWE creative tries to get too cute, they will lose the thread of the story. These two rampaging bulls on a collision course should be enough to make a special moment when they step into the ring...because nostalgia is sweet. WWE has one chance to capture that and make it a moment.
Less is more. It keeps the sweet memories from fading fast.
Three, WWE has very few opportunities left to pull from the past, so it's time to prepare the future.
Whether it is The Rock coming back the first time to host Wrestlemania, Sting debuting at Survivor Series 2014 or last night's return of Goldberg after a dozen years, WWE has become quite adept at reaching into the past for an easy attraction, fix or moment. In many cases, they have been beneficial to WWE, short-term. However, every time Vince McMahon and friends reach into that magic bag of tricks, they are one reach closer to emptying that bag. The Goldberg return is a great moment and should lead to a most interesting match at Survivor Series but then, what?
Unlike Felix the Cat, Vince McMahon doesn't have an unlimited amount of reaches into his bag. Whether those reaches are made as a short-term bridge, an easy pop, or a band-air, very few of those reaches are left. While there will always be great former talents that can be plugged back into the roster that will make fans happy and can still go in the ring (Rob Van Dam, Rey Mysterio, Matt and Jeff Hardy, etc.), there are only so many larger than life talents that can get the mainstream and/or lapsed fans to sit up and take notice when they hear about their debut or return. Remember the excitement for Sting coming to WWE? You can only create those sort of moments once...and only so often.
Sure, there are a few of those moments left. There could always be a Hulk Hogan return, but we've seen that return before and it's not likely at his age he's ever going to take a bump again. That window was lost years ago. There's Kurt Angle, who undoubtedly would get a massive reaction once his old theme music played and he began whipping out his big spots and old style catchphrases. Most interestingly, there's also CM Punk, although one would assume that the financial and emotional compromises that would have to take place on each side's part makes that very unlikely on paper today. Someone will say Steve Austin or Shawn Michaels and those are always possibilities as well, but in many cases, those talents have distanced themselves from the business and have appeared on WWE programming in other roles, so the idea of a surprise return for them doesn't seem as unique on paper.
So, even if we include all of the aforementioned names, and even if all of them come back one day, we are down to five tricks. Five band-aids that can help short term, but with each passing day, those fixes get older, they get farther from reach and with the focus and importance placed upon each of them, there is time and focus that is not placed upon the current, younger roster, the ones who need to define what this decade is for professional wrestling. Never before have we seen a time period where a greater premium is placed on the past than it is placed on the current stars. Buddy Rogers was not treated as more important than Ric Flair. Bruno Sammartino was not treated as more important than Hulk Hogan, and with good reason - in their prime, those talents were needed to spark the motor and make wrestling work.
No one star today sparks that WWE motor. It runs on inertia and that has to change.
Brock Lesnar returns several times a year. Undertaker returns every year. Those matches and segments are a big part of major events, but when they head off to the horizon like Godzilla returning to Monster Island, the remainder of the WWE locker room has to pick up the pieces and carry the show weekly, the live show tours, etc...and when the special attraction acts come to town, they are not here to make the regulars bigger attractions. So, the regular attractions, through no fault of their own (and possibly, not even by any fault of WWE Creative) only grow to become "so" great....and don't have the chance to truly break out the way that previous generations have.
As much hype and attention has been put on WWE NXT and how it is preparing the future of WWE, WWE sincerely needs one of those talents to spark some major attention for themselves, because there are a finite number of reaches into that bag of tricks and once they have all been utilized, WWE will have to draw exclusively from it's current roster and the landscape they have built for themselves over the last few years.
WWE needs to emphasize that who is wrestling today and what is going on today is as important as the talents from the past who come back to add some sizzle to the steak. If not, they will have trapped themselves inside a bubble that eventually, all bubbles pop.
Last night's Goldberg return was great and enjoyable, it truly was, but there are lessons that need to be understood and heeded.
Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com.
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