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As noted last night exclusively in the Elite section, former WCW and WWE champion Bill Goldberg will make his first appearances under a WWE banner since departing the company in March 2004 over Summerslam weekend in New York City, PWInsider.com has confirmed.
Goldberg will likely be in town for promotional work for the WWE 2K17 videogame franchise as 2K Sports is doing a major launch and media event this Friday in NYC. We are told that Goldberg will be in town for the entire weekend but is not slated to appear at WWE TV this coming week. We have not heard whether or not he is slated to make a cameo at Summerslam.
Goldberg was one of the hottest WCW performers ever thanks to smart marketing, his unique persona and an undefeated streak. After WCW closed in 2001, he was one of the talents who did not shift over to WWE thanks to his contract with Turner Broadcasting. He was brought into WWE in 2003 with the idea of doing a series of matches with The Rock. The first match took place at Backlash that year in Worcester, MA but Hollywood called and they only ended up doing the lone bout, which Goldberg won via pinfall.
From that point on for the next year, WWE and Goldberg seemingly struggled to find common ground that would present him in a light similar to his WCW run. He did get a run with the WWE World championship after defeating Triple H, but by the time his contract expired after Wrestlemania 20, it was obvious neither side seemed to get the most of the run. Goldberg has publicly stated his dislike for the run and noted that he felt politics hurt him.
As his children grew older, Goldberg has noted he would like to have one more match so that they have to chance to see him in the ring. At 49 years old, that window would appear to be closing, so it will be very interesting to see whether the relationship with 2K Sports, who tapped Goldberg to be a central piece of the marketing for the WWE 2K17 videogame, will lead to additional appearances for Goldberg within WWE, as it did former WCW World champion Sting several years ago.
The WWE 2K17 videogame will be released on 10/11/16 for all major gaming platforms.
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