Roman Reigns Defeats Goldberg Ahead of Brock Lesnar Match at WWE WrestleMania 38

In a first-time-ever match, Roman Reigns defeated Goldberg at WWE Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to retain the Universal Championship.

The Tribal Chief continued his historic run by making Goldberg pass out via a guillotine choke.

The veteran got in plenty of offense during the short bout, but Reigns managed to survive a pair of devastating Spears:

After retaining the championship via a disqualification loss against Seth Rollins at the Royal Rumble, The Tribal Chief was in need of an opponent for Elimination Chamber.

He already had plenty on his mind with men's Rumble match-winner Brock Lesnar declaring he would challenge him for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38, but his journey to The Show of Shows got even tougher on the Feb. 4 episode of SmackDown.

After Reigns and The Usos welcomed Paul Heyman back into The Bloodline, Goldberg made a surprise return to WWE, appearing for the first time since beating Bobby Lashley in a Falls Count Anywhere match at Crown Jewel in October.

The 55-year-old referred to The Tribal Chief as his next victim and challenged him to a title match at Elimination Chamber, which seemed to concern Heyman.

The contest was made official shortly thereafter due largely to the fact that it was a clash that was supposed to happen two years ago only for it to get canceled and not rescheduled.

Reigns and Goldberg were set to do battle at WrestleMania 36 with the Universal Championship on the line. Days before the event, though, The Tribal Chief opted out to be with his family amid the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

WWE replaced Reigns with Braun Strowman, who beat Goldberg for the belt. And by the time the titleholder returned during the summer of 2020, the former world heavyweight champion was no longer in the mix.

The veteran returned to make the dream match a reality at Elimination Chamber, but it was Reigns who escaped with his title run intact.

The Head of the Table has now held the championship for well over 500 days, and he is set to defend it again in the main event of WrestleMania against Lesnar.

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