WWE Rumors on Drew McIntyre's Injury, Goldberg's Retirement and WrestleMania in Vegas
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
Drew McIntyre Written Off TV at SNME
Drew McIntyre's injury woes resulted in him being written off of television for the time being after his loss to Damian Priest in a steel cage match at Saturday Night's Main Event.
Per PW Insider (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), McIntyre has been "working hurt for some time" and Saturday's event "finished his current WWE dates" with the expectation he will be out for an extended period.
There was a scary spot at Backlash in the fatal four-way match for the United States title when Priest hit McIntyre with a South of Heaven off of a platform through a table, but the Scottish Warrior appeared to hit his head on the concrete.
PW Insider (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News) reported on May 10 that WWE's medical staff was closely monitoring McIntyre in the aftermath of that spot as a precautionary measure.
In a May 23 interview with Jay Reddick of the Orlando Sentinel, McIntyre explained he "canāt turn my head all the way left yet" due to the injury.
WWE blew off the Priest-McIntyre feud in a definitive fashion on Saturday night. The Archer of Infamy won the match by hitting McIntyre with a con-chair-to after having his neck dropped across a chair earlier in the bout.
Priest walked out of the cage to get the win. McIntyre can now take time away to heal up for a return at some point later this year, potentially around the time of SummerSlam.
Goldberg's Retirement Match Reportedly Nearing
WWE may have dropped a big clue about when Goldberg's final match will take place on Saturday night when it was announced the next SNME show on July 12 will be held at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Per Fightful Select (h/t Upton), the announcement of Atlanta for the show "should kick off in short order" the build toward Goldberg's final match.
WWE's reveal also came two days after Goldberg told Mia Valdez of My San Antonio his retirement bout was going to take place "in the south" part of the United States and WWE gave him "some creative control" over the rollout plans.
"This gives me the opportunity to put a stamp on my career in front of the people I care the most about," he added.
Even though Goldberg has only wrestled once in the last three years and originally announced plans for a retirement match back in November 2024, the reality of his in-ring career nearing an end is making him think about the finality of it all as he continues to train for the bout.
"It's good in that it always ups your game, but it's bad in that you never enjoy yourself," Goldberg told Valdez. "Maybe I will enjoy myself in the ring, I don't know, maybe we'll see. I don't know what's going on. How do you prepare for the end? It's morbid to me."
There hasn't been an official announcement of Goldberg's opponent for the bout, but the favorite is likely Gunther. The two men went face-to-face at Bad Blood last October, leading to speculation that might end up being a WrestleMania match.
Instead, WWE has saved the bout if it's going to happen. The Ring General got back in the win column at Backlash by defeating Pat McAfee after losing the world heavyweight title to Jey Uso at WrestleMania.
The next big date on the WWE schedule is June 7 when Money in the Bank takes place. It wouldn't be a surprise if that ends up being the start of whatever Goldberg's final program will be.
Latest Details About Las Vegas WrestleMania
WWE surprised many last week with the announcement that New Orleans would no longer be hosting WrestleMania 42.
While there hasn't been official news about a replacement site, Las Vegas is rumored to be the top choice to host the event for the second consecutive year.
Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Upton), WWE is looking to make Vegas the site for WrestleMania on a "regular basis" going forward. It wouldn't necessarily be an annual event, but Sin City would "frequently" host the biggest show of the year.
In a subsequent appearance on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Carrier), Meltzer explained that Las Vegas' economy has been struggling recently from a lack of tourism and it "did so well" during WrestleMania weekend that it wants to make it a signature event to bring in people from outside of the city.
Las Vegas is a tourism city, so any decline in that regard is going to have a huge impact on its economic outlook. Tourism spending for Las Vegas in 2024 hit an all-time high of $55.1 billion.
However, per an April 30 report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (h/t Mike Allen of Fox 5 in Vegas), there has been a 7.8 percent drop in visitors to the city so far this year.
That figure was only through March 2025, so it wouldn't include numbers from WrestleMania weekend that took place on April 19 and 20.
In addition to the finances with WWE likely receiving a hefty site fee from Vegas for the event, Meltzer also noted the convenience for the TKO Group attending the show since a number of key executives and their families live in Las Vegas.
There are currently obstacles in the way of WrestleMania returning to Allegiant Stadium in 2026, including a concert scheduled to take place the same weekend (April 11-12) and the Las Vegas Convention Center that was used to host fan events this year has another event already booked and the organizers aren't willing to move.
The situation seems like a mess right now, but given how eager it appears Vegas is to bring back WrestleMania, things will likely get resolved fairly soon.
WWE put two-night combo tickets for WrestleMania 41 on sale in September 2024. It's safe to assume the company would like to follow a similar schedule as long as things work out with booking the various venues needed to set up shop for a full week of events in the city.
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