WWE Smart to Book the Undertaker vs. Goldberg to Avoid Burying Younger Talent

On Monday morning, WWE announced that The Undertaker would return to Saudi Arabia for another match, this time against Goldberg at the June 7 Super ShowDown event.

While many wrestling fans scoffed at the match announcement at first, the battle of legends is smart booking.

Undertaker and Goldberg may be former world champions and the faces of WWE and WCW respectively for a time, but they are now a combined 106 years old. As a result, the WWE Universe doesn’t expect an exciting in-ring performance.

While Undertaker was the workhorse of WWE for many years and put on elite matches with the likes of Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley, his recent work with younger wrestlers has been forgettable at best. In the same vein, Goldberg was always an attraction and never known as a mat technician.

At Super ShowDown, Undertaker and Goldberg should go all out on their elaborate entrances, thrilling the Saudi Arabian crowd. Once the showmanship is over, the bout should last five minutes at most and end quickly before either man is overexposed.

The problem is that no matter how great the younger talent is that steps into the ring with Undertaker or Goldberg, they would be overshadowed. While the adage is Superstars can earn respect from the fans just by stepping in the ring with a legend, that doesn’t work if the match isn’t memorable and the younger talent is just there to take a quick loss.

WWE shouldn’t be feeding its top Superstars to legends just to be enhancement talent, especially at Super ShowDown. In the past, the results of the shows in Saudi Arabia have had almost no implication on the long-term storytelling of the company, so giving away a blockbuster moment for a younger talent would be better saved for a marquee show like SummerSlam or WrestleMania.

The people who pay to see Super ShowDown in Jeddah want the biggest stars, so WWE is giving them what they want, while also allowing other talents more time to shine. With the bout likely to be just a few minutes long, there will be ample time for stars like Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman to be showcased.

Another factor at play is that Undertaker vs. Goldberg has never happened. There are few matches involving true legends who are still wrestling that haven’t been booked in the past, but June’s bout is a once-in-a-lifetime matchup.

With many old-school fans possibly drawn to the event to see the legends perform, it should also bring more eyes to the product, thus exposing the current crop of talent to a new audience. That exposure is invaluable to the current generation of Superstars.

Plus, Goldberg can get a win back for the boys of WCW after Triple H unjustifiably beat Sting at WrestleMania.

For the younger talent on the roster, letting Undertaker and Goldberg bring in the fans while not taking up much time is the ideal situation.

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