Goldberg's Super ShowDown Win Ruins The Fiend, Reminds Fans of WWE's Big Issue

With the way WWE's 2020 Super ShowDown ended, the company might end up kicking itself in hindsight that the shows aren't non-canon. 

Goldberg ripped the universal title off Bray Wyatt's The Fiend to close Thursday's show. And that—if done well—wouldn't normally be so bad. 

But this was an all-around disaster. 

The show's main event even started with a dud as Goldberg's pyro misfired too early before he could get to the stage. Considering it was his most memorable recent performance in Saudi Arabia since last year's botch-filled match against Undertaker, it was an ominous start. 

And that was just the beginning. Goldberg went on to dish out four Spears and fight out of two Mandible Claw attempts from The Fiend. A brutal-looking Jackhammer ended it. And that Jackhammer was quick and poorly executed. It seemed the crowd was more shocked that the move itself ended the match as it was shocked about the actual result. 

Seriously, while it might seem silly to nitpick the quality of Goldberg's finishing maneuver, think back to all Wyatt has gone through and still won or emerged looking strong. He's taken Sledgehammer shots to the head, had a ton of equipment fall on him, been curbstomped endlessly, etc. But this one Jackhammer that really looked like a bodyslam felled him for good here. 

Goldberg just doesn't mesh well with Saudi Arabia, period. Why anyone thought a Jackhammer spot with an opponent of Wyatt's size would go well is hard to say. Have him throw out a few Spears and win the match. Fine. 

As bad as the pyro was and as miserable as the deciding move was, the post-match antics weren't any better. Goldberg celebrated in the corner while Wyatt stood behind him shaking his head and then disappeared. The end. 

And as bad as that all was, the result just skewers months and months of booking and reinforces the company's top problem again—it just can't build stars. 

Goldberg's win just tanks Wyatt. He ate some Spears and generally looked good here, but it's not good enough to merely get dropped right before WrestleMania. Wyatt, one of the most popular performers in WWE with an unstoppable persona and unique Undertaker-esque vibes, has now been shoved aside so Goldberg can take a title into Mania. It's the same fate Kevin Owens had to suffer at the hands of Goldberg, too. 

Quite frankly, fans aren't blind. It's not hard to see what WWE is doing here. The Mania match is undoubtedly a Goldberg-Roman Reigns standoff. Having the legend controversially take down Wyatt for a title is meant to have fans cheering for Reigns. Except fans are smart, and once again, there will probably be backlash against not only Reigns, but his opponent too. 

Given the nature of events here and the miserable reaction (understandable), WWE now has a dud on its hands in one of its two main title matches on the men's side. It didn't have to be this way, which makes it sting all the more. 

Speaking of the title matches, this means part-timers Goldberg and Brock Lesnar now hold the top titles. Not new stars. Not unknowns. Part-timers again. We can argue Drew McIntyre's ascension has been fun and he should (right?) end up winning at Mania. But the other title match is now a part-timer and a guy in Reigns who was shoved down fans' collective throats in Mania main events for years. 

Call this yet another example of WWE not really wanting to create new company-leading stars. That, or yet another example of sheer incompetence in this pursuit. Like we've seen with say, Charlotte Flair in the recent past, WWE has this obsession with recklessly throwing titles around to make matches even bigger. 

But Reigns vs. Goldberg? It doesn't need a title to make it any bigger. And a passing-of-the-torch match of sorts would've been actually met with good reviews. Now? It's going to have fan distaste chasing it into the biggest show of the year. 

This is a gross, gross disservice to Reigns, too. WWE actually did a really good job of keeping him away from the titles and keeping him in the good graces of fans. Now, thanks to a massive whiff he had no part of, he's going to be right back to suffering from the anger of fans. 

It's all a shame, really. WWE has shown recently that these shows in Saudi Arabia do matter and aren't off in some separate little universe. But if this was an effort to prove once again things matter over there and they're worth watching, it's as big of a botch as that pyro or Jackhammer itself. 

As always when WWE makes a mistake, the company is in the luxurious position of being able to right its wrongs. There's still time here to make this right, figure something out to avoid the impending backlash of whatever Goldberg does next. It won't fully erase the mistake, but the effort would be nice and the company could even claim it was the plan all along. 

But WWE fans have been conditioned to know better, unfortunately. And during the most important stretch of the year leading to Mania and at a time of fierce competition from All Elite Wrestling, WWE just couldn't help but make the same old mistake again. Thursday's show featured Lesnar, Goldberg and The Undertaker putting down younger talent as a means to build Mania. 

The casual, nonsensical dismissal of Wyatt, especially given the repeated botches, was the most egregious error of all and reminds fans that indeed, WWE hasn't learned from past mistakes.