'They wouldn't do that to Taker or Cena' - Goldberg expresses frustration over his retirement speech being cut off

Overview

• Goldberg expressed his frustration and disappointment over his retirement speech being cut off on SNME
• He felt WWE wouldn't have allowed something like it to happen with The Undertaker or John Cena
• Goldberg wished his match against Gunther had a better buildup than a notice of 3 weeks

Goldberg's retirement speech after his match against Gunther on July 12, 2025, episode of Saturday Night's Main Event was cut off right at the start due to time constraints and commercials taking over the actual action. The WWE Hall of Famer reacted to it in a recent conversation and felt it might not be done on purpose.

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However, he felt WWE would not do something like it with major stars like The Undertaker or John Cena. He noted that Cena has been planning his entire retirement as a world tour, and compared it to his own experience, which included a solitary World Heavyweight Championship match against Gunther.

The former world champion added that he would never get over it, as it meant a lot for him to address the fans one final time. He claimed that the world titles from the past would not mean much to him, but his retirement speech being cut off did not feel right to him.

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"I'm not saying it was done on purpose, by any stretch of imagination. I'm saying that it wasn't prepared on purpose. That's all. They wouldn’t do that to Taker, right? They’re not gonna do that to Cena, Cena’s gone around the world doing his retirement thing. Mine was just a World Heavyweight Championship match," said Goldberg in his podcast with Ariel Helwani.

"And to be honest, I’m gonna catch hell for this…I don’t care, I’ve had World Heavyweight matches all the time, that doesn’t do anything for me — It just felt a little eh to me," Goldberg added in his statement.

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"They chose to do it with three weeks' notice" - Goldberg on his retirement buildup

Goldberg further felt he would have loved to get a notice for his retirement match in January so that its buildup could take place for half a year to make it worthy. He added that his buildup could've been better, but the WWE management decided to give him a notice of three weeks for preparation.

"I would have loved for them to announce it in January and have a build-up to it and do something like that, that I thought I was maybe worthy of my career, but let's just say they chose to do it with three weeks' notice," Goldberg added, as he hoped for a better buildup for his retirement match.