The Undertaker Was Two Inches Away From Dying
While a lot of fans doubted if this match was even a good idea, Undertaker vs Goldberg was still a dream match for those who grew up watching these two. But when the bell rang, everyone just wished the match would end quickly as they both were sloppy with their moves, and it was evident that this bout was going to be a huge letdown for everyone.
The match began with Goldberg hitting Undertaker with two spears, but it wasn’t enough to end this fight. He later followed up with a botched knee bar submission. Then, Goldberg hit Undertaker with a Jackhammer, but botched the move and dropped The Phenom on his head. In the Undertaker: The Last Ride documentary, Undertaker talked about how close he was to losing his life during this match, “I was two inches away from making my wife a widow and my kids fatherless.” Fortunately, he didn’t suffer any major injuries.
On the True Georgie Podcast, Undertaker took responsibility for this match and said that if he had been working more often around that time, he would’ve probably said no to this match. He only thought about what the fans wanted and didn’t consider the risks involved. Undertaker also didn’t blame Goldberg for the Jackhammer. He said, “I’m working off of, people are expecting big things because it’s Goldberg and it’s Undertaker and it’s the first time we’ve ever fought, and that’s what I’m thinking right. I’m just thinking ‘I’ve gotta pay this off’ and maybe if I was working more often I would have recognized the fact that maybe we shouldn’t do that. But that was one of those instances where, two inches, I don’t get up.”
The Undertaker Also Put Goldberg’s Life In Danger
But Goldberg wasn’t the only one who struggled to put on a show that night. Even The Undertaker couldn’t perform his signature moves properly, and he almost snapped Goldberg’s neck with a botched Tombstone Piledriver. Fans may remember that Goldberg was already bleeding from his head going into this match.
This was because of his pre-match ritual where he would headbutt his locker room door before his entrance. This wasn’t the first time Goldberg busted himself open, it happened also happened on Raw a few years back.
Things were a bit different this time though, as Goldberg had suffered a concussion that caused him temporary amnesia. He later came to regret doing this and said, “I never should have done what I did, but I did.” It didn’t help that Goldberg suffered another concussion during the match when he hit the ring post and the match referee, Mike Chioda, almost called an audible there and ended the match.
In Chioda’s words, “I almost had to call an audible during the Undertaker/Goldberg match at Saudi Arabia. It went downhill after Goldberg got gashed open in the turnbuckle, got concussed. He was badly concussed and he got through the match, but barely. That’s when I was kinda worried because I thought, ‘oh my God!’ After the suplex, they almost broke their necks. ‘Oh my God, let’s get this done.’ I was waiting to hear back from somebody to say, ‘should I call this match or not because he’s not doing good at all?'”
This Was The Worst Match Of The Undertaker & Goldberg’s Careers
Undoubtedly, this was the worst match for both wrestlers and fans will probably never forget about it. The legends were also disappointed with their performances. Talking about it his documentary, The Phenom said: “My reactions after the match, I had this dejected look on my face. It was there because I was upset. [Goldberg] was really disappointed and I was disappointed. It’s just like, wow, that was really close to being catastrophic.”
Both Undertaker and Goldberg later redeemed themselves with their next match. The Deadman teamed up with Roman Reigns against Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon at Extreme Rules whereas Goldberg squashed Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam.