Goldberg Shades WWE, Reveals Disappointment With Retirement Run But Praises Gunther

"It was an honor and a privilege to get that done, man. Especially years removed from my last match and accelerated age, and just getting the opportunity to kind of put a stamp on it the way I wanted to, well, not the way I wanted to, but as in control as I could be. I would be remiss in saying I didn't garner that opportunity with open arms, and I was very appreciative of it."

The 58-year-old would go on to elaborate on some of his initial disappointment, specifically pointing to the retirement match taking place on Saturday Night's Main Event. His post-match speech was cut short due to broadcast timing.

"I can't say I was too thrilled about part of that...Saturday Night's Main Event, live TV in Atlanta. You always have your dreams of how you're going to do things. And ultimately to have a little bit more control over the time and space would have been much more preferred, let's just put it that way," he said.

"But to be given that opportunity on such a special show, with the lineage of the show, to be able to go against the World Heavyweight Champion, to be able to go against Gunther, it was an honor and a privilege to be given that opportunity and I had to make the most of it."

He would outright say he wished the match occurred on a Premium Live Event, and was upset his farewell promo was cut short due to time constraints. Goldberg insinuated he also felt the retirement match wasn't marketed in a way that more accurately reflected his legacy, and mentioned he would have two weeks before he could speak at length about the situation and share his true thoughts in full.

"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 said.

He'd continue. "It is what it is, man. It's part of the meal that you get dealt, and I would be remiss in thinking that I thought the meal would be different. But shame on me for thinking that it would have been different. Don't you love the way that I've been able to navigate my words?"

Regarding his speech getting cut off before the broadcast ended, he expressed that while it may not have been fully intentional, he felt it was also not exactly accidental.

"Everything throughout the years have built up to something like the ultimate rib. I guess that was the ultimate rib, right?"

When pushed by Helwani as to whether he thought it was done on purpose, he responded.

"I'm not saying it was done on purpose, by any stretch of imagination. I'm saying that it wasn't prepared for on purpose. That's all. They wouldn't do that to Taker, right? I don't think so. They're not going to do that to Cena, Cena's going all around the world doing his retirement thing. Mine was just a World Heavyweight Championship match."

He wished it ultimately would have been presented as an angle that he felt fell short.

Despite the disappointment, he would offer high praise for WWE World Heavyweight Champion Gunther, who helped him through a near-15-minute match to close off his career.

"Gunther was an unbelievable guy to work with. I had a good time," he said. "I was laughing in there when he was chopping me. It was fun."

"There were moments in that match where I actually enjoyed myself, and I can't say that I've done that very many times. So for that, and a plethora of other little reasons, I think that I had a good time Saturday night. I'm not even sore, my hand is the only thing that hurts."

It is unclear if he actually intends to speak further on the retirement, despite the two-week timeline he gave in the interview. This was his first and only match in WWE without Vince McMahon's involvement, and was set up by an interaction between him and Gunther at Bad Blood last year.

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