Bill Goldberg On What Happened With Roman Reigns Backing Out Of WrestleMania 36, His WWE Commitments

WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg appeared on the latest "Carcast" podcast this week to make his first public comments since losing the WWE Universal Title to Braun Strowman during Night One of WrestleMania 36 last weekend.

As noted, Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg was scheduled until Reigns pulled out of the match because he was concerned about performing during the coronavirus pandemic after he was left immunocompromised following his battle with leukemia. Goldberg revealed that there was still a possibility of his match with Reigns happening, even after the Strowman match was taped.

"You know, obviously, I had a change of opponents at the very last moment. You know, Roman Reigns, everybody knows he has leukemia. You know, he's in remission and his ? obviously his immune system is down," Goldberg said (H/T to 411mania). "And so, I don't know why it was even considered in the beginning, except for the fact that we'd invested time and WWE invested the money in the angle, in the match, you know.

"So literally until the 23rd hour, it was still a possibility that he and I were going to wrestle. So plans kind of changed at the very last minute. I did my match with Braun, and it was possible that I could do a match with Roman again before the 5th [the night the match aired]. That obviously fell through."

Goldberg revealed that he got a phone call on the possible Reigns match happening after he had returned home. He also confirmed that WrestleMania 36 was his final WWE commitment for the year.

"You've seen me go through this stuff. Can you imagine me being done on Friday? My obligations were complete for the year," Goldberg said. "My second match was already wrestled. So I was literally done. So I come back here on Friday and jump on the tractor, and eat as many Bon Bons and Uncrustables and Coke, drink as many Cokes and don't go the gym for five days. And then I get a phone call in the middle of the week that it's still a possibility."

It's been reported that Reigns backed out of the match after hearing about SmackDown Tag Team Champion The Miz showing up to the Performance Center while sick. Miz did not have the coronavirus, but he was sick and ended up not working the tapings. Goldberg talked about why WWE went through with the plans up until the last minute.

"Because it was still a possibility on his end that he could go through with the match," Goldberg said. "We went to the training facility in Orlando, our temperatures were taken when we walked in, the place was you know, scrubbed up and down, there were a limited amount of people in and out of the building. It was very controlled, I mean it was as ? I think what happened was, somebody was sick and Roman heard about it. They didn't have [COVID-19], they just had the flu. But just the fact that someone was sick in those circumstances, at the end of the day he just couldn't do it."

Goldberg gave Reigns some props for being willing to do the match up until the 11th hour. He was asked about his reaction to Reigns pulling out of the match.

"You know, more power to him to continually want to get it done," Goldberg said. "Whether that's realistic or unrealistic from a person in his shoes are concerned. But you've got to love the guy because up to the 11th hour, he was still willing to do it."