Gunther: Goldberg is ‘one of the most outstanding guys in the history of this business’

Gunther appreciates the opportunity he has in front of him at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

On July 12, Gunther will put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Goldberg in the latter’s retirement match. WWE has been building to this since the two first interacted at Bad Blood last November, but Gunther still views the matchup as being “a little bit out of the blue” since it’s not something he could have envisioned when he was coming up in pro wrestling.

“I feel like it’s a little bit out of the blue because it’s nothing I would have expected,” Gunther told The Masked Man Show. “And also, obviously, I don’t know — how I got up in wrestling, how I got brought up, I feel like Goldberg is the complete opposite of how I would have imagined a wrestler that I really look up to.”

Goldberg is more of a showman than the wrestlers Gunther looked up to when he was younger, but Gunther still respects the success Goldberg has had. He views Goldberg as one of the most outstanding guys in the history of the industry.

“I’m able to understand that business is done differently elsewhere,” Gunther said. “There’s different styles. And just over here, there’s the showmanship, the looks of a person are maybe sometimes more important than how technical finesse we are in the ring. And that’s like, I don’t want to judge that. That’s the style. And it’s very successful.

“So in that aspect, being in WWE in the position that I am now, being able to — and that’s the thing with Goldberg is like, like I said before, you can say whatever you want about him, but he’s one of the most outstanding guys in the history of this business. And seeing a lot of the guys that he had before, it’s a great opportunity for me to step into that position to be his last opponent because with all the respect, that’s what it is. I gain from that being in the ring with Bill Goldberg because when he shows up, there’s a lot of interest to that. And yeah, I’m happy about that opportunity.”

Gunther said — like when he faced Pat McAfee at Backlash — he loves being involved in unique situations like this that are different than your normal match. This will be the first time the 58-year-old Goldberg has wrestled in more than three years.

Now a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, Gunther regained the title from Jey Uso on Raw two weeks ago, adding stakes to his upcoming bout against Goldberg.

State Farm Arena in Atlanta is hosting Saturday Night’s Main Event on July 12. Goldberg has a long history with the city of Atlanta dating back to his days playing football and starting his wrestling career at the WCW Power Plant.