If you were hoping that Bill Goldberg would at some point make a return to the ring and wrestle once more against someone legendary, you’re going to get your wish. The only problem is that it won’t be in a real life WWE ring… it’s going to be in 2K Games’ virtual ring, once WWE 2K17 releases this fall for home consoles.
Over on the official WWE 2K YouTube channel, they posted up a quick vignette featuring a bunch of cops blowing open a mine shaft where Goldberg emerges through a plume of thick smoke. You can check out the minute-long teaser below, which is little more than a pants-wetting exercise to get the fanboys to pre-order WWE 2K17 for the PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One or PS4.
At the end of the trailer Goldberg looks out of the window and spots a sign from out of the back of the police cruiser, showing the city they’re entering. Viewers can only see the mirrored reflection of the sign in the window, which reads “Suplex City”.
It obviously seems to be hinting at Goldberg making a return to face off against Brock Lesnar again after that abysmal match they had at Wrestlemania 20.
The only problem now is that Goldberg is old and Lesnar is a beast. I would prefer to see Lesnar versus Samoa Joe at Wrestlemania, but I imagine the WWE wants to milk Summerslam for all its worth with a Lesnar versus Goldberg rematch.
Anyway, do you know what the most disappointing thing is about this annual series? It’s the fact that it’s still being made for literally decade old hardware. At what point will wrestling games evolve and embrace the new generation of technology? The only hope so far is the robust and ingenious modding community that has a bustling and active sense of growth for the WWE 2K games released on PC. It’s a small community, but they’re doing some cool things with what little tools they have at their disposal. It also helps that 2K Games isn’t actively cracking down on the modding community the way Rockstar Games was going after modders during the early days of the PC release of GTA V.
As for WWE 2K17, the game is expected to launch this October. Gamers who pre-order will automatically unlock Bill Goldberg. This likely means he’s going to be making a return to the ring given that they did the exact same thing for the Ultimate Warrior (who was later on inducted into the Hall of Fame that following year) and Sting (who eventually made his debut in the same year he appeared in the game).
If the teaser trailer is any indication of what’s to come, Summerslam will most certainly have its marquee match, even if it’s a decade too late.
