Kurt Angle has looked back on the reaction that Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar from WrestleMania 20 received.
WrestleMania 20 took place 18 years ago. The show was held inside Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 14, 2004. One highly-anticipated match was Goldberg vs. Lesnar but things went south quickly as fans roasted both men for leaving WWE.
Backstage Reaction To Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
During an episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the Olympic gold medalist revealed what the backstage reaction was to Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar turning into a disaster (h/t 411Mania.com).
“I was backstage watching it on the monitor and it was crazy. The fans really turned on those guys. They sh*t on the whole match. This was a big feature match, this was a money match for the WWE. It’s a dream match that everybody wanted to see, but because both guys were leaving the company, the fans didn’t want to see it anymore.
“They were surprised, but then again, they weren’t surprised. We do understand that the fans are loyal to us, as long as we’re loyal to them and I do believe they felt cheated that Brock and Goldberg were leaving. The boys, they weren’t laughing, but they were like, ‘Holy sh*t, I can’t believe this is happening.’ The match was such a big match, it was something everybody wanted to see.
“Even the boys wanted to see it. When the fans crapped all over it, it was like, oh gosh, this is crazy. Some guys were laughing, some guys were like, oh crap, this is horrible. Everybody treated it differently.”
Goldberg and Brock ended up leaving the company but returned under far more fan-friendly circumstances. Goldberg defeated Lesnar at the Survivor Series PPV back in 2016. They had a rematch at WrestleMania 33 and it was far better than their 2004 match. Lesnar emerged victorious in that encounter.
