When Goldberg glared at Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman at the close of Monday's WWE Raw, it felt as if he was standing at a crossroads, looking at three potential paths to take, three potential futures awaiting him.
Those brief moments should be more than teases. Before Goldberg's current WWE tenure ends, he must battle one of these men as a means to bolster the company's march into the New Era.
Goldberg returned to Raw on Monday night as the inaugural guest of The Kevin Owens Show. As one might expect in a world so filled with testosterone and belligerence, things quickly turned hostile.
Goldberg got in Owens' face. Reigns soon came down for a faceoff with the former WCW star. And eventually Strowman strode down to the ring before taking a double spear.
The segment mirrored the kind of chaos that the upcoming Royal Rumble is all about. But beyond hyping the Jan. 29 pay-per-view, it offered glimpses of a number of intriguing matchups.
For now, though, Goldberg isn't in line to face Reigns or Owens. He has a date with Brock Lesnar on the horizon.
The powerhouse blasted Lesnar in a shockingly quick victory at Survivor Series in November, and a rematch now looms. The two titans are both set to enter the 30-man Royal Rumble match.
The expectation is that they will collide there to set up a WrestleMania 33 showdown.
That's undoubtedly a huge match, a marque clash with two megastars who would be right at home on the WrestleMania card. WWE's motivations for going that route are clear.
But Goldberg's presence is a powerful tool to help transition into the future, to help create new stars. In addition to his bout with Lesnar, Goldberg has to take on someone around whom WWE will build in the years to come.
One of the common complaints about Goldberg's overwhelming win over Lesnar was that it transferred momentum to a 50-year-old man who is likely to only stick around for a match or two.
WWE has made a recent habit of choosing nostalgia over newness, celebrating the past over charging toward the future.
Daniel Bryan complained about that in a 2015 interview with Yahoo! Sports' Andre Frois: "In my opinion, if they had brought back guys like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage back when The Rock and Stone Cold were starting out, The Rock would have never become The Rock, and Stone Cold would have never become Stone Cold."
He's right on. WWE often spends more time relying on household names than establishing the next wrestlers to join that club.
The smart way to balance things out is to have the old clash with the new. Rather than have Goldberg and Lesnar exist on a separate plane from the other Superstars, the former Georgia Bulldog should mix it up with the likes of Owens, Reigns or Strowman.
Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet is among those who want to see KO vs. Goldberg:
Credit: WWE.comRoman Reigns and Goldberg eye Braun Strowman on Raw.
It would be a hard-hitting, intriguing contest, and one that could propel Owens in a major way.
At last year's SummerSlam, Owens teamed up with his best friend Chris Jericho in a minimally important tag team match against EnzoAmore and Big Cass. Imagine instead that KO had a showdown at the summer PPV with Goldberg. Owens could promise to end the big man's career, proving that he no longer belonged in WWE.
He would be presented as being on Goldberg's level and receive the benefit of all the hype that surrounds the veteran.
That kind of bout would be career-altering. The same goes for any other current stars taking on Goldberg.
A heel Reigns trying to break Goldberg in half, a Rusev proving himself on a grand stage against the former world champ or a Strowman adding Goldberg to his list of victims are all smart routes for WWE to take. In each case, the company would have not only showcased the big name but helped elevate an emerging one, too.
Before Goldberg ventures toward the sunset once more, WWE has to siphon some of his star power, transferring it to those who will remain behind. It's a no-brainer formula.
The only question now is which of the men who snarled at Goldberg on Monday's Raw should be his final foe.