Is Brian Cage On-Track To Become Impact Wrestling’s Goldberg?

In many ways, it appears Cage’s path  this Impact go-round is set to mimic Bill Goldberg’s iconic 1997 World Championship Wrestling run. Most importantly, it should.

In that era, the former National Football League star’s early work  with WCW — including a loss to Chad Fortune on WCW Saturday Night — was quickly forgotten. Instead the focus became the now-legendary (though clearly inflated) undefeated streak which saw him run rough-shod through the company’s roster.

Six months into his WCW tenure, a rookie Goldberg was the company’s hottest homegrown prospect, fastest rising star and U.S. champion. He ultimately cemented his legacy by defeating NWO-era Hulk Hogan for the World title less than a year into his career. 

Based on current Impact angles, Cage is taking a similar trajectory. On televised special “Under Pressure,” he defeated stellar Desmond Xavier to become No. 1 contender to X-Division champion Matt Sydal.

Though perhaps not an immediately intuitive decision, it almost guarantees an imminent World title collision. Not only does he possess the in-ring move-set of men a fraction his size, allowing him to easily hang with the X-Division stars, whomever holds that strap receives an annual opportunity to challenge for the World title.

Were Cage to win the X-Division title at the upcoming “Slammiversary” pay-per-view — an almost foregone conclusion, really — attention instantly shifts to that next step in his journey. The entire televised Impact product could then build toward “Destination X,” where he would conceivably face Austin Aries, originator of “Option C,” for the gold.

While Impact has always had a phenomenal roster, capable of competing with any in the world in terms of in-ring abilities, the company has frequently fallen short in vision. Recent history is rife with start-and-stop stories, reboots and short-term angles with no long-term return-on-investment, lending to the promotion more often than not failing to fully actualize the star quality of even its biggest names.

With Cage, they have a chance to right those wrongs. In him, the next six to eight months of its main event are seemingly laid at its feet with a tried-and true formula for success.

It worked to tremendous effect for WCW, making Goldberg one of the most dominant figures in sports entertainment history. It is cashing checks in WWE for Braun Strowman. It can work for Cage in Impact, too.

The company needs look no further than EC3, arguably its biggest success story of the last decade. Rather than dominating opponents like Cage of late, he used whatever means necessary to remain undefeated for nearly 18 months en route to his first title reign.

By the time it ended, audiences not only ached to see who would snap EC3’s streak, they also fully embraced him as a world-class competitor and solid champion. That alone speaks volumes for the  angle’s success (as well his on-screen and in-ring work, considering many viewed him as an “NXT reject when he entered the company).

Like Goldberg, though, Cage is a much easier sell. He is feared. He is respected. He has the look, power,  global experience and jaw-dropping skills to back it up.

“Who can stop Brian Cage?!” Josh Mathews seems to ask every Impact. It becomes an extremely valid question with each crushing win.

Should the current groundwork laid by Impact and successes of the past be any indication, the answer is obvious: “Absolutely nobody, for a very, very long time.”

Pollo Del Mar is an award-winning journalist, NorCal indie wrestling personality and host of wrestling podcast “Arm-Drag Takedown with Pollo Del Mar.” (Hyperlink: http://www.Facebook.com/ADTwithPDM)

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