Duane Gill
Ring name(s)	Duane Gill[1][2][3] Dwayne Gill[2] Pain[2] Executioner #1[2] Gillberg[1][2]
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1][3]
Billed weight	227 lb (103 kg)[1][3]
Born	Glen Burnie, Maryland[2]
Resides	Baltimore, Maryland[1]
Billed from	Atlanta, Georgia[3]
Trained by	Bone Crushers Wrestling School[1] Larry Sharpe[2]
Debut	1990[2]

Duane Gill^[1][2] is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his stint in the World Wrestling Federation as Gillberg, a parody of then–rival promotion World Championship Wrestling's top star Goldberg. During his tenure in the WWF, Gill became a one time Light Heavyweight Champion. He would go on to hold the title for 15 months, becoming the longest reigning Light Heavyweight Champion in the company's history in the process.^[3]

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 World Wrestling Federation (1992–1994) 1.3 Return to the WWF (1998–2000) 1.3.1 J.O.B. Squad 1.3.2 Gillberg, Light Heavyweight Champion and departure 1.4 Part–time WWE appearances (2003, 2007) 2 In wrestling 3 Championships and accomplishments 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Gill made his debut as a part of a tag team with Barry Hardy called the The Lords of Darkness, with Hardy being known as Agony and Gill being known as Pain.^[1] The Lords managed to win several tag team championships and on August 2, 1991, they defeated Cream Team (Dino Casanova and Rip Sawyer) to become the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation's first ever Tag Team Champions.^[1] The Lords continued their success by participating in two of three 40-man battle royals held in 1992. The first, on June 2, included Money Inc., The Nasty Boys, The Beverly Brothers and High Energy (Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart) as well as Sgt. Slaughter, Bret Hart, British Bulldog, Virgil, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, Skinner, Repo Man, Jim Powers, Jim Brunzell, Glen Ruth, Phil Apollo, Barry Horowitz and several others. The battle royal was later featured on WWF Rampage '92.

[edit] World Wrestling Federation (1992–1994)

The second battle royal took place two months later. The Lords later became second version of The Executioners and took part in a 40-man battle royal won by Tatanka. The battle royal was the first and largest held in WWF history and was later profiled in WWF Magazine. These were considered the largest battle royals held at a professional wrestling event until the introduction of the annual three ring 60-man battle royal used for the WCW World War 3 event. The newly renamed Executioners then joined the World Wrestling Federation, competing on its Monday Night Raw program against several other tag teams.^[1] The Executioners eventually split in early 1994 and Hardy later left the company on April 18. Gill then began competing under his real name as a jobber before leaving the company soon after as well.^[1]

[edit] Return to the WWF (1998–2000)

[edit] J.O.B. Squad

In 1998, Gill made his return to the World Wrestling Federation at Survivor Series as Mankind's mystery opponent. Vince McMahon seemingly facilitated Mankind's route to victory in a tournament for the vacant WWF Championship as he appeared to be McMahon's favorite to win. Before Gill made his entrance, McMahon built up the suspense by referring to him (Gill) as a wrestler with a win/loss record that no other wrestler could match. Although the statement was thought to indicate that Mankind's opponent won more than lost in his career, the exact opposite was true and Gill was quickly defeated by Mankind. He later joined the J.O.B. Squad with Al Snow, Scorpio, and Bob Holly.^[1]

During this time, Gill became notable for ending Marc Mero's career when Mero challenged him to a match, announcing to the crowd that he would retire from wrestling if he could not beat him.^[1] Gill won the match with some help from the J.O.B. Squad and Mero left the WWF, although he did not legitimately retire as promised.^[1]

[edit] Gillberg, Light Heavyweight Champion and departure

On November 17, 1998, Gill won the Light Heavyweight Championship after defeating Christian on Raw is War.^[1][3] Shortly thereafter, Gill was given his most infamous gimmick: "Gillberg", a parody of rival promotion World Championship Wrestling's top star Goldberg.^[3] When he became Gillberg, reportedly the original plan was to have him lose 173 consecutive matches, parodying Goldberg's winning streak of 173 matches. The Gillberg character included numerous other parodies of Goldberg, such as his entrance being accompanied by the fake sound of a crowd chanting "Gillberg" (which was put in as a reference to the chanting controversy heard in Goldberg's usual entrance) and stage hands that would hold up sparklers (parodying Goldberg's pyrotechnics) and then spray the entrance way with fire extinguishers. Lastly, Gill even had a dotted line "tattoo" on his right arm (parodying Goldberg's tribal tattoo) and would use the catchphrase "Who's First?" in reference not only to Goldberg's catchphrase "Who's Next?", but also due to the fact that Gill would job to each and every one of his opponents.

Gill made his Royal Rumble debut in 1999, but was instantly eliminated by Edge. Gill's only victory as Gillberg came on the February 15, 1999 edition of Raw is War, when he defeated Goldust with help from former J.O.B. Squad member Blue Meanie, who was feuding with Goldust at the time. While he still came to the ring with the belt, the Light Heavyweight Championship was all but forgotten about as Gill seldom defended the title on television or at house shows. After being off of WWF television for several months, Gill returned to the WWF for one final match in order to lose the championship to the debuting Essa Rios.^[1] Upon losing the title, Gill's reign ended at 15 months, making him the longest reigning Light Heavyweight Champion in WWF history.^[1][3] After leaving the WWF, Gill has continued to use the Gillberg gimmick on the independent circuit, most prominently for Maryland Championship Wrestling.

[edit] Part–time WWE appearances (2003, 2007)

When Bill Goldberg came to WWE in 2003, his first feud was against The Rock, who on the April 21, 2003 edition of Raw brought in Gill, once again under his Gillberg gimmick to mock Goldberg.^[1] After beating up The Rock's Security Guards who were trying to apprehend him for interrupting The Rock's concert "dedicated" to him, Goldberg turned his attention to Gilberg and while choking him, was attacked by The Rock from behind. The Rock and Gillberg then quickly ran out of the arena to avoid any further assault.

On December 10, 2007, Gill, now sporting two new tattoos on his left deltoid, returned to WWE television under his Gillberg name and gimmick for the 15th Anniversary of Raw. During the show, he participated in a 15-Man Battle Royal against fourteen other superstars who appeared over Raw's fifteen year history, but was the first man eliminated only a few seconds into the match by every other superstar in the ring.

[edit] In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Jackhammer (Vertical suplex powerslam pin)^[1] – parodied from Goldberg
  • Spear^[1][2] – parodied from Goldberg

• Signature moves
  • Superkick – parodied from Goldberg

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation
  • MEWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Agony^[1]

• NWA New Jersey
  • NWA New Jersey Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[4]

• World Wrestling Alliance
  • WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Barry Hardy^[5]

• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1][2][3][6]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Gillberg's WWE Alumni Profile

v • d • e WWF Light Heavyweight Champions Perro Aguayo  · Fishman  · Chris Adams  · Gran Hamada  · Villaño III  · Sangre Chicana  · Pegasus Kid  · The Great Sasuke  · El Samurai  · Último Dragón  · Jushin "Thunder" Liger  · Shinjiro Otani  · Taka Michinoku  · Christian  · Gillberg  · Essa Rios  · Dean Malenko  · Scotty 2 Hotty  · Crash Holly  · Jerry Lynn  · Jeff Hardy  · X-Pac  · Tajiri