Duane Gill

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Duane Gill
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Gillberg Lords of Discipline Pain
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Billed weight	227 lb (107 kg)
Born	Glen Burnie, Maryland
Resides	Baltimore, Maryland
Billed from	Atlanta, Georgia - as Gillberg
Trained by	Larry Sharpe
Debut	1989

Duane Gill, best known as the Goldberg imitator Gillberg, is a former WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, holding the belt for 15 months. In the World Wrestling Federation (later WWE), he was a comedic jobber whose catchphrase was "Who's first?", a parody of Goldberg's "Who's next?".

Originally, Duane Gill was a WWF jobber in the 1990s, so it came as a surprise to wrestling fans when he made his return to the WWF in the 1998 Survivor Series pay-per-view as Mankind's mystery opponent. Before Gill made his entrance, Vince McMahon built up the suspense by referring to him as a great wrestler with a win/loss record that no other wrestler could match (which was possibly true, as Gill had probably lost more matches than anyone else). He was quickly defeated by Mankind, and later joined the J.O.B. Squad with Al Snow, Scorpio and Bob Holly.

Gill was also responsible for (supposedly) ending Marc Mero's career when the latter challenged him to a match, announcing to the crowd that he would retire from wrestling if he could not beat him. 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.

Shortly after his match with Mero, Gill was given his most well-known gimmick: Gillberg, a parody of rival promotion World Championship Wrestling's top star Goldberg. On November 17, 1998, he became the Light Heavyweight Champion after defeating Christian on RAW is WAR, and would also become the longest recognized WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, holding it nearly 15 months. His entrance included stage hands holding up sparklers (parodying Goldberg's pyrotechnics) and spraying the entranceway with fire extinguishers. His entrance was also accompanied by very fake sound of a crowd chanting "Gillberg." This was likely put in as a reference to the controversy over Goldberg's WCW entrance, wherein there was always a "Goldberg" chant. This chant was often thought to be piped in, though some fans at shows said it was real. Gill also had a dotted line "tattoo" on his right arm (parodying Goldberg's barbed wire tattoo). Gill continued to portray the Gillberg gimmick in some independent promotions.

After disappearing from television and working the independent scene for over a year, Gill was asked back by WWE to make one appearance and drop the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship in a very short match against Essa Rios on a February 2000 edition of Sunday Night HEAT. After this match, Rios signaled his partner Lita to hit a moonsault on the prone Gill in what was her television debut.

Gill was scheduled to participate in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001, but was not used in the match for fear that the crowd would begin to chant for Goldberg as the WWF had just acquired WCW the preceding Monday, and fans were anticipating appearances by WCW wrestlers during the event.

Duane Gill, however, would later make his final appearance on the April 21, 2003 edition of RAW, during The Rock's "The Rock Concert II" segment. Gillberg was brought out by The Rock to mock Goldberg, who The Rock was in the middle of a feud with.

To fit in with his imitation Goldberg gimmick, Gill would often finish matches with Goldberg's signature Spear / Jackhammer moves, as well as dropping many of the generic light-heavyweight maneuvers to use moves favored by the larger Goldberg, such as his double underhook suplex, his signature superkick and others.

Prior to the Goldberg parody, Gill would often use sneaky roll-up pins to pick up a victory.