Goldberg, who had a great run with WWE, in February 2022 had a career-highlight bout with ‘The Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns. The wrestler has an undefeated streak of 173 matches, which shows the volume of his reach as a sportsman in the company.
Even though Goldberg delivered his best, it did not stop WWE from creating the Gillberg gimmick. Duane Gill, aka Gillberg, is a character who parodied Goldberg. Recently, Gillberg shared a heartfelt message to WWE on his Twitter account, thanking the company for allowing him to portray the Hall of Famer.
Gillberg thanks WWE for his run parodying Goldberg
Duane Gill had been in the wrestling business for eight years when he was given a big opportunity in 1998. He was renamed Gillberg, a parody of the then-popular WCW star Bill Goldberg. Gillberg quickly gained popularity and became a regular feature on WWE television. Additionally, he held the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship for a record 15 months.
However, it is now common knowledge that Goldberg disliked the gimmick. During an interview, Duane Gill said, “Gillberg was supposed to be a one-time deal. I had no clue it would catch on and last for close to twenty years. It caught on, and they keep bringing me back to WWE.”
After leaving WWE full-time in 2000, Duane Gill continued to use his Gillberg persona on the independent wrestling circuit. Nonetheless, he made intermittent appearances on WWE programming over the next twenty years. One memorable moment was in 2003 when he appeared alongside Goldberg during a segment on Raw with The Rock.
In 2021, Gill made his last appearance on WWE television, shortly after suffering a heart attack. Gillberg added, “Doing Gillberg was some of the best times of my life. I love it have a blast each and every time thank you WWF/WWE and Tony Georia.”
Goldberg discussed his feelings about the Gillberg character
Goldberg was a prominent figure in WCW before he transitioned to WWE. Although he regretted not fully embracing professional wrestling earlier in his career, he made up for it by returning to the ring seven years ago as a part-time performer.
Interestingly, there was a time when Goldberg wanted to tear Gillberg’s face off. Even Bruce Prichard confirmed Goldberg’s hate for the gimmick. Gillberg made his WWE debut in the late 1990s and started imitating Goldberg. Gillberg became very popular for his supposed perfect parody of Goldberg, but Goldberg never saw it that way. He openly expressed his hatred for the gimmick.
Goldberg’s beef with William Regal is well known, but his hate for Duane is less known by fans. Last year, while speaking on the WWE Network show “Ruthless Aggression”, Goldberg expressed his strong dislike for the Gillberg gimmick and stated that he “wanted to kill” Gillberg.
Goldberg said, “I hated the Gillberg thing in the beginning. I just absolutely hated it. I wanted to rip the guy’s face off. I wanted to really kill him. But that means it worked.”
Goldberg left WWE after 2022, but according to the wrestler, Vince McMahon was supposed to give him a retirement match. Even though fans never got to see that match, rumors are the wrestler will join Tony Khan’s AEW for the last match in his career. Fans are anticipating the master of Jackhammer’s return and are eagerly waiting to see him in action one last time.
