Gillberg Talks Crying In Vince McMahon's Office After Winning WWE Light Heavyweight Title
There's no set formula for carving out a career in pro wrestling and Duane Gill aka Gillberg is a testament to that. He was never a star (outside of his humorous run as Gillberg) and has mainly been a jobber, but he's still lasted nearly 30 years in this business and is still wrestling on the indie circuit.
Gill was interviewed by Andy Malnoske of Wrestling Inc where he talked about why he doesn't see himself as enhancement talent despite being used in that role.
"I wasn't enhancement talent, I was a wrestler in the WWF," Gill said of his first WWE stint as a jobber during the early 90s. "I was a fan. I loved it. That's all I wanted to be was a wrestler in the WWF. I was a wrestler in the WWF!
"Enhancement doesn't matter to me. I was there wrestling the best there was in the best place there was to wrestle every night. How could you be disappointed in that? I was a fan who got his dream fulfilled. That's the only way I can say it."
Appearing under his real name, Gill put over the top WWE stars of the New Generation Era including Doink, Razor Ramon and Tatanka. He left the company in 1994 before returning in 1998, first as a member of the J.O.B. Squad and then later as Gillberg.
The highlight of Gill's career was winning the Light Heavyweight Championship from Christian with the help of the J.O.B. Squad. In a post-match interview on Raw he said it was one of the greatest moments of his life and Gill, the person, felt the same way as Gill the wrestler.
"I cried. I went right into Vince's office and cried," Gill said of what he did after winning the title. "It was everything to me. Wrestling is what it is, but to me, it's my life."
He held onto the title for 15 months and remains the longest reigning Light Heavyweight Champion in WWE history. Gill is also one of the longest-reigning champions of any title and he thinks he should be commemorated for that.
"I'm the seventh longest-reigning champion in the history of WWF and WWE and I don't have an actual figure," exclaimed Gill. "We need a Gillberg [action figure]. A Gillberg-Goldberg box set? Tell me, is that not perfect?"