| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Duane Gill (1959-07-10)July 10, 1959 (age 66) Glen Burnie, Maryland, U.S.[1] |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Duane Gill[1][2][3] Dwayne Gill Executioner #1[1] Gillberg[1][2][3] Pain[1] Terry Turtle |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2][3][4] |
| Billed weight | 227 lb (103 kg)[2][3][4] |
| Billed from | Atlanta, Georgia[4] Tarrytown, Texas (as Terry Turtle) |
| Trained by | Bone Crushers Wrestling School[2] Larry Sharpe[1] |
| Debut | 1990[1] |
| Retired | February 28, 2020[5] |
Duane Gill[1][2] (born July 10, 1959) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler, best known for his appearances in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) during theAttitude Era under thering nameGillberg, a parody of then-rivalpromotionWorld Championship Wrestling's top starGoldberg. During his tenure in the WWF, Gill became aone-timeLight Heavyweight Champion. He held the title for 15 months, becoming the longest reigning Light Heavyweight Champion as recognized by WWE.[4] Gill retired on February 28, 2020.
Gill made his debut on the American independent scene as a part of a maskedtag team withBarry Hardy called The Lords of Darkness, with Hardy billed as Agony and Gill billed as Pain.[2] On August 2, 1991, they defeated Cream Team (Dino Casanova andRip Sawyer) to become theMid-Eastern Wrestling Federation's first everTag Team Champions.[2] The Lords participated in two of three 40-manbattle royals held in 1992. in late 1993 and early 1994 he worked forExtreme Championship Wrestling.
Gill (sometimes teaming with Barry Hardy) became ajobber with the WWF in 1991 usually appearing onWWF Superstars of Wrestling andWWF Wrestling Challenge losing to the likes of The Undertaker,[6] Kamala,[7] High Energy,[8] The Texas Tornado,[9] Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan,[10] The Bushwackers[9] and The Beverly Brothers.[6] Gill and Hardy competed in a battle royal becoming the second version ofThe Executioners and took part in a 40-man battle royal won byTatanka. Gill and Hardy then went back to their real names and began competing onMonday Night Raw as well asWWF Superstars against several other tag teams losing to the likes ofThe Quebecers andThe Steiner Brothers.[11] One night they fought as The Toxic Turtles (dressed up as theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and won a victory over jobbers, but the gimmick was cut off. The Executioners split in early 1994, and Hardy left the company on April 18. Gill then began competing as anenhancement talent, losing to the likes ofMr. Perfect,[12]1-2-3 Kid,[13]Razor Ramon,[14]Doink,[15]The British Bulldog,[16]Tatanka andAdam Bomb.[9] He left the company soon after.
Gill made a one-time appearance forWorld Championship Wrestling defeatingHugh Morrus by disqualification on October 18, 1995 (aired November 15).[17]
After WWF, Gill would mainly work in the independents in the East Coast and Canada mostly as the Executioner.
In 1998, Gill made his return to the World Wrestling Federation atSurvivor Series asMankind's mystery opponent with a bald head.Vince McMahon seemingly facilitated Mankind's route to victory in a tournament for the vacantWWF Championship as he appeared to be McMahon's favorite to win. McMahon built up the suspense before the entrance by referring to Gill as a wrestler with an unmatched win–loss record. Although the statement was implied that Mankind's opponent won more than lost in his career, the exact opposite was true, and Gill wassquashed by Mankind.
He later joinedThe J.O.B. Squad withAl Snow,Scorpio andBob Holly.[2] During this time, Gill became notable for "endingMarc 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 Gill.[2] Gill won the match with some help from the J.O.B. Squad, and Mero left the WWF, although he did notlegit retire.[2]
On November 23, 1998, Gill won theLight Heavyweight Championship after defeatingChristian onRaw.[2][4] After a successful defense againstMatt Hardy on Sunday Night Heat December 14, 1998,[18] Gill was given his most notablegimmick: "Gillberg," a parody of rivalpromotionWorld Championship Wrestling's top starGoldberg.[4] When he became Gillberg, the original plan of the bookers was reputedly to have him lose 173 consecutive matches, parodying Goldberg'swinning streak of 173 matches. The Gillberg character parodied numerous other aspects of Goldberg's character, such as his entrance being accompanied by the pre-recorded sound of a crowd chanting "Gillberg" (which was an allusion to WCW's alleged use of pre-recorded chants in Goldberg's usual entrance) and stage hands that would hold upsparklers (parodying Goldberg'spyrotechnics) and then spray the entrance way withfire extinguishers. He also 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 to the fact that Gill would lose to each and every one of his opponents.
Gill made hisRoyal Rumble debut in1999, but was immediately eliminated byEdge. Gill's only victory as Gillberg came on the February 8, 1999, edition ofRaw when he defeatedGoldust with help from former J.O.B. Squad memberThe Blue Meanie, who was feuding with Goldust at the time. By April 1999, he was taken off the main roster and worked in less matches. Gill lost toTiger Ali Singh at the pay-per-viewNo Mercy (UK). He competed for theWWF Championship againstTriple H in a losing effort on the August 31, 1999, edition ofSmackDown!. For the remainder of 1999 he continued working in Maryland and the independents.
While he still came to the ring with the belt, the Light Heavyweight Championship was all but forgotten as Gill seldom defended the title on television or at house shows. After being off of WWF television for several months, Gill returned on the February 14, 2000, episode ofSunday Night Heat for one final match in order to lose the championship to the debutingEssa Rios.[2] Upon losing the title, Gill's reign ended at 15 months, making him the longest reigning Light Heavyweight Champion in WWF history.[2][4]
After leaving the WWF, Gill continued to use the Gillberg gimmick on theindependent circuit, most prominently forMaryland Championship Wrestling until retiring in 2003.
When Goldberg came to WWE in 2003, his first feud was againstThe Rock, who on the April 21, 2003 episode ofRaw brought in Gill, once again under his Gillberg gimmick, to mock Goldberg.[2] After beating up The Rock's security guards, who were trying to apprehend him for interrupting a concert "dedicated" to him, Gillberg attacked Goldberg, which prompted Goldberg to begin choking him. The Rock then attacked Goldberg from behind, after which both Gillberg and The Rock quickly ran out of the arena to avoid further conflict.
On December 10, 2007, Gill, now sporting two new tattoos on his leftdeltoid, returned to WWE television under his Gillberg name andgimmick for the15th Anniversary ofRaw. During the show, he participated in a 15-man battle royal against fourteen other former Raw wrestlers, but was the first man eliminated only a few seconds into the match by everyone.
In 2016, Gill returned to WWE, where he made a brief appearance onThe Edge and Christian Show. Gillberg made a surprise appearance on the February 14, 2017 episode ofRaw, coming to the ring in place of Goldberg before being attacked byKevin Owens.[19]
On the January 18, 2021 episode ofRaw, Gillberg returned.John Morrison and The Miz teased that Goldberg would be on their talk show segment "The Dirt Sheet", but instead Gillberg came to the ring and had a short segment with a fakeDrew McIntyre (played byDavid Krumholtz).[20]
In 2009, Gill came out of retirement and reunited with Barry Hardy. They disbanded in 2011.
On February 28, 2018, Gill won the IWC High Stakes Championship from independent wrestler Bulk Nasty. He was later challenged byJames Ellsworth for a title-match on March 17,[21] which Gill lost.[22] On April 1, 2018, Gill teamed with Ellsworth to win the ACW Tag Team Championships.[23] On February 28, 2020, Gill wrestled his last match against Ellsworth at an Adrenaline Wrestling show, winning the match.[24]
Gill is married and has two adult children and a granddaughter.[25] Gill operated an independentwrestling school inSevern, Maryland named Gillberg's Pro Wrestling Academy that opened in July 2010.[25][26] On November 25, 2020, Gill suffered a heart attack, but eventually recovered.[27]
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