If Christians title reign put the credibility of the WWE Light-Heavyweight Championship on life support, then it was the reign of his successor Gillberg that pulled the plug completely. Under his real name Duane Gill, the Baltimore native was a perennial jobber for the WWE throughout the early 90s. After being released in 1994, Gill would hone his craft on the independent scene before making a completely unexpected return at the 1998 edition of the Survivor Series. Within weeks of his re-emergence Gill would defeat Christian for the WWE Light-Heavyweight Championship and shortly after be repackaged as Gillberg; a comedy character solely designed to mock WCWS biggest star at the time Goldberg. Complete with a personal security team, sparklers and piped in crowd chants, the character was just one of many not so subtle jabs thrown between the two Monday Night rivals. To further parody the WCW Superstar, Gillberg was initially scheduled to go on a non-title losing streak of 173 matches. Whilst it would have been another entertaining aspect to the character, it also showed how much regard the WWE held for the Light Heavyweight division at the time. As was custom during the frantic Attitude Era, plans soon changed and the losing streak never came to fruition. Gillberg wrestled exactly three televised matches in eighteen months and whilst he still came to the ring with the belt, the Light Heavyweight Championship was all but forgotten
