Goldberg Reveals Legitimate Hatred Of This Former WWE Champion

"I wanted to rip the guy's face off."

by Andrew Pollard
Gillberg Goldberg
WWE.com

With Season Two of WWE Network's Ruthless Aggression series now available, Bill Goldberg can be seen discussing his legitimate hatred of Duane Gill, aka Gillberg.

During the Hollywood Rock episode of this latest season, Da Man was quick to talk up how much he despised Gillberg - to the point he wanted to kill him!

As Goldberg put it:

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"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."

Of course, the Gillberg gimmick first reared its head in late-1998.

Duane Gill had initially worked as enhancement talent for the then-WWF in the early-'90s, and he made a full-time return to the company prior to the '98 Survivor Series. Quickly joining The J.O.B. Squad, Gill would topple Christian to become the Light Heavyweight Champion and take on the Gillberg moniker before the year was out.

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Famously, Gillberg was a parody of Goldberg, with Vince McMahon's sports entertainment giant using the character to poke fun at someone who was at that point WCW's hottest act. Gill would eventually lose the Light Heavyweight Title to Essa Rios before departing WWF in February 2000 - and he has made sporadic WWE appearances over the subsequent years, in addition to being active on the independent scene.

Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.