Duane Gill on how Gillberg was created, Vince McMahon, Triple H and Undertaker's start with WWE [Exclusive]
WWE fans will forever remember Duane Gill. During the Monday Night Wars, WWF created a parody of WCW's Goldberg, which cast Duane Gill as Gillberg.
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Duane Gill talks about how Gillberg came into existence.
SK: How did Gillberg the persona get onto our tv screens? Was was the story behind the scenes?
Gillberg: "I was doing it on the independence. I was making fun of all the boys. I was The Underfaker. I did Stone Old Steve Austin. I took pool swimmies as giant knee braces and walked out with a walker, and Gillberg."
"When I got the job as Duane Gill, I was doing a house show, and Kane was on it with Paul Bearer and everything. I told them, 'Yeah, I was making fun of all the boys, I would have done a Kane, don't worry about that, and I did Gillberg.'"
"Paul Bearer went, 'Gillberg? Ohhhh, Duane Gill, I think you've got something there, boy.'"
"I went, 'Huh? I do it all.' I blew it off."
"Three days later, I get a call from the office. 'So, we hear you do, Gillberg?'"
"'I said, 'Yes, mam.'"
Vince's Secretary said, "Well, you're now Gillberg."
"I said, 'I don't want to lose my title.'"
Vince's Secretary continued, "Well, that's the beauty of it. We already thought of that. You're the Light-heavyweight champion. You only lose to heavyweights."
SK: What happened when you won the Light-heavyweight belt and went back to see Vince McMahon?
Gillberg: "You want the truth? First off, if you remember, when the ref handed me the belt, I held it up backward. I went to the back, did the speech thing how it's the greatest thing since the birth of my son, and all that."
"Tony Garea and Rene were laughing their asses off and asked me, 'Are you alright?'"
"I said, 'Yeah, man, why?'"
Tony said, "You should give that belt back because you obviously don't know what you're doing with it."
"Afterward, I went right straight to Vince's office. I knocked on the door, and I swear to God, I'm choked up right now. I had tears in my eyes crying, and I said, 'Thank you, Vince. Thank you. You have no idea what you did.'"
He said, "Duane, thank you for all your years. Go have fun, brother.
"That's Vince McMahon. When I was a jobber up there, my third year up there, he came and talked to me when a couple of times Barry (Horowitz) and I would bump into him at breakfast."
"He'd ask, 'Is it okay if I sit here?'"
"I'd say, 'Sure, Mr. McMahon.'"
"Every time it was always Mr. McMahon. I never called him Vince. My third year up there, I'm in the locker room, and Vince came up to talk to me."
Vince said, "Hey Duane, you just had a son, didn't you? Your daughter is what nine now?"
"I looked at him, stunned, and said, 'Mr. McMahon, how do you know that?'"
Vince said, "Duane, that's my job."
"I said, 'Awesome. Thank you.'"
"I send him a Christmas card almost every year. He is, in all honesty, playing an asshole because he is such a nice guy. I know there are all these rumors, I've been up there for almost twenty years, and he's been a boss. The only way I can figure someone being an asshole is this, you're working there [WWE] three-four-five years, and you're making a$1,000,000-1,500,000 a year and along comes a guy making $50,000 with a better reaction from fans, and Vince looks at the numbers and lets the high paying guy go, and that guy says, 'You asshole! What a prick.'"
"That's my philosophy of it. I've never seen [Mr. McMahon] do anything stupid, but I've never been the millionaire guy. He's always been nice. All the McMahon's, Stephaine, Triple H is so cool. I remember when he came in. I was jobbing when [Triple H] came in."
Gillberg remembers The Undertaker coming to WWE
"I remember when 'Taker came in. I was sitting in the back, and he was going through papers."
"I said, 'Hey Mark, how's it going?'"
The Undertaker replied, "Hey Duane, How you doing?"
"I asked him, 'What are you doing up here?'"
"The Undertaker replied, 'They got me doing some dead man thing.'"
Be sure to check out the full interview with Gillberg above. This portion starts at the 23 minute mark.