Gillberg on not having WWE merchandise, Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho's Festival of Friendship [Exclusive]
WWE fans will forever remember Gillberg during the Monday Night Wars as WWF's parody of WCW's Goldberg. When Duane Gill became Gillberg, he was instantly over with the Attitude Era crowd.
In part one of Gillberg's interview, Duane Gill talks about how Gillberg came to be. You can check out part one here.
In part two, Gillberg discusses how he won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, why he didn't appear in the WrestleMania 17 Gimmick Battle Royal or have any merchandise. Gillberg also discussed what he told Kevin Owens prior to him and Chris Jericho's Festival of Friendship on Monday Night RAW.
Gillberg on not being part of the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven
"I was at WrestleMania. Remember the Gimmick Battle Royal? I was standing in the back, 'ten, nine,' I'm getting ready to go out, and Bruce Pritchard is standing in front of me and says, 'Duane, you can't go.'"
"Laughing, I go, 'Yeah, right, Bruce, it's WrestleMania. Pardon my french, but I don't give a [expletive], I'm going to push you out of the way, I'm going.'"
"He goes, 'Please don't.'"
"You're serious? I go."
"'Yeah,' he said as the countdown goes, 'Two, One.'"
"Now, Earthquake and Typhoon, when I came in, were going to grab me, throw me into the ropes, and I double clothesline both of them over the top, and Anvil was going to let me throw him out and clear the ring. That's how Shiek was going to win because I would go to the ropes and taunt, and he throws me out."
"If you watch that Gimmick Battle Royal, when the last guy is supposed to come out and doesn't come out, you'll see them look around, and start going out."
"In the back, Bruce said, 'If you go out there, not only will you lose your job, but I'll lose mine.'"
"I said, 'Really? They'll fire you, Bruce?'"
"He said, 'They sent me here to stop you.'"
"So, I tossed my arm around him, I told him, 'Well, I'm not costing you your job, brother.'"
SK: Do you know why they made the decision last minute?
Gillberg: Goldberg was coming in. Can I ask you something? I've been making fun of him for years. Can you tell me who's got it, and says, "I don't want him ever to have a shirt or a doll?"
I'm just saying, I don't know. I did all the stuff. They took hundreds and hundreds of photos in all the same positions. Everything just stopped. Somebody's got a thumb on me, man and won't let it happen.
SK: How did Gillberg's return come about in 2017, with Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens?
Gillberg: It was great. They (WWE) just called me.
They said, "Hey, we need you."
I said, "Okay, I'm on my way."
Now, it's not like that anymore. You have to get a blood test, an aids test, this test, and that test. I said, "You want me there in three days and have a month's worth of tests done?"
So, I called my doctor, and he said, "Come on down, Duane."
He literally stayed open late, ran everything, and sent everything to them the next day. [WWE] sent me my tickets and everything, and I went and did the deal.
The funny thing is, I told Kevin [Owens], "I'm going through that monitor (the led board where ring apron used to be)"
[Owens] said, "Ehhh, I don't think so."
"You don't know me," I said to Kevin.
"You don't know that monitor." [Owens] replied.
He grabbed me, whipped me into that monitor. If you look, I'm like ten feet from it, and I dove as hard as I could. It didn't move. You couldn't hear, but Kevin went, "I told ya."
The people were cheering like crazy. There's another thing, [WWE] created a complete Festival of Friends playset. Where's Gillberg? They had everything that was in the ring, where's Gillberg? You know what it is, it's a millionaire going, "No."