Former WWE Superstar Retires From Wrestling After Final Match

Former WWE wrestler Gillberg has officially retired from wrestling. He had his final match at Adrenaline Championship Wrestling against another former WWE star – James Ellsworth. With the match, Gillberg says goodbye to a full wrestling career.

Gillberg’s Last Match

Shortly after the match, Ellsworth wrote a heartfelt message on his social media account.

Who Is Gillberg?

Not everyone might be familiar with Gillberg, even though he had long wrestling career. So, let’s take a look at his career and his memorable moments.

Duane Gill (Gillberg) started his career in the indies. He made his professional wrestling debut under the name “Pain” alongside Barry Hardy in 1990. One year later, the pair would become the first ever Tag Team Champions of the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation.

After winning the title in 1991, he was noticed by the WWE and became a jobber for the then World Wrestling Federation. Despite being jobber, he got to share the ring with icons such as The Undertaker, Kamala, Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan and The Bushwackers. He would remain with the World Wrestling Federation until 1994 and not return until 1998.

Gill would return to the WWE in 1998 as Mankind’s mystery opponent. Later, he would join the J.O.B. Squad. However, his most notable gimmick would come after winning the Light Heavyweight Championship by defeating Christian. He was dubbed “Gillberg,” which became a parody on well-known WWE legend Goldberg.

Duane Gill made sporadic appearances in the WWE until 2018 and then returned to the indie scene. He won the IWC High Stakes Championship, which he later lost to James Ellsworth. Since the pair had quite the lengthy feud on the indies, it explains why he chose Ellsworth for his retirement match.

Duane Gill’s Other Projects

It is unclear what or who is next for Gillberg. He opened a wrestling school in Maryland in 2010, which has now been closed permanently. The school came under fire when a 25-year-old died while practicing a wrestling move. While the incident was deemed an accident, it seems that the death of the young wrestler had a huge influence on the success of the school.

Gillberg is currently listed as a WWE alumni. Since he is now fully retired from the wrestling scene, it is possible that an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame is in the works for Gillberg. After all, he remained with the company for a very long time. While he did not reach the heights of his parody character Goldberg, he is remembered by everyone who watched World Wrestling Federation programming in the 90s and early 2000s.

Many former WWE wrestlers have also received a backstage role in the WWE, and we do not rule this out for Gillberg either. If such development should occur, we will keep you posted. For now, we look back fondly to Gillberg’s finest moments.