I love stats and data. You know the “by the numbers” part of the Royal Rumble build up? I LOVE THAT!

Shortest time in the ring, most eliminations, most appearances etc. I’m all about that. There is a spreadsheet and set of rules that defines what makes the most “Rumbly” Rumble in my life, one day I’ll publish the results. One of the things you notice when looking at the success or failure of something using data points is…the data doesn’t always match up to your feelings. Which leads me to …

Duane Gill spent the early part of his career on the independents and working as a jobber in WWE. His career had been mostly forgettable, a familiar face at best, until someone realised this diminutive dude looked a bit like Goldberg…if you found him in a charity shop. So Duane Gill was given an opportunity to have a moment in the sun as GILLBERG!

Goldberg was truly one of WCW’s success stories. He went from American Football success, to the Power Plant, to the undefeated streak, the title. He also had a truly spectacular entrance, that just got you hyped up!

He was a bonafide WCW smash hit. Which made him ripe for a send up by the smart ass WWE booking team.

Enter forgettable jobber and poor man’s Goldberg, Duane Gill.

Why is this guy important, dear reader? Well, in a world where we judge success “By the Numbers”, Gillberg has a lot of people beaten.

Do you remember the WWF Light Heavyweight Title?

You can be forgiven for not knowing about it, in the “Land of the Giants” it was treated as a disposable mess for a great deal of its 1997 – 2002 existence (super ironic that it had a lineage dating back to 1981 in Japan). The peak of this mistreatment was a 448(!) day reign by the one and only…GILLBERG! GILLBERG! GILLBERG!

So please roll with me on this comedically embarrassing journey as I try to explain why Gillberg is technically a more successful wrestler than some of pro wrestling’s biggest and greatest names!

Let’s start with a big one that stings for me…

Rowdy Roddy Piper

The Hot Rod is often looked at as one of the best to ever lace up the boots. He wasn’t the most technical of wrestlers but his grasp of ring psychology, storytelling and promo ability were in another league. 

Piper was one of the best opponents for a white hot baby face. We can talk about his involvement in the main event of the original Wrestlemania, but I’d rather bring up his loss of the Intercontinental Title. After defeating the Mountie at the Royal Rumble in 1992, he was on a path to a face vs face match with the rising singles star, Bret Hart.

This is so worth 20 minutes of your time if you haven’t watched it. Bobby Heenan is on commentary and it might be one of his best performances ever. Back to the point…

This match ended Piper’s ONLY singles title in WWE after just 77 days.

In the battle of Gillberg vs Rowdy Roddy Piper…Gillberg wins by 371 days!

André the Giant

The 8th Wonder of the World, was global success in wrestling, he was a superstar across the US territories, Japan, Germany, Africa…long before the term “Superstar” became a part of wrestlings lexicon, André was the definition of that term. He is part of the Wrestlemania 3 main event, which could be argued it is the peak of the “Rock and Wrestling” era. It’s weird to think that such a wrestling icon won more tag team titles (in his declining years) than he did singles titles.

It’s even more shocking to think his only WWE title reign was wrapped up in a screwy plot line and technically only lasted 1(!) day.

Honestly, this scenario involves the Million Dollar Man and an evil twin referee. This is worth digging into on its own…maybe another time.

In the battle of Gillberg vs André the Giant…Gillberg wins by 447 days!

I can’t believe I just tried to prove that.

Mankind/Mick Foley

This feels so weird, but I’m doing it…

Mrs. Foley’s baby boy is another true wrestling icon and his title wins are remembered fondly by anyone who was watching through the Attitude Era. He was a mainstay of the WWE from 1996 right up to his “retirement” in 2000. Hell in a Cell matches, buried alive matches, boiler room brawls, the Rock and Sock Connection…from hardcore blood baths, the comedy gold on Raw, Foley was special and is absolutely a wrestling icon!

However…his WWE singles title runs were all about the chase and he was ultimately rewarded caretaker reigns to spice up the wider feud between The Rock/Steve Austin/Vince McMahon/Triple H. Those guys were the main characters in the story. They transcended wrestling, Foley was the wrestling fans star.

Foley’s 3 title reigns totalled and shockingly low 47 days!

So…in the battle of Gillberg vs Mick Foley…Gillberg wins by 401 days.

Mr Perfect

Curt “Mr Perfect” Hennig, the son of Larry “The Axe” Hennig and father of Curtis Axle/Joe Hennig is a 2 two time Intercontinental Champion and a wrestler many of us middle aged fools hated as kids, but learned to love when we revisited his matches and promos as adults.

There is no arguing his skill in the ring, his name is thrown around among those who brought technical wrestling back to the mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Matches with Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith, The Texas Tornado (Kerry Von Erich), Tito Santana…are all worth a deep dive.  His promos were legendarily arrogant and delivered with so much unbelievable style…

His run towards the big title was teased with matches with Hulk Hogan in 1990, but ultimately a broken tailbone in 1991 would complicate and sabotage the peak of his in ring years.

His two title reigns were during a long feud with The Texas Tornado over the Intercontinental title, first reign was 280 and second was 126. Which means, sadly Mr Perfect is 42 days short of Gillberg.

Dusty Rhodes

Let’s just start with the fact that Dusty never held a title in WWE. THAT IS SO WRONG! 

Dusty was decorated across the territories, his list of NWA regional titles is enormous, but if we are talking about NWA, it has to be the “10 pounds of gold” or the equally iconic “big gold belt”. Dusty’s feud with Ric Flair that culminated at the Great American Bash in 86, was one of the high points of NWA history and would see the organisation riding high for many years to follow…wait that’s familiar…it’s like there a theme with the Rhodes family having stories that put them at the heart of golden ages of wrestling…

Back to the point…

Dusty’s triumphant win resulted in a 14 day reign…14 days. With a combined total over 3 reigns of 107 days.

We live in a world where one of the greatest storytellers in wrestling held a major title 3 times and STILL managed to not hold a title longer than Gillberg!

This has been a massive joke. I hope you know that at no point do I genuinely believe Gillberg is better than anyone I’ve mentioned here, let alone the laundry list of other names I’ve left out. Ricky Steamboat, Pat Patterson, Jake Roberts, Rick Rude, Owen Hart…

Duane Gill is more of a wrestling success story, than a treasured champion. His comedic moment in the spotlight has resulted in pop up appearances over the years and frequent appearances at conventions. He is one of those guys who knows his place in wrestling history and happily sits at the table next to the Blue Meanie, James Elsworth, the Headbangers, Shockmaster among many others.

I wanted to have some fun with facts/stats and their value, because it’s not actually all about the numbers. In fact it’s actually all about how you feel. How many of your favourite matches weren’t even for a title? Some of The Undertaker’s streak matches had nothing to do with titles and frequently show up on lists of the best matches ever.

How many of the greatest wrestlers of all time didn’t hold the big title in their respective promotions? I think we can all agree on how special Scott Hall was, but he never held the big title, yet somehow Vince Russo and David Arquette have!?!. Does a title reign have value if it’s not being defended? The Fabulous Moolah (awful, awful person) technically held a title for 28 years, by the title being dormant and then brought back.

Matt Cross is the current holder of the Olde Wrestling title with a reign of over 4,200 days (depending on when you read this). Does that make him better than Roman Reigns? I’ll leave that decision up to you… Michael Partridge

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