I wanna start at the beginning for those that may be lapsed fans or
they aren't as familiar with who Harvey Wippleman was.
How did you get to be in the business?
>> Well, I started off putting up the ring when I was 14 years old.
I went on a tour with a guy named Dale Mann who ran MCW,
which was based out of Jamestown, Kentucky.
And I put up the ring and took it down for him, and they were making a tour.
They went to South Dakota, Iowa, I went up to Minnesota somewhere.
And I just kept on with them, I never even went back home.
There's no cell phones or nothing back then.
Mom and daddy didn't have no idea where I was.
I had to call them a few days later and said I'm in the wrestling business now.
[LAUGH] >> That's like running away to join
the circus.
>> Yeah, no doubt. And that was 1979, and
I haven't went back yet.
I guess I'm still rolling 41 years later, making a living.
But you know, I owe whole career and life to certain people.
One of them is Jerry The King Lawler, undoubtably.
He gave me my break in the business and my breaking life.
I mean, he made me a manager.
A lot of people think me and
Lawler met here in Memphis because where I'm at the Mississippi is his area.
>> Sure. >> We met in Hawaii,
as my dear friend Rocky Johnson booked me there for
Polynesian Pacific wrestling, and that's where I met Lawler.
And he had me managed him that day.
And I said, I grew up watching you on TV, man.
I want to come to Memphis wrestling so bad.
Well, we got Jimmy Hart, now you've already got Tojo.
We can't have three managers.
When Hart left, man I called Lawler 50 times a day.
And he finally gave me my start date in Memphis, and the rest was history.
So to this day, my yard is paid for, my house is paid for.
It ain't a mansion, but it's mine.
I owe all that to Lawler, because if he hadn't given me my break,
I don't know what I'd be doing.
>> How did the union of Downtown Bruno and Sin come to be?
>> In 1986 I was in Kansas City working for Bob Goggle and the NWA.
And I was working there managing the Baton Twins, managing the Cuban Assassin and.
Robert Fuller got in touch with me and
said we want to do Lord Humongous with the hockey mask.
>> The hockey mask, right.
The Mad Max road warrior.
>> Yeah, exactly.
You'd be the perfect mouthpiece for him, cuz this guy don't speak.
And Robert said do you know a guy that's big and stout and tall, whatever?
I said yeah, but I'm not sure how to reach him.
I'll try.
So I started making calls around West Memphis.
And bear in mind again, no cell phones back then, this is 30 whatever years ago.
So I finally found out Sid was doing construction for a guy named Bobby Jones.
So I called Bobby Jones and said have Sid call me.
And Sid and I weren't even tight back then, we knew each other but-
>> Right.
>> Anyway, he called me and I told him hey, how'd you like to go to Alabama and
start for Continental as Lord Humongous?
Man I'd love to, so me and Sid met in Memphis.
We followed each other to Birmingham where we found a little cheap place to stay and
went to Continental and stayed there for a while.
Then a good friend of mine, Eddie Gilbert,
came in, took over the booking duties from Robert Fuller.
Well, Eddie brought in a manager to be his manager.
Now, don't forget Eddie was the booker, so he was in charge.
>> Right.
>> I was the former booker's manager.
So guess who the manager was, Paul E Dangerously.
>> Really?
>> So, I'd seen the writing on the wall.
I mean, I like Eddie and I love Paul, we're very close.
At that time, me and Paul were at each other's throat.
We were two young managers of the exact same age and whatever,
trying to get a good spot in whatever organization we worked with.
So I knew my time was limited.
So I gave my notice and went back to Memphis.
So Sid stayed there, then when Eddie went to WCW
he took Sid with him and took the mask off and he was Sid.
So the rest history for Sid.
And then once they were looking for a manager in WWE, Sid mentioned me.
They gave me a tryout, I went to Wooster had my tryout and
I've been there ever since.
>> Tell me what it was like living on the road.
WWE is wildly popular at the time.
And you're with these truly larger than life characters.
You've got Sid, you manage the Warlord,
you spent time with Kamala, Giant Gonzales.
Paint me a picture of what life was like in those days.
>> Well, we were on the road.
I remember one time I was on road for almost 30 days at one walk,
because we'd go to TV.
Back then we TV every three weeks, we'd do it three days in a row.
It wasn't like it is now, back then we'd do 30 matches.
So we were there for hours and hours now, and then we'd go to the house shows.
We might go overseas, we might have a Saturday Night's main event or something.
So I mean it was constant.
I mean, it wasn't easy, I'll tell you that.
But then I would go into restaurants or hotels, whatever course.
Yeah, like you said, Sid, Warlord,
even if you didn't follow the product at the time you knew they were somebody.
>> Part of Wippleman,
not necessarily a part of the on screen end of WWE anymore for quite some time.
Yet Bruno's been a constant in the backstage area.
I mean, as soon as I started coming to television I remember getting to know you.
Can you explain to everybody your role nowadays in WWE?
>> If I want to stand here, maybe I could go ahead and put a tie on and a suit and
say I'm the concierge of the WWE.
>> [LAUGH] >> I'm a washed up guy that runs errands
for everybody and I jump through hoops for millionaires, and I don't care.
I love it.
You know what, I love what I do now more than I ever loved it.
Managing, wrestling, refereeing, I love what I do now.
I enjoy it.
We should be in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the middle of the winter.
And they said we need a surfboard.
We got a guy coming in, we're gonna call him The Surfer with a surfboard.
Nobody can find a surfboard.
I'll be back.
Give me 20 minutes and I'll be back with a surfboard.
And that's what I do.
I take pride in a lot of small things too.
This top guy, his suitcase got delayed by airlines.
Will you go to the airport and get it, sure.
This guy forgot something in his hotel room, go get it.
Because everybody trusts me.
I'm happy to do whatever I can for anybody.
>> Any particular angles on screen that you look back on and
have fond memories of?
>> Well, it was pretty much the greatest
thing was when I got to manage Sid against Hogan, the main event of WrestleMania.
From a guy that started off setting up the ring and going to the Dakotas and
what not for Dale Mann.
Standing in the ring for the main event for
the biggest attraction there is, WrestleMania.
>> Sure, sure.
>> And that kind of validates your existence.
Like I said, I know I wasn't the main event, I was there.
If I didn't show up that day, the show would have went on, I ain't stupid.
But just the fact that I was there and part of that, that was huge.
That was a really big deal to me.
And I know this was goofy, but
when I got to dress up like the woman and win the championship for one day.
>> It was Harvina, correct?
[LAUGH] >> Harvina.
In your hometown of Pittsburgh,
actually. >> Was that
in Pittsburgh? >> Yeah.
Yeah, it sure there was.
But I mean, I know it was a goofy thing or whatever.
But I can tell people to this day without lying, I was a champion at the WWE.
And- >> It's true.
>> A lot of people can't say that, so.
>> Right, what is the art of the promo for a great manager?
You mentioned tearing someone down and build them up.
Talk a little bit more about that.
>> Well, the one thing is get the people's attention.
All right, build it up like Corey Graves, just because you got
a head shape like a hubcap don't mean you are a big wheel around here.
Let me tell you something, brother.
If I can get you in the ring, I promise you I'm gonna hit you with so
many rights you'll be begging for a left, man.
I'll hit you with so many combinations, man, you're gonna think you're a safe.
Cause I am the man that walked that barb wire fence barefooted.
Been bad, been good, Dallas, Vegas or Hollywood.
168 pounds of walking, talking, roping, stomping, downtown destruction.
Brother, when I get through with you, it's gonna be a family weeping.
A mama cried, a graveyard digging, and a coffin behind it.
You know what Corey Graves, because it's like mama says it be that way sometimes.
>> That was tremendous.
Just turn it on like that, you still got it Bruno.
That's fantastic.
>> I wish my voice still had it.
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