Bruce Prichard Discusses The Inspiration For The Eugene Character

On the latest episode of Something To Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard talked about the inspiration for the Eugene character that Nick Dinsmore portrayed. In the storyline, the character was the overly excited nephew of Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. You can check out some highlights below:

On Eugene: “I like the Eugene character. He was a fun, simple character that the audience adored. It was a throwback to — I like to compare Eugene to an Ivan Putski, that was a character that was somewhat simple in their beliefs and how they looked at life, and everything about it. So that was Eugene. There was an innocence about him. And he was a lovable character. So, I was always a fan, I thought he was a lot of fun. He was a lot of fun to work with. And the audience adored him.

“I think if the audience didn’t like it and it was bad, they would have reacted that way and said ‘No, this is terrible.’ They didn’t; they loved him. They embraced him. And it’s always good to have a character that you can put your arm around and try to help them through. And if that character feels, you can feel that character needs the support of the audience. Then that is a good babyface character.”

On the character not being intended as a special needs character: “Neither was Eugene. He’s a simple character. If you want to look at it that way and if that’s how you view it, then that’s you making that decision. That’s not what we were trying to do. And Ivan Putski portrayed someone that came here from another country. that didn’t know the language, and that was very innocent in his views. And that was a portrayal of Eugene as well.”

On drawing inspiration for the character: “[I] just tried to try to help him in many ways. From again, an Ivan Putski, to Igor, to some of those different characters. But to be a very simple, and — not unintelligent, but a very naive and shielded person that loved everybody. And that went into life with a different perspective than everybody else. He wasn’t cynical. He didn’t see if anybody had any ulterior motives or anything in dealing with him. He just went into it with love. And that was it.”

On the character being based on a fan: “No, the name Eugene was based on Eugene — God, I forget his last name. Bucky was his father in Pittsburgh. And his father carried the ring. His father was part of — had trucking services. His dad was a great guy. And he came, and Eugene was his son. So yeah, we took the name Eugene from that. It is kind of an homage to Eugene. He’s a great kid.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something To Wrestle With an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.