Harvey Wippleman On How Young Rock Revived His Downtown Bruno Moniker

Harvey Wippleman has found new prominence due in part to being portrayed on Young Rock, and he recently discussed how the show revived his Downtown Bruno name. Wippleman spoke with WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard for a new interview, and you can check out a few highlights below:

On his appearance at 80s Wrestling Con: “Oh, absolutely. It’s always great to meet the fans, the ones I knew from before on a personal level or just the ones that remembered seeing me when I was at the ring and in the ring or whatnot. But that’s always nice. It’s also great to see some of the guys that I’ve known over the years that I hadn’t seen. I’m talking about other talents that I hadn’t seen in years. It’s always great. I’m looking forward to meeting and greeting a lot of those guys.”

On Young Rock reviving the Downtown Bruno name: “It is a full circle [moment] because I’ve been in the business 44 years now. Downtown Bruno is how it began, basically. Then of course I became Harvey [Wippleman] like you said. But since Young Rock came along and they featured a storyline, a major character in the Young Rock NBC show, about Dwayne’s friendship with me as Downtown Bruno has revitalized the name big time. So, everybody remembers Downtown Bruno now, or the ones that didn’t remember Downtown Bruno now they’ve been introduced to a brand-new character that actually started 44 years ago. So it’s kind of funny when you think about it.”

On how accurate the stories on Young Rock are: “Well, what’s funny is first of all, everybody asked me this. No, I never made eggs on the toilet. That never happened. But I mean, it’s reality, but it’s fictionalized. You know what I mean? The stories are based on truth, but some of it, they made it [funny], because it’s not just a straight-up drama, but it’s certainly a comedy as well. But it’s like, I guess we say a dramedy. So, they have to make it funny. They couldn’t make it just 100% realistic or it wouldn’t have any comedy to it. Basically, the stories are on the true side, but fictionalized.

“Now in season one, when Dwayne and a guy that [he] worked with at the pizza place bought him his first car from the bums, well, the truth is — and Dwayne has said this in many interviews and many forums — that I bought him his first car in Nashville and from the bums. There was a bum in the backseat asleep that we didn’t even see him back there because it was such a ratty, trashy vehicle.