 Wippleman as a manager in 1994 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bruno Lauer (1965-10-27)October 27, 1965 (age 60) Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.[2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bruno Dr. Lennerd Spazzinsky Downtown Bruno Harvey Wippleman Handsome Harvey Hervina Uptown Bruno |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) |
| Billed weight | 155 lb (70 kg) |
| Billed from | Walls, Mississippi[1] |
| Trained by | Geeto Mongol[2] |
| Debut | 1979[2] |
Bruno Lauer (born October 27, 1965) is an Americanprofessional wrestlingmanager,referee, and occasional wrestler, better known by hisring names,Harvey Wippleman andDowntown Bruno.
Wippleman began his career working inprofessional wrestling promotions in the Southern United States, especiallyMemphis. In the 1990s, he debuted in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he managed wrestlers such asSid Justice,Kamala,Giant Gonzalez andBertha Faye.
In 2000, Wippleman became the first and only man to win theWWF Women's Championship, thus, technically making him a one time wrestling world champion. He works backstage in WWE (formerly the WWF) and occasionally manages in the Memphis area as Downtown Bruno.
In 1979, Lauer attended anindependent wrestling show at acircus inPennsylvania.[2] In exchange for helping to tear down the ring after the show, he was given free admission.[2] He later joined the company and toured Ohio.[2] During this time,The Royal Kangaroos'Jonathan Boyd became his mentor.[2] Back in Pennsylvania,Geeto Mongol trained Lauer and gave him the ring name Dr. Lennerd Spazzinsky.[2]
He then moved to Memphis, where he performed under the name Downtown Bruno.[2][3] In 1986, he became the most prominentvillainous manager in Memphis.[2] In addition, wrestlers likeJerry Lawler andSid Eudy helped his career.[2] He continued to work in the Southern promotions for the rest of the late 1980s.[2] He also worked briefly inCentral States Wrestling territory in 1987. In September 1989, he won theContinental Wrestling Federation'sSoutheastern United States Junior Heavyweight Championship and held it until the promotion closed in November. It was in Continental in 1987 that he first teamed with Eudy, while Eudy was under a mask as an incarnation of Lord Humongous.[4]
In 1991, Sid Eudy helped bring Lauer to theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF).[2][3] He debuted as Harvey Wippleman, aPee-wee Herman esque character wearing a pin-striped suit with slacks cut at his shins, a red bow-tie, and aflat cap. He first managedBig Bully Busick.[5] When Busick left the company and Slick turned face, Wippleman took over managing The Warlord. His greatest acquisition was his real-life friend, Sid Justice. When Sid turned heel, working a program with Hulk Hogan leading to Wrestlemania, Wippleman became Sid Justice's manager and became "Dr. Harvey Wippleman". Wippleman would begin carrying a doctor's bag to the ring containing medical equipment. After Sid's matches against jobbers, Wippleman would retrieve a stethoscope from his bag and listen to the defeated wrestler's hearts.
Shortly after Sid left the company, Wippleman began managingKamala who returned to the WWF for the first time since 1987 and was also paired withKim Chee (played by Wippleman's real life best friend Steve Lombardi). It was during this time that Wippleman began a year long feud withThe Undertaker.[6] After Kamala was defeated by Undertaker in aCoffin match atSurvivor Series in 1992, Kamala left Wippleman andReverend Slick became his new manager.[7][8] Afterwards, Wippleman dropped the Dr. gimmick. He continued to feud with the Undertaker and brought a new wrestler to the WWF, the nearly eight-foot-tallGiant González. The feud culminated in aRest in Peace match atSummerSlam, which Undertaker won.[9] During this period, Wippleman also briefly managed Mr. Hughes, who left the WWF after a few months. Wippleman was also the manager ofAdam Bomb from October 1993 until June 1994, when Bomb turned face, and feuded withKwang, who was also being managed by Wippleman. Wippleman also managedWell Dunn, who faced theRock 'n' Roll Express in the RnR's WWF debut on October 10, 1993.[10]
Since debuting in the WWF, Wippleman was always at odds with ring announcerHoward Finkel, whom Wippleman believed introduced him in a condescending manner. AtWrestleMania X, Wippleman tore up Finkel's tuxedo, and Finkel shoved him to the mat. The feud culminated in atuxedo match on the January 9, 1995 edition ofMonday Night RAW, which Finkel won.[11]
Wippleman's next high-profile storyline was later in 1995, when he managed his on-screen girlfriendBertha Faye.[1][12] Faye, with Wippleman in her corner, won theWWF Women's Championship by defeatingAlundra Blayze atSummerSlam 1995.[13][14] After losing the WWF Women's Championship in late 1995, Faye was dropped from the WWF roster and Wippleman disappeared from television. According to Lauer, he and Bertha didn't get along.[15]
By spring 1996, Wippleman began making appearances onWWF Superstars, critiquing the referees during the matches in preparation to make a full report to WWF PresidentGorilla Monsoon about the apparent lack of consistency amongst the officials. Monsoon rewarded Wippleman for his efforts by making him an official referee. One of Wippleman's last appearances as a regular WWF referee during this time came on the March 10, 1997 episode ofRaw whenChynagorilla pressed him into a group of referees.On the May 19, 1997 episode ofRaw Wippleman appeared in a backstage segment withStone Cold Steve Austin telling Wippleman that he was going to be his tag team partner with Wippleman responding that he was scared. Wippleman also appeared as "Handsome Harvey," introducing D-Generation-X onRaw on November 24, 1997. This was to make fun ofRick Rude. Rude had been a member of DX and had just left the company a week earlier to go to WCW. This resulted in Rude being on bothRaw andWCW Monday Nitro on the same night. (At the time,Raw was taped every other week whileNitro was live every week).
In June 1999, after another period of absence from television broadcasts, Wippleman resurfaced on the June 13 episode ofSunday Night Heat as a referee in a match between then-Intercontinental ChampionJeff Jarrett andTest. Test won the match after outside interference, thus being named the new champion, but he was persuaded by Jarrett's valetDebra to overturn the result and return the belt. He also served as ascab official during the WWF referee strike in September 1999, including at theUnforgiven PPV, again refereeing a match with Jarrett defending the Intercontinental title against Chyna.
On January 31, 2000, Wippleman won the WWF Women's Championship fromThe Kat while he was in a disguise and used the name "Hervina" in a "Lumberjill Snow Bunny" match, which took place in a snow-filled pool surrounded by female wrestlers who kept the competitors from leaving the pool.[1][16] The win made him the first male to hold the Women's Championship.[16] He lost the title the following day (but broadcast on February 3) to Jacqueline in a match that lasted under a minute,[17] thus ending the shortest reign in the title's history. Through the remainder of 2000, Wippleman appeared in backstage and non-match segments of the WWF's television programming, including a segment on the April 23, 2000 episode ofSunday Night Heat where he appeared dressed up as a rabbit as part of a segment withAl Snow andSteve Blackman.
AtWrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, Wippleman managed Kamala during the gimmick battle royal.[18]
At the point theInvasion storyline began in 2001, he had disappeared from WWF programming, and was then working as aroad agent for the company.[19]
On November 15, 2010, for WWE's old school episode ofRaw, Wippleman returned to WWE, managing theBrooklyn Brawler in a squash loss toEzekiel Jackson.
As of 2011, Lauer was working with the WWE in backstage roles at television and pay-per-view events. In an interview withJim Korderas, Lauer described his role as "concierge", taking care of details such as food, rental cars and the like.[20]
On January 22, 2018, Harvey made a brief backstage appearance duringRaw 25 Years.
In 2020,Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson named Lauer as the "GOAT" (greatest of all time) for assisting Johnson early in his career and providing him a place to stay.[21]
Lauer grew up in Walls, Mississippi, near Memphis. According to Lauer, he spent his teenage years "sprawling on car hoods, smoking cigarettes, and drinking beer with no particular ambition in mind".[2] His drinking eventually caused Lauer to serve jail time in Memphis.[2]
In 1994, Lauer was in a car accident withJoey Marella, which claimed Marella's life and injured Lauer.[2] The crash occurred as a result of Marella falling asleep at the wheel while driving on the way toNewark.[22] Marella was not wearing his seat belt, but Lauer–the passenger–was wearing his.[22] Because of the severity of his injuries, Lauer incurred approximately $10,000 in medical expenses.[2] He wrote an autobiographyWrestling with the Truth, which was released in 2008.[2][3] Lauer isRoman Catholic. Lauer was elected as a member of the board of aldermen for a four-year term on June 8, 2021, in his hometown of Walls, Mississippi.[23]
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