During an appearance on One on One with Teddy Long, Harvey Wippleman recalled first meeting The Rock.
Dwayne Johnson and Harvey Wippleman have been close friends for many years. Rocky Johnson, the father of Johnson, and the former manager were colleagues in the 1980s and were friends.
When Rock initially arrived in Nashville, he was sent to reside with Wippleman. Wippleman was tasked with keeping an eye on the trouble-prone kid.
“I’ve known Dwayne since he was a child. Rocky Johnson, who was his dad, was fundamental in breaking me into the business and getting me going in this profession that thankfully I’ve been in for 43 years going on 44. So, Rocky brought me to Hawaii in 19– I’m the world’s worst at years, but I think it was ’83…. [he] brought me to Hawaii to manage, and that’s how I started managing. Running around the ring, choking the guy when the referee wasn’t looking.”
“Rocky had other plans when he came [to Memphis]. He brought his son with him, Dewey, Dwayne… He asked me to let his son live with me, and of course I know him from Hawaii and everything. I said, ‘Of course, Rocky.’ So, Dwayne came and lived with me. Never expected it…
“Dwayne lived with me at the Alamo Plaza, and he loved to drive. He was already 6′ 2″ or whatever. He loved to drive. Well, I loved to drink beer and back then I was a problem drinker, I ain’t going to lie. So we had an arrangement. At night out in the towns, we would drive to lower Broadway in Downtown Nashville.
Well now it’s all gentrified, back then it was nothing but old redneck honky tonks and beer joints, alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, guys singing in the street with a bucket in front of them, you name it. It was the worst place you could be. So naturally, that’s where me and Dwayne went every night out on the town. He would he would drive me, I’d drink beer. He’d stand behind me in the bar, he looked like he was 30 when he was that age. So anyway, we got real close.”
H/t to 411Mania