Getting Ahead of the Whole Mantaur Thing

So Mantaur is going to be wrestling on one of the Joey Janela shows this upcoming Wrestlemania weekend. Mantaur has never been a thing, there have been no darkened corners of the internet where I've seen Mantaur referenced in hushed reverent tone. So let's get ahead of it. Let's see how much excitement Mantaur is worth!

Bruiser Mastino vs. Rambo CWA 9/23/93

ER: I had no idea what kind of crowds CWA was pulling in 1993! This is a pretty big set up, and this match completely rules. It's a "Bodyslam Contest" and I love the tricks and teases they use to make one of the more common moves actually seem special. I love stuff like this, like the amazing Kabuki/Adams superkick match, or the Austin/Flair no punches match, this match just ends whenever one of them hits a bodyslam. Mastino is a guy I haven't seen a ton of. He wasn't in WWF that long, and I'm a west coast guy so missed any east coast indies or ECW. But he's good here and I only imagine he'll be even more improved by his WWF run. This is also exciting because it's THE TRUTH COMMISSION EXPLODING! How odd that they'd wind up on a short-lived team just a few years later. Rambo became Sniper, Bruiser became Tank, but the WWF are fucking cowards so they never pulled the trigger on Mantank or Tanktaur. Anyone who has seen the 1986 gem Eliminators needs to go out and watch that after you watch this dope bodyslam contest, then we can grouse about the incredible missed opportunity of a Mantank.

Anyway, this is great. We get a bunch of fun teases around a bodyslam, Rambo turns a slam attempt into a crossbody, later he hits an actual cross body and Mastino tries to steady himself to turn it into a slam before falling backwards, Rambo gets him up for a slam but Mastino grabs the top rope to save himself, all great stuff that played well in the match. And the match works because it's not just 12 minutes of guys shoving one hand into their opponent's nethers to try for a slam, they actually work a nice match with slam attempts peppered in. I think my absolute favorite deep psychology part of the match is when Rambo goes on an offensive sequence that almost always ends in a bodyslam. Picture any hot tag where the opponents are charging the hot tag: you get guys running into hiptosses, dropkicks, and usually a bodyslam or two. Well Mastino starts running in, eats a couple hiptosses, and then when he runs in for what our brains have been conditioned to think "this is the bodyslam", Mastino just rolls out of the ring. Brilliant. Rambo was so so here but the crowd was into him. Mastino though, I really liked. He hit and missed a nice avalanche, threw lariats with a heavy arm, had a nice stout guy standing splash, a good smothering chinlock....Huh. There is some fire to this smoke.

Mantaur vs. Jason Arndt WWF Raw 1/9/95

ER: This felt like an important note to hit, as it was Mantaur's Raw debut, and it was against a guy I really like in Jason Arndt (the future Joey Abs/C&A candidate with the Mean Street Posse). So it's a big debut against a guy I like, and it's a fun squash! It's under 2 minutes, and Mantaur does a lot of running avalanches and body attacks, which is obviously something he *should* be doing. His avalanches look good, and the running body attacks could use a little more quick burst. Think of Vader leaping into someone with his belly, his arms also move forward as if he's hurling his body at his opponent, even though he's not attacking with his arms. Mantaur just runs in belly first, arms outstretched, and it looks kind of funny. But he's got a nice powerslam, and an amusing standing splash (not leaping so much as just falling onto Arndt). There is still some fire to this smoke.

Mantaur vs. Leroy Howard WWF Raw 1/23/95

ER: Our next logical step was Mantaur against a BattlArts guy. Howard is a large guy who did mostly job work on US TV but somehow got the BattlArts gig as Rastaman. This is another Mantaur squash, and we get a bunch more really nice avalanches, a big belly to belly, and two great spots where he catches a Howard crossbody and gives him a big powerslam. The first was really impressive, with Mantaur catching a crossbody off the top rope like he was Mark Henry, and the next was catching a crossbody running off the ropes. So the power spots look good and the avalanches look crushing, and he committed nicely to a missed elbow. But he does seem to have trouble filling time, which can be problematic. There was a moment that looked very first year wrestler, where Howard was on the mat, Mantaur threw a half-hearted stomp, bent down to lift Howard but didn't, walked a couple steps away, looked around, walked back, and then picked Howard up. It looked like he got lost and didn't know what to do next, which is weird since his offense is almost entirely made up of avalanches and powerslams. A fat guy shouldn't ever get lost and wonder what to do to an opponent on the mat. Step on him. Drop an elbow. Sit on him. Do anything. The fire may be going out.

Mantaur vs. Razor Ramon WWF Superstars 2/21/95

ER: We get a chance to see Mantaur against a major name, but it does not go great for Mantaur. This is basically an extended Razor squash. And I get it. There weren't many guys the crowd was into more than Razor, and Mantaur was an egg shaped man who moo'd and wore Future Ronda makeup. The competitive parts were really fun and showed what this match could have been. There's a great early spot where Mantaur keeps shoving Ramon into the corner, only for Ramon to casually walk out and slap him hard. You don't see shoving a lot in wrestling, outside of Flair matches. It can be an effective way to build a spot. And when Razor takes over it's really fun. He hits a cool Rick Steiner bulldog off the middle buckle, and a nice back suplex that looked extra cool because it's a fat guy splatting on the mat from a back suplex, duh. I figured we weren't getting a Razor's Edge to finish, because holy cow (right?), but the actual finish is even more spectacular: Razor tosses Mantaur over the top to the floor like he was eliminating him from the Rumble, and Mantaur takes a HUGE bump, flying way past the rope and crashing hard to the floor, getting counted out. This was a major bump and totally made the match.

Mantaur vs. Bob Holly WWF Raw 5/15/95

ER: This was actually really good, definitely the best match of the Mantaur that I've retroactively watched. This match shows the potential the Razor Ramon match had. Mantaur getting to maul Holly while Holly bumped effectively, with some peppered in Holly nearfalls and a triumphant Holly win, was a really fun match structure. Mantaur got to show his power and did more nice elbow drops than he's done in what I've seen. He has a nice elbowdrop and should do it more. Holly bumped around impressively for all of it, good babyface. Holly takes an especially big bump to the floor and it was the first time I'd really seen Mantaur come off like a monster. Holly's comebacks were all good, with a convincing school boy and a really great missile dropkick that I don't remember him having. Mantaur really leaned into it and it added to the harder than average hitting feeling of the match. Mantaur loses in convincing fashion, but it felt like Holly got an upset. This was a good TV match.

Mantaur might actually be a thing.