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Former WWE wrestler Mike ‘Mantaur’ Halac dies at age 55

Mike Halac, known for his time with WWE (then-WWF) and ECW in the mid-1990s, died recently. The news was shared on Facebook by a promoter who’d booked the 55 year old for a convention in September. Halac’s daughter says her father died in his sleep.

Though he didn’t spend a lot of time on professional wrestling’s biggest stages, Halac made an impression — especially for his first WWE run as the Minotaur-inspired “Mantaur” character. He was only with the company for the first half of 1995, but in that time Mantaur was managed by Jim Cornette, involved in a feud between Hall of Famers Razor Ramon & Jeff Jarrett, and worked a Royal Rumble before putting over two other members of the WWE Hall in Bret Hart & Bam Bam Bigelow.

He spent the rest of that year in ECW as “Bruiser Mastino”, and returned to WWE the following year to work as an unnamed bodyguard for Goldust during Dustin Rhodes’ character’s program with Ultimate Warrior. Halac had gotten his start in Germany with Catch Wrestling Association, and that was one of several promotions he worked for from 1997 on. He retired as a full-time performer in 1999, and made his last appearance in the Clusterfuck Battle Royal at GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2019.

On behalf of the entire Cageside Seats community, we send our condolences to Halac’s family & friends. May he rest in peace.

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