The WWE Character Ted DiBiase Was Not Impressed By

WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase has shared his candid thoughts on one of WWE’s more unconventional characters from the New Generation Era, Mantaur.

Speaking on his podcast, Everybody’s Got a Pod, DiBiase did not hold back in expressing his dissatisfaction with the gimmick.

“I was never impressed, I really wasn’t.”

DiBiase said bluntly when discussing Mantaur, a character known for entering the ring wearing a giant Minotaur head and incorporating animalistic behaviours like trampling and mooing into his persona. DiBiase acknowledged that WWE’s creative direction at the time was aimed at capturing the attention of a younger audience, but he felt Mantaur’s character failed to connect with the broader fanbase.

“It’s kind of like even him wearing that silly monster, whatever that thing was to the ring. I know that we wanted to attract younger people. But there’s still a large portion of the fans that are full-grown adults.”

Reflecting on the gimmick’s place in WWE history, DiBiase suggested that even Vince McMahon might view Mantaur as a rare creative misstep.

“I think if you even asked Vince about Mantaur today, he’d say, ‘Oops!’”

Mantaur debuted in the mid-1990s during WWE’s New Generation Era, a time characterised by colourful, exaggerated personas. While the era produced several memorable characters, Mantaur’s gimmick struggled to find its footing and quickly faded into obscurity.

Which Wrestling Creative Process Does Ted DiBiase Think Is Bulls**t?

Ted DiBiase spoke about the idea of wrestlers having creative control clauses written into their contracts and how he believes that this notion is “bulls**t.” DiBiase said that he believes wrestlers should trust the companies that they work for and their creative directives.

H/t to ITRWrestling.com