It's an indication of how cornball the Mantaur character was that it has become more infamous after the fact. When the gimmick first appeared on WWF television in January, 1995, it was just one in a long line of heel characters the company tried to push. In similar fashion to earlier failures such as Adam Bomb and Bastion Booger, Mantaur didn't really catch on with the audience. Now, the gimmick is used as a reminder of how thin on the ground ideas were in 1995. At first, Mantaur wore a large head piece, which was quickly removed from the character. Defeating a number of jobbers in enhancement matches, the man was supposed to be related to the Minotaur from Greek mythology. Not even the addition of the super-over Jim Cornette as his manager could help proceedings. Fans didn't really know what to make of the gimmick, because it wasn't especially stirring. Aside from having a strange appearance and being aligned with Cornette, there wasn't much that screamed out to fans that Mantaur should be hated. After a whole load of televised wins, Mantaur was promptly thrown out of the 1995 Royal Rumble by Lex Luger. From there, the character was shunted down the pecking order.
