Former WWE and ECW star Mike Halac (Mantaur, Bruiser Mastino) has passed away at the age of 55.
Halac’s daughter, Demi, announced his passing on his personal Facebook page this morning. She wrote, “I’m sorry to break the bad news that my dad has passed away. He went peacefully in his sleep. He’s no longer in pain. This really hit home to lose my father, he will forever be in my heart and many others. I love you dad. Make the skies beautiful for me [dove of peace emoji] [heart emoji x 2]”
There’s no word yet on Halac’s cause of death, but he noted in a 2021 interview that he lived with Type 2 diabetes.
Halac debuted as the Bruiser Mastino character for Europe’s Catch Wrestling Association in 1991. He left CWA in 1994 to return to the United States for a job with WWE. He worked his first few matches as Bruiser, but was then re-packaged as Mantaur. He eventually had Jim Cornette as his manager, and received somewhat of a push. His last WWE match as Mantaur was a loss to Bam Bam Bigelow at the Superstars of Wrestling tapings on June 6, 1995 in Wheeling, WV. His final appearance in that run came on July 23, 1995 at In Your House 2 from Nashville, where he acted as a Lumberjack for the WWE Title Match between then-champion & WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash (as Diesel) and Sycho Sid.
Halac then took his Mastino gimmick to the original ECW in December 1995, for a run that included four matches. He briefly returned to CWA in Germany, then returned to WWE in 1996 as an un-named bodyguard for Goldust. Halac then worked as Tank, a member of The Truth Commission, for USWA in 1997, which led to two WWE Shotgun Saturday Night appearances in June of that year. Halac’s USWA run included his only career title reign in the U.S. as he defeated WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title on March 15 of that year, and dropped the title back to Lawler one week later. Halac’s only WCW appearance was a Nitro dark match win over Damian 666 on September 22, 1997. He would go on to work a few more years in Europe and on the American indie scene. His last matches, as Mantaur, were a loss to Tito Santana for PWS in December 2012, a draw with CPA for PWS in September 2015, and an appearance in the Clusterfuck Battle Royal at GCW’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break 3 Part 2 on April 6, 2019.
Below are a few clips from Halac’s career:
https://youtu.be/VJfssV_FUMI
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