Fun Fact About Mantaur's Inclusion In Young Rock

The second season of Dwayne Johnson's NBC sitcom, "Young Rock," made its return back in March. In the 12-episode season, we see a young Johnson working to find his footing in life, trying out for the Canadian Football League and the WWF. His tryout for the latter occurred in the eighth episode, "Corpus Christi," where many WWE legends appear including "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and Mantaur.

The inclusion of Mantaur was something Brian Gewirtz, executive producer of the show, wanted to have. Gewirtz was a guest on the Under The Ring podcast and revealed how his appearance came to be.

"I wanted to make sure Mantaur was in the episode. Mantaur is just such a great visual," he said. "I mean where else in wrestling are you gonna see a guy with a giant bison head on top of his body enter a wrestling ring."

But Mantaur's appearances was more of a stylistic choice as there is a slight inaccuracy in the recounting of events. Even though Johnson and Mantaur were both involved with the WWF in 1996, they weren't there at the same time.

"I think technically speaking Mantaur's time in WWF was a few months before Dwayne Johnson showed up to do his dark match in Corpus Christi," Gewirtz said. "And you know we talked about it and it was all, 'you know what, it's a risk we're willing to take.' The five people who might be looking up when Mantaur debuted, when Dwayne Johnson had his dark match, it's like you know what, 'they'll be watching anyway. And if not, you know, so be it. It wasn't meant to be.'"

The third season of "Young Rock" is set to premiere on November 4 on NBC.