Manders chasing pro wrestling dream
How’s this for a memorable Saturday.
You graduate from the University of Iowa in the morning and then that night, you hit the road and jump in the ring to chase your dream of making it big in the world of professional wrestling.
Welcome to the world of Steve Manders.
The former Iowa fullback has jumped in with both feet into professional wrestling and he couldn’t be happier.
Saturday evening, the Maryland native wrestled the third match of his professional career. Wearing black and gold trunks, Manders had his parents, along with Iowa teammates Bo Bower, Cole Croston, and George Kittle in the crowd. Kittle’s parents also made the trip to the Walcott Coliseum in Walcott, Iowa and it was the new San Francisco 49er that stole the show.
Kittle, who is a huge pro wrestling fan, jumped in the ring to save Manders after his match. He was joined by two other fan favorites, who chased the bad guys out of the ring. They threw one of the bad guys that had fled the ring back in to Kittle, who then executed a ‘Stone Cold Stunner” made famous by WWE legend Steve Austin.
The former Iowa tight end was recently selected in the NFL Draft by the 49ers, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Did delivering the “Stunner” in a wrestling ring surpass being drafted?
“I don’t want to speak for George,” Manders said with a laugh. “But, let’s just say I think he really enjoyed delivering a stunner in the wrestling ring. He was pretty pumped up about the whole thing.”
Of course the clip of an NFL draft pick delivering the “Stunner” went viral on twitter and brought plenty of attention to Scott Country Wrestling, who put on the show.
The path to Saturday night is an interesting one for Manders, both on and off the football field.
How does a kid who played high school football in Maryland and also at a famous military academy in Viriginia end up walking on to a school in Iowa City, IA?
Manders was looking for a way to earn a scholarship out of high school and transferred from Archbishop Spalding High School in Maryland to Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. There he met Jim Reid, who at that time was still working for the University of Virginia. Reid was fired from his job with there and quickly found work at the University of Iowa as the new linebackers coach.
Reid and Manders stayed in touch and because the Hawkeyes were one of the few college programs that use a fullback on a regular basis, it seemed like a good fit.
“I was a true fullback and Coach Reid said I should walk-on because he thought it was a good fit, so I said, why not and gave it a shot,” Manders said.
Manders actually started his Iowa journey as a linebacker, playing the position that Reid coached. Then, as Iowa prepared for the Outback Bowl game against LSU, he played fullback on the scout team and that led to a permanent position switch.
“I did such a good job knocking around Morris, Kirksey, and Hitchens that they moved me full-time to fullback after the bowl game,” he said.
Playing fullback isn’t a glamour position. In Iowa’s offense, it essentially means you are a third guard sent to the line of scrimmage with the task of helping to create a hole for the running back. Manders spent most of his career down the depth chart for the Hawkeyes behind guys like Adam Cox, Macon Plewa, Brady Ross, and Drake Kulick.
That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a contributor to the program.
He has a pretty lively personality that’s well suited for his current professional pursuit.
“I was one of the guys on the team that made sure the little things got done and tried to provide motivation each and every day. I’d quote Ric Flair and other wrestlers in the locker room and I’d come out and bust my butt in practice every day to try and get my teammates better.”
He earned the nickname “Grandfather” from Kirk Ferentz because he looked older than many of the other players on the team and he had a bald head. The nickname that really stuck can from strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle, who is also a professional wrestling fan.
“One day we were doing heavy squats and Coach Doyle sees me and starts yelling ‘Mankind’ and it kind of stuck,” Manders said.
For those who don’t follow the WWE, “Mankind” was a character played by WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley during his career. Given Manders love of wrestling, he embraced it right away.
Manders wrestled in his first two years of high school. While he enjoyed the sport, he really wanted to focus on football for the rest of his time as a prep and hoped to earn a D1 scholarship.
“I wasn’t amazing, but I wasn’t terrible either,” Manders said with a laugh describing his prep wrestling career.
His love of professional wrestling began when he was seven or eight years old. Like most fans of the sport, he was introduced to it by watching shows like Monday Night Raw with his father. This was the era of Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and he was hooked.
“I would see this bald guy drinking beers and having fun. Stone Cold was cool and then you have The Rock. They were larger than life figures and they were almost like superheroes to me.”
The love of wrestling never left Manders and he continued to watch each week and a few of his teammates would join in the fandom.
“We would have a good amount of guys stop by and watch. Tyler Kluver and George (Kittle) were the guys that were probably into the most, but (Bo) Bower, Ike (Boettger), and Cole (Croston) would stop by and watch too.”
Being a fan is one thing, but pursuing it as a career is another. Thanks to a meeting with a former Hawkeye football player, Manders really started to believe that chasing the pro wrestling dream could become a reality.
“Big E really got the ball rolling for me,” Manders said.
Big E is former Iowa defensive lineman Ettore Ewen, who has gone on to become a star in the WWE after leaving Iowa City. Ewen played for the Hawekyes in the mid 2000’s, but injuries ended his career early. After graduating he got involved with power lifting competitions and was discovered by the WWE and the rest is history.
When the WWE brings shows Iowa, Ewen always makes his way back to the Iowa football complex to spend time with Coach Doyle to workout. Knowing that Manders was a huge WWE fan, Doyle let him know that he would be stopping by to tour the new football facility for the first time.
“I had to be there for it and honestly, I was blown away by how down to earth and cool he was,” he said. “We talked about wrestling and my interest in it and he told me about a new wrestling school that was opening up in the Quad Cities that was run by Seth Rollins, so that kind of got the ball rolling. He gave me his number and since then he has become a huge mentor to me and given me great advice about how to get into the business.”
With graduation approach in the next year, Manders kept coming back to his desire to give professional wrestling a shot. Rollins, who grew up in Buffalo, Iowa, was one of the top superstars in the WWE and the chance to learn from him was too good to pass up.
Manders went to the internet and checked out the wrestling school, Black and Brave Wrestling Academy and became even more interested. He decided to give it a shot, but first, there was a conversation he had to have with his parents.
“I’m not going to lie, at first they were a little skeptical,” Manders said with a laugh. “My mom said at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for you and she was supportive. My dad was hoping I would try to continue to play football, but he was supportive as well.”
He signs up for the session that began in January, just a few days after the Hawkeyes would play Florida in the Outback Bowl. As luck would have it, the WWE’s Monday Night Raw show was also in Tampa the same day as the game. Big E and Rollins came to the game and were on the Iowa sidelines and hooked up Manders, his father, Kittle, and Kluver with tickets to the show that night.
“The game obviously didn’t go well, but after the game we went to Raw and had a great time,” he said. “Then I went right back to Iowa. No trip home. No two weeks off for winter break. I was headed to Black and Brave to get started.”
There were about 15 students enrolled on the first day of this session of the academy. That number quickly dwindled to 11 after a couple of grueling workouts.
“Those first couple of days, they really push you to try and find out how bad you really want this. Honestly for me, it really felt totally natural from the start. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.”
Manders balanced his final 10 hours of classwork to go along with the 12 weeks of training three days a week. He would drive and hour to the facility in the Quad Cities and learn his craft from 4-10 p.m. and then drive back to Iowa City and wrap up those final classes to complete his degree in exercise science.
He’s learned his craft from Rollins and Brave in the ring. He’s developed a gimmick revolving around being a Hawkeye, which he jokes will make him a fan favorite in Iowa, but maybe not in Illinois, Wisconsin, or Minnesota.
Every wrestler always has a finisher and Manders is of course, playing off his football background.
“I’m using the move that Edge and Christian used, the Killswitch. I call it “The Touchdown” because you are kind of spiking the opponent into the mat.”
It’s hard to say where this will go for Manders. He’s chasing his dream that he hopes one day will land him a contract with the WWE. Big E has shown that a former Hawkeye can make a dream become a reality. He’s following the same path that Rollins did wrestling local shows for Scott County Wrestling to perfect his craft before becoming a two time world champion in the WWE.
The path to the WWE continues this Friday night for Manders. He will be wrestling at a show in Iowa City at Gabe’s starting at 9 pm. Tickets will be available at the door, so come out and cheer on a Hawkeye on his home turf.