The Greatest Hits Of The Legends

Four true blue wrestling legends on Thanksgiving? Sounds like a winning Survivor Series team to me! Instead of once again talking about the past glories of wrestling on Thanksgiving night, I thought it’d be fun to look back at four Mattel WWE Legends figures that are suddenly new again. It’s the Mattel WWE Legends Greatest Hits series. Exclusive to your favorite bullseyed retailer, the set started hitting stores earlier this month. And what about that phantom fifth figure? He’s still on the back! Grab some bread, Dukes mayo and either white or dark meat. It’s time for your first turkey sandwich of the night and a look at some toys!

While the initial Mattel WWE Greatest Hits line has already had several legends included, a retailer exclusive subset has now been introduced and is dedicated solely to the stars of yesteryear. The Greatest Hits concept itself brings previously released figures back to the line, almost always with some sort of upgrade. For the first set of Legends we’ve got The Ultimate Warrior, The Honky Tonk Man, Terry Funk and The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. The four are packaged in the Legends box design that we’re all quite familiar with. It will also likely be the last set to be in this particular box design as the next regular Legends set release is already known to be coming in brand new packaging. This set has been arriving to the stores in a “sidekick” (those cardboard displays that hang at the end of an aisle) featuring the same art as the individual boxes.

These four figures were originally released before three major design changes in the Mattel line: “True FX” facial scans, extra elbow jointing and removable hands. If you already have the four it’s up to you if picking up the new versions are worth the upgrade. Interestingly, Bruno Sammartino is still shown on the back of the box. The Living Legend was originally scheduled as the fifth figure in the series but was ultimately moved to a main line release in the Elite Series 110. Seeing as that this figure was, arguably, the best of the series, it may not be such a bad move. Bruno has only ever had one release in the Mattel line and that was a decade ago. This figure will seemingly have a greatly updated face thanks to the new technology and, for the first time as a figure anywhere, Bruno will be released in green trunks. It should be noted that while he remains on the packaging for this series, he was omitted from the store display art.

One of these figures is brand new to me, personally, and that would be Davey Boy Smith. This was the very first figure of the British Bulldog released by Mattel over a decade ago and, at the time, I simply wasn’t sold on the changeover from Jakks. I was basically buying figures such as Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage who Jakks hadn’t made or previously released characters with all-new looks from Mattel such as short-haired SummerSlam ’90 Rick Rude. For whatever reason, short-haired Hart Foundation Davey didn’t make my cut back then. Now he does. I’ll say that he isn’t quite bulky enough and maybe that put me off of the original release. We all remember how big Davey was at the time, albeit with tragic consequences. Still, I’m glad to finally get the figure and the soft goods Hart Foundation vest is great.

The Ultimate Warrior is always a favorite and a hot seller. This look has been done several times but the Elite version here was first available in a Flashback series that I reviewed here on the blog so many years ago. Included are the Macho King’s “breakaway” scepter (the plastic-y Royal Rumble ’91 version that was used to cost the Warrior the title while he was wearing this attire) and the WWF “winged eagle” championship belt on the never-before-released pinkish-purple strap. The inclusion of a “new” belt should cause this figure to be popular alone. While I have tons of fists from other figures, as I’m sure you do as well, I really feel a set should’ve been included here. The Warrior’s fists were always flying.

The Honky Tonk Man in his blue jumpsuit was a welcomed addition to this set by many. Not only is it an iconic look, but the original release has deteriorated in the eyes of many. This blue jumpsuit with The Honky Tonk Man caricature was originally included in the Retrofest line a few years ago which is best remembered for being packaged in cool arcade game cabinet-styled boxes. What the line is infamous for is that the blue jumpsuit has faded to a light purple for many collectors. Hopefully a different dye/material/whatever was used to prevent this for this re-release. The face is sort of neutral here and I wouldn’t say that it really looks EXACTLY like ol’ HTM, but it’s not someone completely different, either.

For a few reasons, the star of this set for me is The Funker. We may have just lost him, but we all knew that he’d live on. This version of Funk relives his reign as ECW Champion. The face looks pretty much identical to the original but it’s two other features that I enjoy. The first is the inclusion of taped fists. You know you’ve seen countless photos of The Funker posing with those legendary and lethal taped fists. The other feature, which is included with all of these figures, is that the head is removable. Because of this you can take one of the heads from the Terry Funk figure out of The Coliseum Collection and attach it to this body. While the tights are a tad more colorful here, this “mix” is very close to an ’89-era Funk look. I can feel the figure photography already.

This is a solid set. It would have been even better with Bruno, but at least we are eventually getting him. I predict good sales, too, as it’s hitting just as the holiday buying season is kicking in. That’s not to say that these guys will evade clearance completely, but you just don’t know. Grandma Mabel Bertha Ethel remembers these names and is sure that her grandson, Hunter Axel Liam, is going to want these under his tree. It’s also hard to say if stores will be getting shipments beyond what comes included in the sidekick display. Whatever the case may be, it’s a nice lineup to kick off the Legends Greatest Hits. Now go! Get outta here! Grab another sandwich or make your first leftover plate. Why not fire up a classic Survivor Series? To make it simple for you, I’ll suggest 1989. You know you want to hear Vince yelling the names.

“Gobble, gobble.”—Gorilla Monsoon