An Olympic Hero, A Showstopper, A Paragon, & A Lobster Head

The distribution may be flaky at best and Mattel isn't doing anyone any favors with some more than bizarre business choices, but another round of retro goodness is here. Thankfully, the line returns to its roots of two years ago in many ways and even improves in other areas. So much for predictions abound that the line was about to end, nothing in the foreseeable future seems to point in that direction, especially with some recently seen prototypes.

Another four superstars round out the latest wave to hit stores, including two Hall of Famers. Our lineup tonight is Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, and Sheamus. The best news to come out of this series is that the obstructions on the cardback are largely gone. The homage to the Hasbro "Real Wrestling Action" symbol is back and the fairly pointless stands are gone. Also largely reduced are the graphics advertising a game enabled by scanning the card with your cell phone. There's still a small note of it in the corner, but the barcode is now included on a piece of cardboard packaged behind the figure.

These four names are all fresh to the WWE Retro line and all fit in quite well. Angle and HBK are the most "retro" representing their looks circa 1999 and 2002 respectively. Sheamus and Jericho seem to appear in their most recent WWE incarnations. In a way I'd have preferred an earlier Jericho look, but how can you argue when this version of Y2J was so much fun? In my opinion Angle stands out the most, maybe because he's the closest here that could've actually been in the Hasbro line albeit a couple of years off.

I'd have to rank Shawn Michaels as my least favorite simply because I'm not necessarily seeing HBK in the face. There's a fine line in how these WWE Retro heads should be done. While they shouldn't look like a regular Mattel figure head plopped onto a Hasbro-style body, there does have to be an almost cartoonish resemblance. Sheamus and Angle capture the latter perfectly. Jericho is good, but it may be just a bit too close to the regular Mattel version. In a nice change, all four have action maneuvers that fit their characters and don't interfere with the figure likenesses.

Only Jericho includes an accessory, that being his "Scarf of Jericho." It's very difficult to remove, but it will come off from around his neck with enough finagling. A gold medal accessory may have been a nice addition to Angle, but I can't imagine anyone deducting points without it being there. It is interesting to think that we now have three eras of Shawn Michaels in the Hasbro style, and I'm happy that we got a different look this time rather than The Rocker or The Heartbreak Kid again. The "Sweet Chin Music" action is pretty cool, too.

In my opinion the WWE Retro line is really picking up again. There
are some very wanted names coming for this format including Diesel and Goldust as well as surprises like The Iron Sheik and Junkyard Dog. The line has seemingly escaped from its days of a lot of dull colored characters translating into dull figures in a style that should not be dull. As long as the distribution stays fairly decent, I think that we could be seeing the "rebirth" of the Hasbro style go for a long while.

Build-A-Bearer

It's been four years since Mattel WWE figure collectors began "building" their non-wrestling favorites. Maybe Michael Cole doesn't exactly fall into the category of "favorite," but he is still essential to completing the figural WWE Universe. Since then we've had Ricardo Rodriguez, Teddy Long, Paul Heyman, Booker T, John Laurinaitis, Corporate Kane, and Jim Ross. Now, we have the long awaited manager and WWE Hall of Famer, Paul Bearer.

The Build-A-Bearer figure has already had a storied shelf-life. The retailer of the first sets, Toys "R" Us, ultimately decided against continuing with the series, but not before releasing the Bearer figure outside of the United States. The figures collected to complete Bearer were Daniel Bryan, Damien Sandow, Kofi Kingston, and Dolph Ziggler. When WalMart decided to pick up the Build-A-Figure sets as their own exclusives, the lineup for the Bearer figure was changed. In a slightly better set, the U.S. received Neville, Rusev, Chris Jericho, and, fittingly, The Undertaker.

The Build-A-Figure lines have gone back and forth between "Basic" and "Elite" styles. This time (and for the foreseeable future) the figures are in the basic style. It comes down to being a difference of around seven dollars per figure. That certainly adds up. I have no problem with the releases continuing this way if it means saving around thirty bucks per set.

While I am happier with the lineup here than the initial Bearer set, I'm not exactly thrilled. The only figure of the four that my own collection could truly use was Neville. I had passed on the original Neville release in favor of future possibilities. Had this one not surfaced, I probably would have gone with the upcoming Elite version with his trademark cape. The Undertaker is fitting, but not necessarily exciting. I have always said that it would be nice if the four figures needed to build the fifth actually fit in with the Build-A-Figure, but this has yet to be the case. For example, Paul Bearer's four figures might have been The Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, and Vader.

Rusev at least has different tights, but his figure "career" is starting to resemble that of his League of Nations counterpart Alberto Del Rio. A strong start with an Elite figure and then endless pegwarmers. Rusev is a great wrestler, but there are only so many looks for his figures. Chris Jericho is one that many fans will want as it is based on his look from the late '90s with long hair, long tights, and facial hair. The Jericho figure is also the one that includes the Paul Bearer head and urn. Since the rest of the Build-A-Figure bodies are relatively the same, some collectors have been known to just "go for the head."

The Paul Bearer figure itself isn't the best of the Build-A-Figures that have been done, but it's nice. I'd heard complaints that it is too thin, but Bearer went through many different body sizes during his career. At the time that this figure represents, the manager was nowhere near his largest. The urn accessory can't really be held in his hand, although with some positioning it can be "clutched." A new hand sculpt to hold the thing might have been nice, but retooling isn't on the minds at Mattel when creating these particular releases. The facial likeness is very good, but falls a bit short of the Jakks Classic Superstars version.

With more and more managers entering the Mattel line, Paul Bearer was needed. There are plenty of Mattel "Flashback" figures that he fits right in with, including the monstrous four that I mentioned above. With the "Flashbacks" seeping into Mattel's regular lines now on a regular basis, I wouldn't be surprised to see another Bearer figure down the line. He could easily be redone in the ever-growing Hall of Fame line, or put into a Battle Pack with any of his various charges. Even a single basic style release would sell. As many of us were surprised to learn at the time of his untimely passing, Paul Bearer was indeed a major wrestling entry into pop culture. Produce a figure of him and it well sell, no questions asked.

The Build-A-Figure sets now live on with their new-found retailer. We already know that Mean Gene Okerlund will make his Mattel debut in the next round of four. The four figures? Cesaro, Seth Rollins, and "Flashbacks" of X-Pac and Triple H. The best part? "Gene Mean" is clad in a style that has not previously been done as a figure--his early WWF khaki pants/blue blazer look. In the words of the man himself, "You've gotta be kiddin' me!"

From The Musty Yellowed Pages--WrestleMania XXIV Program

With just a few days remaining as of press time until WrestleMania XXX, I thought it would be in the spirit of "getting into the Mania mood" to take a look back at one of the twenty-nine previous events.  One of the first entries here on the blog covered the collectability of WrestleMania programs.  At that time, the WrestleMania XXIV program was the "newest" available (with XXV debuting a few weeks later), and back then I did not even own it.  I never could have imagined where the copy that did end up with me would emanate from.

Of the WrestleMania's of the past decade, XXIV is my second favorite.  It was my favorite of the era until my obvious bias and undying love of WrestleMania XXIX came about.  It was outdoors, it had the dramatic lighting effect that only Mother Nature can pull off, and it had several "WrestleMania moments" that have been shown time and time again.  Most of all, it had the "WrestleMania feel," something that not every show under the banner has been able to pull off.

Near the front of the program are pages dedicated to the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2008.  WWE has taken several different directions regarding programs for WrestleMania and the Hall of Fame ceremony itself.  2008 marked the final year in which a smaller, more elegant, Hall of Fame program was produced.  In 2009, a standalone Hall of Fame program of the same size as the WrestleMania programs was available.  From 2010-on, the programs were merged into one and sold the entire weekend at Axxess, the Hall of Fame, and WrestleMania.

The particular copy shown here was acquired from the daughter and son-in-law of Gordon Solie, Pam and Robert Allyn.  The Allyn's were present at the event to honor the late "Dean of Wrestling Broadcasters" who was inducted into the Hall of Fame that year along with Eddie Graham, Jack and Jerry Brisco, Rocky Johnson, Peter Maivia, Mae Young, and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.  The Hall took on a decidedly Floridian flavor that year, especially considering the inclusion of Graham and Solie.

Like most of the WrestleMania events of the past ten years, the title matches are actually rather forgettable.  This is due to several factors, one of which is that all of the main eventers of the time had constantly battled on pay-per-view, tv, and house shows many times before they did so on the "grandest stage of them all."  Gone were the days of true dream matches like Hogan-Warrior that were built with the slightest of pre-Mania contact.  Could these days be returning?  With more weekly content than ever it will be difficult, but at least the stories are somewhat leaning in that direction.

Another reason that the Mania title matches of this era don't quite measure up is that fans simply weren't behind the main eventers of the time as they once had been.  In a fact that's been discussed to death, WrestleMania (and WWE shows in general) began to sell solely on the brand name factor alone rather than the drawing power of select stars.  Although I have speculated that we may going back in the opposite direction with stars like Daniel Bryan, The Shield, The Wyatt Family, and even the Rhodes and Uso families, the remnants of the past "era of disinterest" is still very evident with the backlash on names like Randy Orton and Batista.

WrestleMania XXIV gets past the damning title matches with a strong undercard and some very memorable special attraction matches.  From a mainstream standpoint, it didn't get any bigger than boxer Floyd "Money" Mayweather going up against The Big Show.  Show, at the time just returning to WWE, may come out on the losing end of many of his Mania matches, but his performances are second-to-none.  Carrying a non-wrestler to an entertaining and believable match can in no way be easy, but Show did it here.  Seeing as that Mayweather is still a top grossing star and did very well in his WrestleMania appearance, it would not surprise me to see the company work with him again somewhere down the pike.

Perhaps even more memorable was the match between Flair and Shawn Michaels.  Going in, most fans realized that Flair would be losing this match, which in turn would trigger his retirement.  I can tell you from watching the show live with a mixed group of casual and regular wrestling fans, it didn't matter to anyone.  Two of the all-time greats told a story that could captivate fans on any level.  Although it didn't turn out to be Flair's final match altogether, it will ultimately be his final WWE match.

Aside from a hot opener billed as a "Belfast Brawl" between Fit Finlay and JBL, a then-WrestleMania traditional Money In The Bank match was another big highlight.  Looking back it's interesting to see what happened to the seven men involved.  The winner, CM Punk, and Chris Jericho have had many WWE highlights since, but MVP, Ken Kennedy, Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, and John Morrison all but fell into the same vacuum that other WWE mid-carders of the era did.  Sure, several have gone on to careers in TNA and Japan, but there is something about the mid-carders of the post-Attitude Era that leaves a fan wondering.  Many of them had so much talent, but they just never seemed to catch on.  Whether it was a residue effect of the aforementioned problem of no one single talent really setting the company on fire at the time or their own individual career moves and choices, we'll never really know.

This WrestleMania program is unlike many of the others in that it includes a poster highlighting the Show-Mayweather match as well as the two title matches.  This "bonus" is reminiscent of an old style wrestling event poster and helps give the title matches a bit more "oomph," although it is telling that the boxer vs wrestler match overshadows everything else.  The inclusion of a poster is very hit or miss with pay-per-view programs (several in the '94-'95 era had them as does Survivor Series 2011), so it's always a nice little extra.

In the back, we get one-page WrestleMania "capsules" profiling the previous twenty-three events.  These were a staple for several years of the large Mania programs, with one added each year.  One huge mistake somehow went unnoticed for several years with the WrestleMania III page listing and showing WrestleMania 2 celebrities Rick Schroeder, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Elvira.  A small oversight to some, but after appearing a few years in a row, it started to become the first thing that I would turn to find.

Mania programs rarely disappoint, even if the corresponding show does.  With XXIV we had a winning show and a nice program to boot that, while not the rarest, isn't the easiest to find in the collection.  Of any niche wrestling collectors that I hear from the most, it's definitely WrestleMania program collectors.  After all, "The Greatest Sports Entertainment Extravaganza of All-Time" should have the greatest memorabilia of all-time.  What will the thirtieth edition bring us?  Time will tell.  "Laissez les bon temps rouler" may be this years tagline, but I think that the thousands of fans in the Superdome will more likely be chanting, "Sainte merde!"