Who Can Defeat Braun Strowman?

As we continue with what will end up being "Mattel Month" here on the blog, we take a look at a different kind of wrestler. Tyler Breeze and Magnum T.A. who were previously featured could be considered flashy heartthrobs in their respective eras. Now, as we approach Halloween, we look at some stars who scare and intimidate both opponents and audiences. As far as modern day WWE goes, the man featured today may be the biggest monster currently on the roster. A former (?) member of the Wyatt Family, the big man is none other than Braun Strowman.

This is Strowman's first Mattel Elite figure, although he did have a Basic release that is considered his "First Time In The Line." As with the other figures of the Wyatt Family, there are reasons why collectors will absolutely want to go "Elite" with Strowman. I don't always feel the need to purchase the "Elite" version of every single one of the current WWE characters. When it comes to the members of the Wyatt Family, their accessories are almost part of them. It just wouldn't feel complete without the masks, shirts, chairs, and lanterns.

Braun is packaged in the standard 2016 Elite window box. Being such a huge man, the figure is likewise large and hefty. There is absolutely no "floating" going on here. Braun fits well in the window, which is good if you're planning on keeping it in the package. The figure includes the "Black Sheep" mask which, at the time of design, Strowman was still wearing. It's a fun accessory that we'll explore more in a bit. I don't really see the need for any more accessories between the mask and the fact that the figure is so big. If it fills up the box, it's worth the "Elite" price.

The likeness is good. It looks like Strowman and as far as I can tell mostly new parts were used for the body. As mentioned above, the figure is immense. This is one that, as I like to say, you feel you're really getting your money's worth with. He definitely measures up to the other "giants" of the Mattel WWE line, and it's fun to compare them. He's getting his run as a "monster" right now, and it will be fun to see just who will "slay the dragon," so to speak. WWE is doing a good job rebuilding him after he really didn't make much of an impact upon his initial introduction.

The "Black Sheep" mask is indeed here in the Elite release. It's actually just a remold of the previous mask released with Erick Rowan. The indentations inside that allowed it to fit so snugly on Rowan are even still there. Besides the color, the big difference is that it is made of a more pliable material to allow it to stretch over the sides of Strowman's head/hair and fit on. It doesn't fit quite as easily as the one with Rowan, but it works. No complaints.

The figure may be a bit outdated, but if you want to continue building the Wyatt Family, you need it. There likely won't be any further releases with the mask as future Braun figures will probably mirror his current look as the resident monster of Monday Night Raw. The movement of the figure isn't the best due to the massive features, but it's Braun Strowman. You weren't looking for a cruiserweight, were you? Braun is a classic "big man" wrestler who should only improve over time. Honestly, his promos that remind me of a biker side-character in a '70s or '80s action flick are kinda winning me over.

Next week, we go from Braun Strowman to another monster of the mat. This one is a blast from the past, but it won't set the world on fire...or maybe it will. Regardless, this beast is going to be flying all over the place...

The 2014 J\/\/ Awards

How unimaginable is it that another year has passed?  Even more unreal is that this year is the fifth annual installment of The J\/\/ Awards, celebrating the best in wrestling memorabilia over the past twelve months. Each year the design of "The Joshie" changes, but it is always "based" upon a classic wrestling figure or collectible.  This year, the award could go flying through the air with a 747 splash or even magically transform into a dancing, yellow and blue clad, African Dream!  The design isn't the only change in 2014, with one award being retired and another one born.  The wrestling world as a whole has seen a lot of change this year, from the way that some of the product is presented to losing some of its most memorable names.  Without further ado, let the awards begin!

2014 Best Figure

Mattel's WWE Wyatt Family win "The Joshie" for 2014 Best Figure(s).  For the second year in a row, a trio of figures take this one home.  In contrast to last years winners, each figure here is very different in appearance.  Though the Elite versions of the boys were chosen due to their accessories, each release of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan have been great efforts by Mattel.  That being said, the accessories are almost as great as the figures themselves.  With all three members of the family embarking on their own paths, it will be interesting to see where they go, both in WWE and on store shelves, in 2015.

2014 Best Buy (Non-Figure)

WWE Network wins "The Joshie" for 2014 Best Buy.  For whatever reason that you may have subscribed, you automatically got the best deal of 2014.  If you haven't yet subscribed, we may have to bring back the "Turnbuckle Turkey" award for you.  Sure there are deserved criticisms, but that comes with the territory. You can pick just about any one thing from the Network and justify $9.99 per month.  The current pay-per-view live?  Yep, that's worth $9.99.  Four or five NXT episodes a month?  Yep, that's worth $9.99.  On-Demand access to the WWE, WCW, and ECW pay-per-view libraries?  Yep, that's worth...ok...enough of the commercial.  But it's true.  It's a Helluva deal and should only get bigger and better as time goes on.

2014 Best Product Line

Mattel wins "The Joshie" for 2014 Best Product Line.  Longtime readers know that when Mattel first started churning out WWE product, I was less than impressed.  Poor lineups, poor distribution, poor creativity, and that God-awful red packaging design. Things have changed for the better and for the third time, Mattel takes home the gold.  Although there's always room for improvement (could we get that Magnum TA?), 2015 already looks like a very good year.  Come on, we're getting Bayley!  What could be better than that?  A Bayley hug, perhaps, but the figure will be almost as cool.

2014 Future Holy Grail

NECA's The Simpsons Bret Hart Figure wins "The Joshie" for 2014 Future Holy Grail.  I've already said a lot about this figure, but I really can't say enough.  It combines The Simpsons and wrestling into one great collectible.  It captures a moment when a wrestler, who despite having a huge fanbase never truly crossed over into the mainstream, became a part of animated pop culture.  Thanks to that crossover appeal, the figure flew off of shelves as soon as it hit.  A New York Comic Con version has proven to be equally as popular.  Bret Hart.  The Simpsons.  Action figures.  It's a great recipe that should stand the test of time.

Normally our awards end with the "Future Holy Grail."  You may have noticed the absence of the "Best Publication" award which usually went to books or magazines.  As of 2015, Pro Wrestling Illustrated will be the only remaining U.S. wrestling magazine and although there are some great authors churning out amazing wrestling books, I just do not have the time and resources to be objective and read them all.  Thus, "Best Publication" has been retired.  However, in the spirit of PWI's year-end "Editors Award," this year we introduce our "Thanks For The Memories" honor.  Since this blog celebrates "The Best in Wrestling Memorabilia & Memories" on a weekly basis, this award will focus on the latter.  The winner can be a person (living or dead) or concept that somehow made all of us fondly recall wrestling's past in the last twelve months.

 2014 Thanks For The Memories Award

2014 Thanks For The Memories Honoree:  The Ultimate Warrior.  Electrifying.  Entertaining. Controversial.  Just three words that could be used to describe the man known as The Ultimate Warrior.  A generation of kids grew up mystified by him.  While Hulk Hogan was the clean cut hero, the Warrior brought a bit of an edge and a whole lot of mystery.  Just where did he run off to every night after beating Rick Rude, Andre the Giant, or Randy Savage?  Where was Parts Unknown?  Who were these skeletons and why did they make a sacrifice?  Sure, we could all envision the other WWF "good guys" going to hang out after the matches, but Warrior seemed different.  He was.  We had never seen anything like him before, nor will we ever again.  Thanks for the memories, Warrior.

And thanks to all of you for once again keeping with the blog throughout the year.  I appreciate each and every one of you.  Whether you come up and say hi at a show or simply shoot me an e-mail, those are my awards. Those people and moments remind me why I've loved wrestling for all of these years.  Thank you!

Follow The Figures...

It was just a few weeks ago when we last visited with the Wyatt Family.  A little over a year since their WWE debut, the wild clan of wrestlers are finally together in figure form.  As shown in the blog entry highlighting the Bray Wyatt figure, these characters aren't the easiest to produce.  With their unique looks, attire, and accessories, bringing the Wyatt's into the figure world is much harder than producing yet another Randy Orton or John Cena.  Unique molds and accessories had to be produced for just about every piece of the three figures.  Shortcuts are often taken in the toy business, but was that the case here?  Mattel had the whole Wyatt Family in their hands.

With Bray already examined, this time we're looking at his flunkies, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan.  As was the case with Bray, these are the second releases of Harper and Rowan.  The two were initially released in "Basic" form in a two-pack.  Although Bray's rocking chair was first packaged in that set, to get the full Wyatt accessory experience you had to wait for the Elite releases of all three men.

I've mentioned the "King Kong Bundy LJN Effect" before, but it bears a repeat explanation.  The WWF King Kong Bundy figure produced by LJN was an immense hunk of rubber.  I'm sure that more than one child got quite the headache by being hit with it at the hands of another kid over the years.  The fact of the matter is, it was heavy and you truly felt like you got your money's worth.  The Elite Harper and Rowan resemble this phenomenon.  Not only are the figures themselves huge compared to many of the Mattel WWE figures, but they are packaged with some great accessories.

You couldn't have asked for better likenesses of the two.  From the faces to the attire to the smallest detail, it's all here.  I did have a bit of over-glue on Harper's head where the hair was attached to the head, but it was easily removable.  My only real issue on the figures is a problem that I often address, but is only evident here with Rowan, that being the torso joint.  This time the joint is nicely hidden under Harper's shirt, but overly prominent on Rowan.  It wouldn't be so bad if it served a purpose, but the joint barely moves due to the otherwise great sculpt of Rowan's outfit.

The Wyatt Family has become known for their various iconic props.  Bray's rocking chair and lantern are here, as is Rowan's sheep mask.  The chair comes disassembled with an easy to follow instruction sheet. Once assembled, the chair is surprisingly sturdy and detailed.  For the child who wants to play "the wrestlers go to Cracker Barrel," all that is needed is a figure-sized fabric game of checkers.  Bray's lantern has a glow-in-the-dark piece of plastic in the center.  I have had no luck whatsoever with glow-in-the-dark action figure accessories since the 1980's, so reporting that I was unable to get it to work doesn't hold much ground.

I think that Rowan's sheep mask is my favorite piece here.  Whatever the meaning behind it, the mask has already been a merchandising success ever since WWE began offering the life-size versions for sale at live events.  Mattel obviously put a lot of thought into how a figure version of the mask would work.  Inside the mask is a mold of Rowan's face.  Those indentations coupled with the mask being made of a hard plastic ensures that it snaps on and stays on.  It's another example, like the sweat on Harper's shirt as well as his back pocket hanky, that make the details on these figures incredible.

If you want the Wyatt figures, these Elite versions are the ones to get.  As we've previously covered, there are versions in the "Basic" line already, but they do not include any of the accessories aside from the rocking chair.  There are more versions coming in the next year, but it's not confirmed which, if any, of the accessories will be included.  I would play it safe and get these initial Elite releases.  Why wait around for future releases when the best ones are already available?

I definitely felt that Bray would take "Figure of the Year" for 2014 in a sweep, but now I'm not so sure.  Mattel delivered above and beyond with all three of these up-and-coming stars.  As a kid, I would have been amazed that the complete Wyatt Family "act" was brought to my toy wrestling ring through such great efforts.  As an adult, I'm even more amazed.  Last year, "Figure of the Year" ended up in a three-way tie among members of a group.  I'm starting to think that 2014 may see a repeat performance thanks to the great efforts of Mattel.

He's Got The Whole Figure In His Hands...

Just when you thought that there was no hope for someone with a non-muscular body type to hit it big in WWE, along comes Bray Wyatt.  Obviously his look isn't the only reason for his success, but it has played a big part.  Fans have largely rejected the overly pumped muscle men that seem to dominate the WWE scene.  Instead, the WWE Universe has latched onto men like Daniel Bryan (smaller), Roman Reigns (big, but covered), and of course, Bray Wyatt.

When a popular character finally debuts as a figure, it immediately becomes a hot item.  Bray Wyatt has the distinction of his first two figures being released simultaneously.  One is in the Basic Mattel series while the other is an Elite figure.  When choosing between the two it isn't always a no-brainer, but it is with Wyatt.  The Basic is just as the name says, basic, while the Elite includes two of Wyatt's most recognizable props, his hat and shirt.

I decided to pass up the Basic and go right for the Elite.  Why buy an incomplete figure when the "gimmicks" are so important to the presentation?  Right away, Wyatt passed my "Mattel packaging test."  As I've discussed before, the Mattel WWE figures have occasionally looked as if they're "floating" in the package.  Bray does not suffer from this, and it is helped by the shirt packaged in the corner.

New pieces had to be designed for this figure, and they capture Bray very well.  Another of my notoriously hated Mattel features, the torso joint, works perfectly with Bray.  Crab walk, anyone?  He isn't a slim fella, nor does he wear conventional gear.  Among Cena, Orton, and Sheamus he sticks out like a sore thumb in the best possible way.  He is imposing in a completely different manner and that, again, is a major part of his appeal.  He's the psychopathic killer child snatcher that appears in your nightmares.  The kind of character that makes wrestling, and your emotions, spring to life.

Facially, I don't think that they could have come closer.  The eyes.  The grin.  All the creepiness that is present not only during his promos, but in his matches as well.  The hat fits on top perfectly, which brings us to the shirt.  We've got some soft goods here, and I could not be happier about that.  The rubber shirts just don't work as well.  I don't think that we've seen the last of the rubber, but I'm glad that it's not a Mattel standard.

You really can't go wrong with this figure, especially if you like having a character with his trademark accessories.  It's a definite "Figure of the Year" candidate, but once the hype dies down it will likely be easy to find.  When a character as hot as Wyatt maintains their popularity, the figure is continually re-released in new series to meet demand.  Rowan and Harper should see a similar shelf life, as their basic figures are being released in a two-pack (with Bray's rocking chair) and in singles packs as Elites.  The latter releases will contain the rest of the Wyatt Family paraphernalia as Harper will be packaged with the lantern while Rowan will have his trademark mask and the rocking chair.

Bray certainly has the whole WWE Universe in his hands, and rightly so.  It's a great character that has elements of Kevin Sullivan, Waylon Mercy, and even a little bit of Cactus Jack.  It's something that is seemingly too edgy for modern day WWE, yet it is exactly what the people want.  And if it ever stops working, they can always revert to my idea of a Pawn Stars stable.  Just imagine Steve Austin as Rick, Greg Valentine as The Old Man, Bill DeMott as Corey, and Bray Wyatt as Chumlee.  Follow The Dollars?

Memorabilia That Takes You Into The Ring...

Putting the action figures, video games, and other toys aside, there are some wrestling items that can truly make you feel as if you're a part of the action.  These toys and collectibles can best be classified as "role playing" items.  In the same vein as replica championship belts, holding or wearing these trinkets can transport you into the boots of the superstars of the ring.  A sampling of this style of collectible from various eras is what we'll be looking at today.

The most famous "role playing" toy in the wrestling world is without a doubt the Wrestling Buddy.  The "buddy" phenomenon began in 1990 with Tonka Toys picking up the WWF license.  These printed pillow people were designed for children to be able to "wrestle" with their favorite World Wrestling Federation heroes and villains.  The first series included Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, and Ted DiBiase followed by a second series of Jake Roberts, the Big Boss Man, and the Legion of Doom.  WCW and Mexico's CMLL followed suit with Wrestling Buddy-styled toys of their own, but the WWF characters remain the most remembered.

1990 also saw another classic WWF role playing toy produced, although not quite as well remembered as the Wrestling Buddies.  A company called PlayTime Products introduced an official WWF Microphone toy.  While there have been other WWF and WWE microphone toys produced since, this is still the only one to pattern itself after the classic WWF mic held by Mean Gene Okerlund, Howard Finkel, and so many others in the '80s and '90s.  Several wrestling sounds and a voice amplifier can be utilized when a nine-volt battery is attached, but it's the look of this toy that really makes it something special.  The box, featuring a classic "Let Me Tell Ya Somethin', Mean Gene!" photo of Okerlund and Hogan, only adds to the fun.

The boom of wrestling toys of the early '90s produced yet another such item, this time as an extension of the popular Hasbro WWF line.  It is not uncommon for manufacturers of action figure lines to branch out into other toys utilizing the same license.  Hasbro did this with Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior dress-up kits, but a less remembered item is the Jake "The Snake" Roberts Snake toy.  Hitting shelves in late 1991-early 1992, the snake was packaged in a squarish box featuring Jake and one of his snakes.  Inside was a green drawstring bag that resembled Jake's ring-used bag aside from being much smaller and including the "Jake The Snake" logo.

The snake itself was tan with brown spots and didn't really closely resemble any of Jake's snakes.  Was it Damien?  Perhaps Lucifer?  It's any one's guess really, as no specific name is mentioned on the packaging.  The item was probably designed roughly around the time of the on-screen "death" of Damien and subsequent debut of Lucifer.  The toy didn't last long on shelves, as Jake departed the company shortly after its release.

If the snake didn't creep you out, fast forward to the present day and the most recent role playing items released by WWE.  There's no doubt that among the WWE debuts of 2013, no superstars garnered more interest than the Wyatt Family.  Led by Bray Wyatt, this band of backwoods brawlers are sure to receive some interesting action figures in the coming year, but their first pieces of merchandise include several role playing items.

Wyatt, the bearded spokesman of the group, is known for his fedora.  One of his underlings, Erick Rowan, strikes fear into the hearts of many WWE Universe youngsters with a mask of a sheep's head.  Both of these items are now available from WWE and appear to be exact replicas of both.  Although the Wyatt Family aren't exactly heroes, it once again proves that merchandise of either heels or faces is desired by fans as long as it's interesting.  These two items fit that description perfectly.

Role playing items are fun, but just a small example of some of the great wrestling memorabilia out there.  If you're new to the blog, you may not be aware of our Facebook Fanpage.  Join the page for frequent updates, hundreds of photos of memorabilia, and much more.  It's a great supplement to the blog!