Mattel Declares For The Royal Rumble

Do they really do that? My joke in that title, that is. My modern viewing has been limited to putting the Rumble and parts of Mania on my iPad while I watch entertaining stuff on the real tv, but all I ever see in headlines is that such-and-such “declared” for the Royal Rumble. Do they come out and say “Well, I declare!”? It just seems so absurd to me.

So, anyway, Mattel has decided to attempt to make some thirty-plus-year-old dreams come true in their latest venture into the retro wrestling figure universe. A Hasbro-sized Royal Rumble ring? Brother Love? Sherri and Liz? All here. Shortly after I took it I texted several folks the “glamour shot” of the entire set that you see above. As a kid I truly had dreams of finding a lot of those items in stores. The Brother Love card back, in particular, is exactly how I’d always envisioned it using the same image. If we look at that picture and not much further, it truly is a dream come true. It’s also a company banking on nostalgia. I have no problem with that if it’s done right. Was it? Well, some of it.

Both sets are available at Mattel Creations. Brother Love and the ring clock in at $40 while the four-pack of Hulk Hogan as Rip, Zeus, Miss Elizabeth and Sensational Queen Sherri is priced at $60. There’s also a bundle option that saves you. Priced at $100 the bundle saves you from having to click twice to add both items to your cart. Yeah, that’s all that it saves you. Not even $5. I’ll tell you a pretty likely way to save more, if you don’t feel the need to jump the gun as I did, at the end of the entry. Are the bootlicker reviewers who are all the rage giving you tips like that? Of course they aren’t. That’s why their “influencing” is coveted by the companies and my true reviews are ignored in this day and age. Ah well, I had my moment. All of fifteen minutes.

Let’s take a look Brucie and the ring first. These are the items that mostly came out as closely as I imagined them had they existed in the Hasbro line. The ring is another reuse of the standard Mattel retro ring, but you know what you’re getting into here. Like last year’s WrestleMania ring release you can choose which sticker is in the middle of the mat the WWF logo (without the F, of course) or the Royal Rumble logo. Of course you’re choosing the latter. Unlike with the Mania ring, I don’t really understand the inclusion of the basic logo sticker. Because of the color the ring stands out and will like great with a “Rumble” going on, but there was a major change here from previous retro ring releases. The ropes are the “gummy” rubbery style that I last remember being included with the Mattel War Games set. They can, and will, snap. They’re absolutely terrible. If you’re going to display this thing for any amount of time I would recommend going to eBay and finding one of the various sellers who produce “replica” ring ropes for a retro ring. Not only do they look and feel better, but they won’t snap.

Brother Love himself, like the ring, is pretty much how we all imagined. The microphone (we’ve all seen plenty of jokes about its shape since its original release) and The Book of Love are reused from the Mattel Legends figure. Brucie boy doesn’t stand too well with the book in hand which is why he’s picture here without it. I was able to get him to stand elsewhere with it, so your mileage may vary. I’d read some early complaints about the face being too red. He looks fine to me but I will say with the way that I tint my photography it may appear darker here than it actually is.

Going into the four pack you have to start with the champ. This time we get Hulk Hogan as Rip from “No Holds Barred.” It’s pretty much a repaint of the earlier red and yellow Hulkster retro, but I think that it looks great. Would No Holds Barred figures have been at the top of my list? Not necessarily, but in my view they’re the best figures to be released from the movie as this is how I would’ve envisioned them. We finally have a retro stylized belt to go onto the belt holders that have been on every ring. I never liked using the modern belts with the retros as Mattel seemed to earlier suggest. I’m hoping to see this one reused and remolded in different colors and for other classic belts to be given the same treatment.

Zeus is by far the worst item in this “bundle,” largely because of his height. Because of the mold used he looks tiny (Lister?) compared to Hogan. He’s supposed to be imposing. A completely different mold should have been used for him. It’s honestly a waste of a slot with this decision being made. All-in-all, if they wanted to keep to the ’89 theme and aren’t able to use Savage, I’d have been fine with a Hulk Rules era Hogan and a new Beefcake to join Liz and Sherri. It even baffles me, but despite being a No Holds Barred collector (owning many rare promotional materials and even a screen used prop), it’s never been one of my favorite movies. I like the memorabilia due to the connection with the golden era.

The Sensational Queen is next and this is the second retro of Sherri in this gimmick that’s been released in the past several months. One of the boutique retro wrestling figure producers released their own version which is in more of a statuesque design. Honestly, there’s room for both in my view. There’s never been any talk of intentions by Hasbro to release anything but wrestlers in their original line. We haven’t even ever seen design concepts. That being said, we have no idea what Hasbro females, managers and announcers would have looked like. Therefore, any produced today to reflect what they could’ve looked like can’t be wrong. This version, complete with what would’ve been a “Real Wrestling Action,” is definitely the “wrestler” version of Queen Sherri.

Devoid of any previous retro releases from any company I would have to say that Miss Elizabeth was the most anticipated from this set. The likeness is great and I wouldn’t mind seeing it on a new full sized figure. The hair is spot on and I think that the facial likeness is close to how Hasbro would’ve captured her. For non-wrestler Liz the stance is odd, but who’s to say that Hasbro wouldn’t have done the same? The stance hurts the skirt and, honestly, it looks like she’s taking a squat. Still, I think we all have to agree that this is probably what Hasbro would’ve given us.

For me, buying this “bundle” was worth pulling the trigger on. There are items that I wanted and, while I was fairly certain that nothing would immediately sell out, I didn’t want to wait. My feelings on the previous retro set were different. The only figure that I wanted out of that one was Alundra Blayze. I waited and ended up getting that entire set off of Amazon for $40. I’ve also waited on the nWo and DX retro sets and ended up getting them on Black Friday sales. The advice I promised earlier? I highly doubt you’ll miss out if you wait for these. Mattel, as of yet, seems to have no intention of limiting their exclusives as they used to. They know where the money is at for them and it certainly isn’t in making a limited product for scalpers to scoop up.

Now where else do you get advice like that? From a kowtowing “influencer?” I think not. I thank all ten of you who read this, you loyal readers, you.

Wrestling MarketWatch: Hype Then. Hype Now. Hype Forever.

“Then. Now. Forever.” Is more than just the name of the figure set we looked at here last week. It’s more than just the company motto, too. It’s hype and that’s definitely something that WWE was built on. Sure, it’s good business, but to their credit the company has always known how to do it well. Ever since the famous WWF logo debuted they’ve plastered it on absolutely everything – and it’s worked! Heck, look closely at the picture to the left. At one point they were printing card lineups on envelopes! I can’t count the number of times that I’ve referenced the WWF marketing machine over the years here in the blog, especially since merchandise is the name of the game. In this latest edition of Wrestling MarketWatch we’re looking at several items that reflect the never ending push of the brand, concepts and top stars of the WWF as we knew it.

*We’ll start in 1995. The World Wrestling Federation is no longer the mainstream entertainment choice that it had been just a few years earlier, though the diehards are still rabid for the product. I wouldn’t quite call it a transitional period, either, as honestly a lot of it felt quite stagnate. That being said, I personally prefer it to a lot of what happened in just a few years time. Nonetheless, the WWF was still looking to get their name out there. What way better to do that than to plaster the WWF logo on an airship? Gliding into cities across America, the WWF blimp was wrestling’s answer to the more widely known Goodyear counterpart. It may not have lasted more than a few years but it did yield an inflatable replica that was available through the catalog and likely at live events as well. Recently selling for $110 this is down from $190 back in 2020.

*The WWF was not only a pioneer in hype but a groundbreaker in pay-per-view television as well. After the success of WrestleMania III the company knew that it needed a follow-up in much less than twelve months. Thus, The Survivor Series was born. While teams of five may have strived to survive, all eyes were on Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant. Unlike their one-on-one bout at WrestleMania, the two epic gladiators would instead lead their own teams into battle. Hogan led Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, Paul Orndorff and Don Muraco (replacing Superstar Billy Graham) into the Thanksgiving night war against Andre and his team consisting of King Kong Bundy, The One Man Gang, Ravishing Rick Rude and Butch Reed. Several Survivor Series-branded promotional photos came out of the hype including one featuring a Hogan-Andre stare down in an image recycled from the WM III media blitz. This photo recently sold for $166.

*Andre may have been Hulk’s greatest rival but as we all know it didn’t end there. Perhaps no one, over the span of years, had more ups and downs with The Hulkster than Randy “Macho Man” Savage. While the two teamed for the first SummerSlam they led opposing duos for the second edition of the event in 1989. The show, emanating from East Rutherford, NJ, saw Hogan and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake managed by Miss Elizabeth take on Savage and “Human Wrecking Machine” Zeus led by Sensational Sherri. It was one of several tie-ins to the “No Holds Barred” motion picture starring Hogan and Zeus, a film now considered by many to be a cult classic. The artwork promoting the event is a lot of fun and is featured in several outlets including a post card which recently sold for $18.

*1997 was most assuredly a transitional time for the company. Although the event was held in Chicago, WrestleMania that year always felt small to me. Many fans love the matches, however, and have fond memories of the show which honestly acts as a bridge between the “cartoon era” of yore and the “Attitude Era” about to be ushered in. For better or for worse (you know which way I vote), the company and the industry as a whole was about to rake in a whole lot of money. It looks like some sellers are trying to take in similar amounts of money for the promotional Burger King WrestleMania cup that was exclusive to the Chicagoland area. As usual, folks should be aware that those are the ASKING prices. The actual recent selling price is $15. We all know that prices go up and down on a whim. Always get in there when demand is low.

*Cable companies got into the act in those early days of pay-per-view as well. If you weren’t around then you may not know the lengths that fans often had to go to in order to see these events. While it eventually became a single phone call, the early days called for special receiver boxes and other gimmicks just to watch the show that you’re already paying extra for. It was the technology of the time. I can remember difficulties with cable boxes as late as the early 2000s. I’ve long since cut the cable, thankfully, and now it’s as simple as pulling up Peacock. More often than not it’s more entertaining to then go and watch a classic event than what’s streaming live, but I digress. We’ve shown a lot of WrestleMania IV love this year due to it being the 35^th anniversary. One item promoting the show was in fact provided by the WWF for individual cable companies to distribute. It’s a WrestleMania IV branded Hulk Hogan promotional photo complete with facsimile signature. The name of the cable company was added to the top of the photo which is on a far thinner paper stock than the traditional promo. While sellers, again, try to get way more for this photo, it recently sold for $15.

Are you hyped? I am! For the days when the hype was worthwhile, that is…

Wrestling MarketWatch: USA! USA! USA!

American patriotism is a gimmick that has stood the test of time in the wrestling world like no other.  Put Hacksaw Jim Duggan into a wrestling ring in the year 2012 and suddenly it's 1988 again.  What gets your blood pumping more than the patriot battling the evil foreigner with flags waving and the security of the nation hanging in the balance?  It doesn't get more basic, yet engrossing, than that when it comes to losing yourself in a pro wrestling match.

I've said it before..."Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, & Wrestling."  Wrestlers such as Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, Hulk Hogan and events like SummerSlam and The Great American Bash can take a normal summer wrestling card and turn it into a patriotic spectacular.  It's no mistake that memories of those stars and shows often stand out proudly in the minds of many a wrestling fan from the '80s and '90s.

In this latest edition of MarketWatch, we'll take a look at some items that were derived from these icons of wrestling Americana and examine what they've recently sold for on the secondary market.  Put down the sparkler, take a sip of Diet Pepsi, and remember what wrestling, in many minds, is truly all about.  Although some examples shown are autographed, the prices noted were for unsigned items.

*Even with all the patriots in wrestling, there's only one Real American Hero--Sgt. Slaughter!  His involvement in Hasbro's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero franchise cemented him as an icon of the 1980's.  Although Hasbro produced dozens of Slaughter figures over the years, his 1992 figure was the only one done for the WWF license.  All of the other Hasbro-produced Slaughter's, including the 8-inch figure often included with the LJN line, were made for G.I. Joe.  The figure is actually not in a wrestling outfit at all, but rather garb that he wore in promotional photos and a vignette or two.  For twenty years that's been quite alright with wrestling fans.  The figure is beloved for an incredible facial sculpt and "Sgt.'s Salute" action.  The figure has recently been selling for between $30 and $60 as has his tag team partner, the 1991 Hasbro WWF Hacksaw Jim Duggan.  The Sarge was not only the first wrestler that I ever had the pleasure of meeting, but Slaughter and Duggan were the first "good guy" tag team that I ever saw wrestle live.

*Like Slaughter and Duggan, SummerSlam holds personal memories for me as well.  The 1995 edition was the first pay-per-view event that I attended live.  It was two years earlier in 1993 that the event was patriotism at full-tilt.  SummerSlam 1993 saw "The Narcissist" Lex Luger go "All-American" in his "Call To Action" campaign against then-WWF Champion Yokozuna.  Even if the event fell a bit flat up against the amazing build, it's still a fun time to look back on.  The program for the event, featuring a photo of Luger still in his Narcissist days, recently sold for $30.  All WWF pay-per-view programs have seemingly been on a monetary upswing, but true collectors know that they have always been items to treasure.

*SummerSlam, as big as it has become, was the not the first patriotic wrestling spectacular.  That honor would go to The Great American Bash.  From tour to NWA, WCW, and WWE pay-per-view event to being celebrated as an episode of Smackdown, the Bash remains a staple in many fans summer wrestling diet.  In 1991 this particular meal was regurgitated.  WCW was in shambles as bad management and the departure of Ric Flair ripped the company apart.  The event was a disaster from top to bottom with chants of "We Want Flair!" echoing throughout the Baltimore Arena and a makeshift championship belt used in lieu of the "Big Gold" belt which had left WCW with Flair.  Despite the mess, the Turner Home Video VHS release of the event was always one of the higher valued tapes.  Selling recently for just $40, maybe fans have finally gotten their fill of the Bash that was more of a gash...in WCW history, that is.

*WCW would go on to recover, and in a few short years a "Real American" would enter the company.  That would be, as if it needed to be said, Hulk Hogan.  While patriotism is included in any number of "Hulkster" products, my favorite Hogan action figure of them all simply screams, "USA!"  This would be the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars "Real American" Hulk Hogan figure.  This figure was only available through a ticket redemption program.  Replica WrestleMania tickets were included with various other Classic Superstars figures.  When a full set was obtained they could be redeemed, via mail, for this amazing figure.  Hulk is clad in his white "American Made" shirt, "Hulkamania" bandanna, and blue workout pants.  Also included were his workout belt and alternate "Hulk Machine" gear from his 1986 appearances as part of The Machines tag team.  Secondary market value of the figure has differed greatly since it was first available.  Most recently the "Real American" sold for $75.  In my opinion, value will only go up as more and more collectors decide that this is one they want to keep.

*Speaking of Hulk Hogan, there is one item that may not have too much to do with patriotism but absolutely needs to end this entry.  At long last, WWE has released the 1989 movie "No Holds Barred" on DVD and Blu-Ray.  Panned by some and enjoyed by many, the movie starred Hogan and Tiny "Zeus" Lister and was produced by Vince McMahon.  The movie did not do as well at the box office as was hoped which probably led to having relatively few merchandise tie-ins.  Although Zeus did get a figure in the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars line, it was probably more due to his brief wrestling career than the movie itself.  One item that is still available on the secondary market is the No Holds Barred program magazine.  Including full-sized posters and a ton of film hype, the program has recently sold for just $20.  A bargain price for a nice item that certainly isn't a piece of...dookie.

"That Guy Actually Had A Figure?"

Hogan. Austin. Cena. The Rock. The Undertaker. All-time greats. All-time favorite action figures to many collectors young and old. If you walked into any toy store during the primes of the aforementioned stars, you would be sure to find several different versions of each clogging the shelves.

Of course these figures are going to dominate the rest of your collection, but just like in the real-life world of wrestling, it takes other guys to make the stars. Which figures are going to look up at your bedroom lights while Dusty dances and Flair struts?

It's the lesser stars that have always intrigued me the most both in-ring and in the world of memorabilia. Some fans just don't realize that a lot of collectors want figures of nearly anyone who's ever appeared in a wrestling ring. When those fans see a particularly "quirky" figure either in a collection or on a store shelf, the familiar sentence always rings out...

"That guy actually had a figure?"

This entry is my own personal list of the five figures most likely to produce such a reaction. These five are based on my own opinion and reactions I've personally seen to some of them. Prepare to be SHOCKed...

The Shockmaster

He came. He saw. He fell. Tugboat in a glitter-filled Stormtrooper helmet. One of WCW's best ideas? No. But certainly a character that would make one wonder how it got onto television, much less got an action figure.

The truth is that the action figure is part of the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars line and was produced for two reasons. The first reason is because the character, due to the various mishaps surrounding it, WAS memorable. The second is because Jakks already had the rights to create the various faces of Fred Ottman into action figures. While Tugboat still remains unmade as an action figure (aside from being one of the goalie figures in the 1991 Remco WWF Table Hockey), we will always have Typhoon and the one and only Shockmaster to relive our memories of "Uncle Fred."

Dick Woehrle

Figures of the wrestlers themselves are great, but who can put on a show without managers, announcers, and referees? While Remco produced a few different referee figures for their AWA line, their Dick Woehrle figure may be the best referee figure of any line. While the other referees in the AWA line featured repainted heads from other Remco action figure lines, the Dick Woehrle head sculpt is amazingly lifelike. While the figure does include the famous "ripped" body type used on many of the AWA figures, it does not take away from the only figure of the man who seemingly wore the stripes in every wrestling territory. While other referees were released later on, perhaps the only figure to come close was the Jakks release of Earl Hebner nearly two decades later.

Ted Arcidi

This is the figure that not only posed the question above, but made kids ask "Who IS this guy?" The truth of the matter is that Ted Arcidi had a very brief run in the WWF. Aside from an appearance in the WrestleMania 2 Battle Royal, Arcidi had very few other memorable moments. This, coupled with the long time it took for figures to be produced in that era, meant that most children didn't have a clue who Ted Arcidi was by the time that the LJN figure was available in stores. The red singlet and somewhat goofy facial expression ensured that this figure would become the "jobber" in WWF household action nationwide. Arcidi has since become an actor appearing in such films as "The Town" and "The Fighter," but his biggest claim to immortality will probably always be as the least known LJN WWF figure in the line.

Zeus

Tiny Lister is a very nice guy and a good actor. If you've seen anything from "The Dark Knight" to "Friday" to episodes of "Matlock" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," you've seen Tiny Lister. He just wasn't a very good wrestler. His stint as Zeus was rather unremarkable despite the hype, and we can all be thankful that a rumored Hogan-Zeus main event at WrestleMania VI ultimately did not happen.

Similarly to The Shockmaster, Zeus was immortalized in the WWE Classic Superstars line for nostalgia purposes. Had the run of Zeus not taken place just as the WWF was switching from LJN to Hasbro for their toy license, we may very well have seen a vintage Zeus figure released as well.

Tiny Lister continues to have a steady career as a menacing character actor. Former WWF star Robert "Kurrgan" Maillet seems to be following in the same footsteps by becoming Hollywood's go-to brute. Will we ever see Zeus and Kurrgan do battle on the big screen? I know I'm not the only one who'd love to see it.

Outback Jack

Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport! Yes, it's Outback Jack. He had videos hyping his debut. He had magazine articles. He had trading cards. And yes, he had an LJN figure. He simply didn't have much ability in the ring. He did help us understand the lingo on the menu at "The Outback" and satisfied any fantasies anyone may have had about Crocodile Dundee crossing over into the world of wrestling. Honestly, we were better off sticking with Bill Dundee.

Did I leave anyone out? A figure that you cannot believe was produced? Maybe it's one that you've seen in a previous entry. Let us know here or on the Facebook Fanpage!