Professional wrestling isn’t for everyone. Thankfully, I’m part of the master race of wrestling fans. People criticize it by saying it’s fake, but I see it as a well choreographed fight in which Robocop occasionally joins the action. Or we can talk about the fact that a dead man is one of the most famous wrestlers of all time. Or let’s discuss the wrestler who was literally a pimp. A pimp! Whether we are talking about dead men, surfer dudes, vampires, or lunatics, we can all agree that pro wrestling has had its share of eclectic characters. Of course with such thrilling characters comes some outstanding toys.
Funko has made some impressive WWE figures over the last two years. At this point only Pop! figures have been released, but Mystery Minis will be hitting the market soon. Some of the figures released so far are newer characters, but the majority are the older guys. This is not surprising considering a lot of retired wrestlers are still more popular than their modern counterparts.
Once upon a time we were all Hulkamaniacs! We may not all be fans of the Hulkster now, but he is arguably the most popular wrestler of all time, so it isn’t surprising that he has 3 figures. There is the common figure, which is bright red and yellow with Hulkamania splattered over all over it , a Hulk Rules variant, which is just a color swap of the common with “Hulk Rules” printed on the shirt (which is a WWE exclusive), and I must say I’ve noticed that WWE exclusives actually stay exclusive. Maybe I missed it, but I have yet to see a WWE exclusive anywhere but on the WWE site or live shows. These two are great figures, but my personal favorite is Hollywood Hogan. I have not gotten my hands on him yet, but this guy oozes awesomeness. He even has his NWO shirt and trademark 5 o’clock shadow. He was exclusive to WWE 2K15 Hulkamania edition video game.
You can’t talk about Hulk Hogan without bringing up Macho Man Randy Savage. He was insanely popular then, and insanely popular now. While not quite as big as Hogan, most know Savage whether from wrestling or Slim Jim commercials. Funko has made some impressive Pop! figures of Macho Man. His common is spectacular with an orange and white color scheme, big sunglasses, and star-adorned bandana. I can feel the macho pouring out of this thing. He, of course, also has a variant that is exclusive to WWE. The variant is probably my favorite WWE Pop! becuase I like the fact that it isn’t just a color swap. The pink and black is the best color scheme that Randy ever wore, but the lightning bolt bandana is excellent. These guys are an A+ by Funko.
I’ll quit boring you with old guys and talk about some more old guys! Even the Pop! figures that will be released in the near future are a bunch of retired, semi-retired, or dead wrestlers. I’m not sure if this speaks to the popularity of yesteryear or the current state of the WWE product.
First I’ll talk about Sting, one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and a guy who just recently stepped into a WWE ring for the first time. I was so excited when I read Sting was going to be released soon. I still am, but my excitement was drowned a little when I saw it was going to be the black and white Sting. The figure is great and I love the job Funko did on the face paint and hair, but I love the old surfer Sting. That’s the same guy who had Robocop on his side. The black and white Sting hung out with crows and stuff. Both cool, but we all know which of those two examples is off of the cool charts.
Moving on, we will talk about the eighth wonder of the world, Andre the Giant. Looking at this guy makes me realize how hard it probably is to make wrestlers’ hair look good on these figures. Wrestling is very much about appearance, so these figures have to match their real-life counterparts more than most. He has his side burns, black singlet and boots, and a pissed off look. Some say Andre should have been a 6 inch figure, but that doesn’t make sense. Using logic (something I rarely ever do), if he was made into a 6 inch Pop! then in real life he would have been 9 feet tall and weighed right at 400 pounds. He actually weighed more than that, but the height wouldn’t match. I like that they just made him look bigger than the other wrestlers. He was an enormous man, but not 9 feet tall enormous. Andre is slated to be released the same time as Sting.
One guy who I have not found a timetable on is Ric Flair. Woooooooo! The Nature Boy is a Target exclusive, but his release date is unconfirmed. Flair will don his trademark robe and bleach blond hair. The only thing I would have done differently is to have him raise one hand and put those four fingers up Horseman style! I’ll never get an Arn Anderson Pop! so I would at least like the Four Horsemen to be acknowledged somehow.
One place I would love to see wrestlers like Arn is in the mystery mini blind boxes. I noticed these blind boxes are often a place where some of the lesser known or less popular characters of movies and tv shows are placed. The release date of these minis is thought to be October 15th. There are the usual Rock and John Cena figures, but I love that the Ultimate Warrior, George “The Animal” Steele, and The Iron Sheik are included. Rumor is that there will be an Ultimate Warrior Pop! soon, so him being included in the Mystery Minis makes sense.
Funko has an endless amount of things they can do with the WWE Pop! line. As stated above, they really have not touched upon the modern guys except for a few. I know wrestling fans would love to see Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, and Bray Wyatt. It makes sense to produce the older guys, since they are more popular. But I have seen a lot of WWE fans say they would buy the new guys up. Maybe we can even get an Arrow WWE crossover Pop! since Stephen Amell will be wrestling this Sunday at Summerslam. As fans we can only dream.
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