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| Wow! For years, I thought Andre the Giant and Abdullah the Butcher were the only figures from this rare 1981 line of Japanese wrestling figures. However, that wasn't the case. Here we have Stan the Lariat Hansen... his very first wrestling figure (released 4 years before his AWA Remco figure!!!). | And also from that rare line, we have the first and ONLY figure ever made of Dory Funk! |
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| Here we have a couple of very unique figures. They're two different 15 Inch tall versions of the Japanese wrestling superstar, Super Delphin from the Osaka promotion . They're very similar in size and style to the 16" tall Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper figures LJN made in 1985. Both figures are VERY detailed. Design on box is super cool with captions of Super Delphin shouting something. There's not much English writing on these boxes so I'm not sure what year they were made in. They appear to have been made by a company called "Liberty Planet". There is mention of the CMLL Lucha Libre Wrestling promotion on the back as well. These are the largest Japanese figures I own, beating out the Inspire line by a few inches. | This is an EXTREMELY rare figure. It's a 1991 Play Well Toys WCW El Gigante "Bend-ems" figure. I've done some research and am convinced that it is an exclusive to the country of Argentina. El Gigante is originally from Argentina, and it appears this figure was made for their home-town hero. This fact makes this figure one of the rarest around. If you ever get ahold of one of these babies, you should feel very fortunate. |
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| It's not widely known, but a few years before LJN started making wrestling action figures for the WWF, a company in Japan was making its first series of wrestling figures. In this series was one of the all-time greats - Andre the Giant. I recently obtained this figure with the help of a contact in Japan. An unbelievably rare piece from 1981. | One of the rarest figures in the extremely hard to find AWA Mat Mania series is Shiek Adnan. The Shiek was one of those few wrestlers (along with the Great Muta and Abdullah the Butcher) who truly frightened me, when I was a child. I'm glad to finally have this piece in my collection. |
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| Here's a wrestling figure I never knew existed until I saw it on eBay late one night. It's an official Mr. T wrestling figure by Galoob. My definition of an "official" figure is any figure licensed by either the company the wrestler works for, or the wrestler himself. The WWF never made an official figure of Mr. T although he did show up in both Wrestlemania 1 and 2. Due to the popularity of Mr. T in the WWF in the mid 1980s, Galoob obviously saw it as an opportunity to cash in by making this figure. The figure is actually very similar to the AWA Remco line, with the same style body mold and a cloth robe. I have no idea of the value of this figure, but I do know it's extremely rare. | As I mentioned in my AAA section, the Triple A Kelian line is one of the rarest wrestling figure lines EVER made. I was recently able to complete my collection with what I believe is the rarest figure from that line - Psicosis. I have NEVER seen this figure anywhere, until I was finally able to get it through a contact. Psicosis is one of the best luchadores wrestling today. He's had classic matches with Rey Misterio Jr. , the Ultimo Dragon, and many others. I was very happy to finally find this figure. | This may be one of the rarest figures in my collection. It's a Harcore Legend Terry Funk figure from Japan. This figure can only be found with the Beyond the Mat Director's Cut DVD Box Set, which is only sold in Japan. It's a true collector's item. Terry is one of wrestling's biggest icons. It's hard to believe that this is his first figure in over 15 years. I believe the figure was made by the same company that makes New Japan's figures. The detail is just great! |
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| This is what's it's all about - An AWA Mint On Card Mat Mania Playboy Buddy Rose. This recently aquired figure is one of the rarest in my collection. The Mat Mania figures are extremely hard to come by, so if you own any, consider yourself lucky. The AWA was the first wrestling I was ever exposed to when I was a kid, and helped turn me into the fan I am now. My brother and I used to always laugh at Buddy Rose - not so much for his character, but for the fact that a severely out of shape guy would actually refer to himself as "The Playboy". Funny stuff! This is one of the prized pieces of my collection. | I bought this from a merchandise site in Japan. It's a 12" tall Great Sasuke figure from Northeast Pro Wrestling. This figure was made by Inspire and is very detailed. Inspire also makes this style of figures for other Japanese wrestling promotions. A great line! |
