New wrestling figures!

[Bellenda Carlisle]

7 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Of all the Women on the roster, odd they chose to lead with Chyna.

It's Rhea Ripley 

[Hannibal Scorch]

7 hours ago, Bellenda Carlisle said:

It's Rhea Ripley 

I know, it’s just very generic looking compared to Rhea, at least in my eyes

[The Reverend]

Random thought tonight - is there any other line of action figures that has had so many figures produced? Surely wrestling figures must hold the record - and with no real indication that they'll slow down. 

[TibBo]

Than the Mattel WWE ones? I Imagine Barbie/Star Wars/Masters of the Universe/TMNT all produced more?

Star Wars sold over 40 million figures in 1978 alone!

Edited November 17, 2025 by TibBo
Did a bit of research…

[The Reverend]

1 hour ago, TibBo said:

Than the Mattel WWE ones? I Imagine Barbie/Star Wars/Masters of the Universe/TMNT all produced more?

Star Wars sold over 40 million figures in 1978 alone!

Sorry, my post wasn't that clear. What I meant was, not in individual sales, but in terms of variation of figures. 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

52 minutes ago, The Reverend said:

Sorry, my post wasn't that clear. What I meant was, not in individual sales, but in terms of variation of figures. 

 

There is 1000's of official variants of Star Wars figures. New ones coming out constantly.

If you start looking to Japan and the likes of Gundam. Your talking 10'000 plus different official models since 1980.

Edited November 17, 2025 by Cousin Jim Bob

[Hannibal Scorch]

2 hours ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

 

There is 1000's of official variants of Star Wars figures. New ones coming out constantly.

If you start looking to Japan and the likes of Gundam. You’re talking 10'000 plus different official models since 1980.

Wrestling figures have been made yearly since 1984. After Jakks got the licence they released multiple sets a year, multiple each month in the big boom period. And that’s just for WWE. Even Star Wars had off times (I think there were none after 85 for about 8 or 9 years when they did the (new) Power of the Force line. I’d imagine they are much closer than you think.

[The Reverend]

10 hours ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

 

There is 1000's of official variants of Star Wars figures. New ones coming out constantly.

If you start looking to Japan and the likes of Gundam. Your talking 10'000 plus different official models since 1980.

Fair Play - I've not really up on Star Wars so wasn't aware they were so prolific, I know I see their product quite a bit in shops (and as @Hannibal Scorch mentioned they did have a bit of a lull in the 80's) but when I've seen the sheer volume of WWE product Smyths stocks, and the frequency they release stuff, I imagine they must be pretty high up on the volume that has been produced. I guess with SW they have such a wide ranging universe when it comes to characters.  

Your post did make me think though, that although nothing will likely ever eclipse that 1978 Star Wars boom - did the Hasbro WWF figures beat the sales of Ninja Turtles? I remember more kids having Hulk Hogan than Donatello - but I've never been able to find just how many Hasbros were sold in the UK during that first couple of waves when business was a'booming! 

 

[Merzbow]

10 hours ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

If you start looking to Japan and the likes of Gundam. Your talking 10'000 plus different official models since 1980.

That's a great shout, the model kits alone have to come close but then you add every other kind of figure and "super deformed" versions etc. 

They're pumping shit out at a crazy pace right now, too, overtaking both Dragon Ball and One Piece as the biggest anime franchise in sales. It's also finally getting pretty big over here, both Hobbycraft and HMV have started selling them alongside your usual Forbidden Planet type shops.

Edited November 18, 2025 by Merzbow

[theringmaster]

Defiantly Star Wars, they release several Luke, Vador, Han, Leia etc every year.

 

[davertfnewman]

7 hours ago, The Reverend said:

Your post did make me think though, that although nothing will likely ever eclipse that 1978 Star Wars boom - did the Hasbro WWF figures beat the sales of Ninja Turtles? I remember more kids having Hulk Hogan than Donatello - but I've never been able to find just how many Hasbros were sold in the UK during that first couple of waves when business was a'booming! 

 

I can't imagine so. TMNT was one of those things where you couldn't get figures for months, leading to cheap and nasty knockoffs to fill the gap.

[TibBo]

I feel like, if you are going to class all wrestling figures from every manufacturer ever as a single range under one umbrella , you’d have to class all army figures as a single range too and include Action Man/Gi-Joe/Tin-Soldiers etc under that umbrella, so the answer would still be no.

It looks like TMNT sold $400 million in 1990 of figures/playsets, and I can’t imagine WWF Hasbro getting close to that.

They only made the WWF Hasbro figures for five years, and the figures from that final year were produced in much lower numbers and barely sold, which is why they are worth so much now. If Hasbro were selling $400 million of wrestling figures, they would have renewed the contract.

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

On 11/18/2025 at 6:58 PM, TibBo said:

I feel like, if you are going to class all wrestling figures from every manufacturer ever as a single range under one umbrella , you’d have to class all army figures as a single range too and include Action Man/Gi-Joe/Tin-Soldiers etc under that umbrella, so the answer would still be no.

It looks like TMNT sold $400 million in 1990 of figures/playsets, and I can’t imagine WWF Hasbro getting close to that.

They only made the WWF Hasbro figures for five years, and the figures from that final year were produced in much lower numbers and barely sold, which is why they are worth so much now. If Hasbro were selling $400 million of wrestling figures, they would have renewed the contract.

I remember the TMNT craze in 1990

There were astronomical queues for them back then and you had parents actually having punchups over them to get hold of one.

I was lucky, we went to spain 2-3 a year as we had a flat there. I dont think the craze was as big there.  There was a spanish toy store that had massive amounts of the whole range. Even if they were knockoffs they were perfect copies and never broke.

Think we bought all of the TMNT , shredder, Splinter, April and a foot soldier in one hit.

I was only 9 at the time and my parents would have been 53 and 51. They werent 'up on crazes'

Given the demand back then theyd have made a fortune if theyd brought a few suitcases of figures back!

[JoeManco7]

20 minutes ago, JakeRobertsParoleOfficer said:

I remember the TMNT craze in 1990

There were astronomical queues for them back then and you had parents actually having punchups over them to get hold of one.

I was lucky, we went to spain 2-3 a year as we had a flat there. I dont think the craze was as big there.  There was a spanish toy store that had massive amounts of the whole range. Even if they were knockoffs they were perfect copies and never broke.

Think we bought all of the TMNT , shredder, Splinter, April and a foot soldier in one hit.

I was only 9 at the time and my parents would have been 53 and 51. They werent 'up on crazes'

Given the demand back then theyd have made a fortune if theyd brought a few suitcases of figures back!

What was the average amount of Foot Soldier figures did people have?

I only had one Foot Soldier figure in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Figure collection during the 1990 craze for them and there was an attempt to get at least one more during a trip to Woolwoths or Toys R Us with my mother, but she turned down my request because, "You already got one of them figures." Which, yes, was true, but my mother didn't understand that I wanted to increase my members of the Foot Clan otherwise four Teenage Mutant Turtles against only one Foot Soldier wasn't much of a battle and made my Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo action figures look like bullies if they didn't match up against the at least half a dozen Foot Soldiers that I dreamed, but couldn't afford, to own.

Although I must admit that the four TMNT turtles and one Foot Soldier figure I did own then eventually turned out to be good Mexican wrestling job guys for my WWF Hasbros. 

[davertfnewman]

These days they sometimes put figures like the Foot Soldiers in troop builder packs so you're buying a few of them in one go.