WWE Vault Appreciation Thread

[davertfnewman]

We got Thumb Wrestlers, but don't think we got the big dog chew figures.

The later clips are actually industry promotional films rather than adverts. Victor Caroli, the narrator for Transformers, does the voiceovers.

[The Reverend]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

Good old network. Never seen these before, Elizabeth actually showing a load of unseen chirpy charisma in the first advert too. Were the LJN figures big in the UK or did the Hasbro line really launch the UK market for their action figures. 

 

The full size LJN figs were never available in the UK* although as @davertfnewman rightly said we did the thumb wrestlers and I believe the smaller LJN Bendies line was sold in a few shops over here.

* I do actually remember seeing full size LJN Figures for sale in the UK in the 80's. My hometown had a big outdoor Sunday market each week and the toy stall there had some for sale, plus we had a shop in town called The Surplus Stores which sold anything and everything cheap (a bit like a market stall just in a shop) and they had some in their toy section (a metal racking unit and a couple of battered cardboard boxes in front selling a mix of a few items of mainstream product and bootleg and foreign toys)

I must have been about the only kid around 1986/87 who knew who these toys actually were as my nan was one of the limited households in the country who had cable TV, so we got to see a lot of WWF.

I think, as with most market traders, the LJN's were bought in from lots that came off (fell off accidentally) containers from China or it may have been that I lived in East Anglia and we had a number of large US military bases nearby, which had large PX stores for the troops and their families. I know they sold LJN figures as we had an American family next door and the son had figures (Hogan and JYD I remember) when he'd been shopping on base (later on he was into GI Joe as I was, although I knew them as Action Force, he used to come and play with his new figs that I had to wait for about 2 years to be released!)

I wonder if toys etc. were just sold off to local traders in the UK once they came off the shelves as I can't believe they would've shipped them back to the US. 

[The Reverend]

6 hours ago, The Reverend said:

Too right! I have a 12 disc Dangerous Alliance comp somewhere at home from my tape trading days. It is just stacked full of great matches even, as mentioned above, from the most mundane TV shows. I don't even know if the 12 discs covers everything. Amazing to think that the D.A weren't even around for a full calendar year either!! I know it wasn't all good, but with this, the Royal Rumble as well, 1992 really was a glorious year to be a fan

And here is a link to the listing of that comp: https://ug2pdvd.angelfire.com/wrestlinglists/dangerousalliance.html

Think I need to dig that out. Perfect viewing for a freezing cold weekend. 

[wandshogun09]

I remember being round a school mates house as a kid and seeing the Piper LJN. Had no idea what it was or why it was so massive compared to the Hasbros until finding out about LJN’s years later. I don’t think his family had ever been abroad at the time so I guess you could get hold of them over here in certain places but they’d have been limited. 

[Dai]

Flicking through this recent upload, and it has surely the greatest 5 minutes that there has ever been in WWE. Not Bushwhacker Luke vs Blake Beverley, but 30 mins in, the Jake/Savage snake bite angle. Everything is perfection, from Randy's selling of it, to Jakes mannerisms, Liz, Roddy, Vince, the chaos, the crowd, even the snake plays a blinder and did the perfect pose after the bite. You could reshoot that another 100 times and still not get as good a visual as Jake and the snake at the end. Dont think anything tops this.

 

[Cod Eye]

17 hours ago, The Reverend said:

* I do actually remember seeing full size LJN Figures for sale in the UK in the 80's. My hometown had a big outdoor Sunday market each week and the toy stall there had some for sale, plus we had a shop in town called The Surplus Stores which sold anything and everything cheap (a bit like a market stall just in a shop) and they had some in their toy section (a metal racking unit and a couple of battered cardboard boxes in front selling a mix of a few items of mainstream product and bootleg and foreign toys)

There were defiantly some LJN's that made it to the liquidators over here, as we had a toy stall on Barnsley market that had them. The stall was amazing, and was stocked with toys that never hit the big time, but had cartoons on Channel 4 on weekend mornings, like Toxic Crusaders, Bucky O'Hare, Bewetlejuice, Bill n Ted as well as things like American Gladiators. Strangely, I didnt buy any despite being wrestling mad due to the size difference between Hasbros.

[gmoney]

My mate had the Paul Orndorff LJN, but wasn't in great condition and was certainly and hand me down from someone. 

[The Gaffer]

Decent curiosity, this. Thunder in front of a hotter and bigger than usual Manchester crowd. It's downright weird seeing the crowd actually pop for things during this era. I love me some humble, grounded, post-Russo WCW:

 

[Dai]

These Thunders from this time always depress me, as nearly every match has a wrestler that would appear in a "Shite wrestlers from the Monday Night Wars" list. For this episode it would be:

Vito, Kwee Wee, MIA (maybe the worst stable of all time), Mike Sanders, Disco, Konnan, Buff. 

The Thunders from 99/00 were truly atrocious. 

[gmoney]

I'd go to bat for Big Vito, Disco and Buff. Perfect mid card fodder. Kwee Wee had a bad gimmick but was a decent hand. I wouldn't defend the others though, particularly Mike Sanders. 

[Merzbow]

Disco is a cunt in real life but he was a top class midcarder for a few years, the parody of Konnan's music video is legit one of the few bits of wrestling comedy I laugh out loud at still.

OIL OF OLAYYY

 

Edited November 22, 2025 by Merzbow

[Chili]

25 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Disco is a cunt in real life but he was a top class midcarder for a few years, the parody of Konnan's music video is legit one of the few bits of wrestling comedy I laugh out loud at still.

OIL OF OLAYYY

 

The best bit for me is where he's trying to read the lyrics. A prick of a man, but he was a good hand as a 90's style Honky Tonk Man. 

[The King Of Swing]

There was much worse on the WCW roster than Disco.

His short run with Alex Wright was a decent laugh from memory and I didn't mind his stint in the TV title scene. 

[air_raid]

20 hours ago, Dai said:

 

 

This is exactly why I love wrestling, there’s always something to discover or rediscover. I’d not seen this in its entirety and it’s exactly the era that birthed my fandom. Very enjoyable - a Boss Man/Earthquake match I hadn’t seen and was very good, Quake bumped a lot for Boss Man. The Virgil/Ted rematch that gave a reason for Virg/Tito vs DiBiase/Repo at TTIT. And Hogan and Flair both delivering the star power/main event bluster. Lovely stuff.

[tiger_rick]

This has been available for a while as highlights on their main channel or a shit version but they posted the best version of the full Taker/Bulldog match. One of a handful of Taker matches as WWF Champion between the Survivor Series and This Tuesday In Texas. According to History of WWE, this aired on the French version of Superstars.

They've also just uploaded Survivor Series 1991. PPVs from 1990-1993 are just my ultimate wrestling comfort. Even though I've seen them dozens of times. Even though the matches are mostly shit. Even though the finishes are mostly horrific - Survivors particularly. I can just listen to the commentary like a podcast and see the pictures in my head!