When Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik for the World Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship in 1984, the wrestling industry was practically revolutionized overnight. Under Vince McMahon's watchful capitalist eye, the Rock 'n Wrestling era began and "sports entertainment" was delivered to the masses, whether they be adults or the children of the day. This led to all sorts of merchandise, including music albums, stickers, cartoons, video games, and of course, toys. It's hard to remember a time when there wasn't some sort of WWF/WWE-branded toys on store shelves, most of which involved action figures. Once World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling began attracting more attention on a national scale, they wasted little time in joining the plastic ring wars as well. Of course, the collector's boom that kicked off in the 90's following that of comic books likely helped, as that had a tendency to draw fans of all ages to the blister-carded and boxed products, whether the people buying them had any actual intention of buying them or not. With only a bit of a gap in the early to mid-90s, these figures have been on shelves steadily for the better part of three decades (rivaling the likes of Hasbro's Transformers for consistent shelf time, and outlasting many others). In that time, a number of curiosities and points of interest have sprung up regarding the toys, and we're here today to look at 12 such pieces of trivia. You may already know some of these facts, but do you know the whole dozen? Collect them all!
Former Nintendo Power writer, current Nintendo Force writer. Wrote the book on Mega Man (The Robot Master Field Guide). Was once fired by Vince McMahon. Dabbles in video games, comic books, toys, and fast food curiosities. Once had a new species of exotic bird named after him. It died.
You can find more of his writings, musings, and other such things on his websites at Nyteworks.net.
