By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: The Pro Wrestling Legends toys from Figures, Inc. aren't as detailed or valuable as other wrestling toy lines, but they still offer an affordable alternative.

Long before Jakks-Pacific issued its first wave of WWE Classic Superstars action figures, a small company called Figures, Inc. produced a series of toys of wrestling stars from the past.

The Legends of Pro Wrestling action figure line debuted in 1998. The toys weren’t available in big retail stores like Walmart or Toys-R-Us; collectors who wanted them had to find them online or hope their local sports card or comic book shop would be getting them in.

Figures, Inc. made two versions of most wrestlers, a plain and a bloody. Both figures were very similar, except the bloody versions were splattered from head-to-toe with red paint and sometimes had different colored tights.

The Legends of Pro Wrestling Toys were comparable in quality to the toys of that time, which included Jakks’s Bone Crunching Action (BCA) style WWF figures, various WCW figures from Toy Biz, and ECW figures from OSFTM.

Legends of Pro Wrestling featured the very first action figures of some legendary wrestlers, including Chief Jay Strongbow, The Sheik, Superstar Billy Graham, and Killer Kowalski. This series also included new figures of wrestlers who had appeared in older WWF and AWA sets, such as Bruno Sammartino, the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Ricky Steamboat, Abdullah the Butcher, and Baron Von Raschke. Also included was a limited edition autographed figure of King Kong Bundy, with 500 available. The Legends of Pro Wrestling set is notable for featuring the only toys ever made of “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, Ox Baker, Wahoo McDaniel, and a few others.

The figures have a great nostalgic feel to them. The packaging features an old photo of the wrestler that looks like it came from one of the Apter magazines from the 1970s or 1980s. The faces and bodies aren’t as realistic as those that would come later, but the toys felt more like the groundbreaking MEGO superhero toys that were popular when these guys were wrestling.




If you’re looking for a toy of your favorite star from the ‘70s or ‘80s, a Legends of Pro Wrestling figure is a considerably cheaper alternative. Today, most of the figures sell for $10 or less, packaged or loose. Any potential long-term collectability these figures once had likely disappeared once Jakks began offering superior toys of the same wrestlers, but these are still great novelty items.

Question of the Week

Has the overall quality of Mattel’s WWE figures improved since they were first released in 2010? Send your answers to michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com.

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