By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles Specialists

Update: On Tuesday, Mattel responded via Twitter to inquiries from PWTorch regarding the future of Hulk Hogan action figures in Mattel’s WWE line.

“We are committed to embracing people from all cultures & backgrounds,” according to @Mattel, the company’s corporate Twitter account. “At this time, we will halt production on Hogan product."

Mattel had recently announced plans for a “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan Defining Moments figure that would have been released in January.

Hogan’s action figures can still be found at many retail stores, although several Torch readers have sent receipts showing that their local Target stores are selling Hogan figures at heavily discounted prices.

Major retailers like Target, Walmart and Toys R Us have pulled Hogan’s merchandise from their online stores.

*** Original Column ***

Many of WWE’s business partners and major retailers have been slow to comment or respond to requests regarding the status of Hulk Hogan merchandise following last week’s news of Hogan’s tirade of racial slurs in 2006. However, it appears that some of the nation’s largest retailers have removed Hogan’s action figures and other items from their websites.

A search for “Hulk Hogan” on Target.com only returns results for a handful of Hogan DVDs, including “No Holds Barred.” The only Hogan figure that shows up is his Mr. America-esque WWE Create-A-Superstar Figure Pack. Hogan’s "Defining Moments" and Target-Exclusive Hall of Fame Series 2 figures do not show up on the retailer’s site.

At least two readers have reported that their local Target stores have marked down basic Hogan figures to $4 and Defining Moments to $10 as of Sunday, but it’s unclear if that was already the plan or if it was done in response to Hogan’s comments.

A search on Walmart.com brings up several DVDs that include Hogan’s matches. The only figures that show up are the "Defining Moments" and basic figures. However, these figures are listed as “pickup only” and cannot be purchased from Walmart.com. Regionally, some Walmart stores have been clearancing out Hogan’s Defining Moments figure, but that predates the Hogan scandal.

ToysRUs.com, which as recently as last week was selling two of Hogan’s Mattel WWE action figures, no longer offers those figures for sale.

Individual stores probably won’t be as quick to pull Hogan’s merchandise, if history is any indication. Chris Benoit figures sat on retail shelves for months after the Benoit family murder-suicide in 2007.

Mattel had recently announced plans for new Hogan figures at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con, but those figures will likely be scrapped. A “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan Defining Moments figure was planned for January.

Hogan was also a big part of Topps’s 2015 WWE products, including a 50-card Hulk Hogan Tribute set that was scheduled to span all five Topps WWE products. The first ten cards were released early this year in 2015 Topps WWE, followed by the next ten in 2015 Topps WWE Chrome.

The next 10 are advertised for 2015 Topps WWE Road to WrestleMania, which is scheduled for an August release; Topps is also advertising Hogan autographs and relics for that product.

PWTorch Collectibles specialist Michael Moore can be reached at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MMooreWriter.

[Torch photo credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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