By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: Collectors spend a pretty good amount of money on most Yokozuna figures, but his scarcest toy comes from a Hasbro set from 1994.




Action Figure Spotlight #18: Hasbro WWF Green Carded Series Yokozuna
Originally released: 1994
What you can expect to pay: $15-45 (loose); $30-65 (packaged)
Recent sales: $27, $30, $34, $41.77, $44.08, $49.99, $52, $60, $63.43 (all packaged)

Rumors have circulated for weeks that WWE will add former WWF Champion Yokozuna to its Hall of Fame in 2012. If that’s the case, the secondary market value of some already expensive Yoko figures may go up even higher.

Yokozuna’s most popular figure is from the green-carded series of WWF figures from Hasbro. This was the final series of WWF figures from Hasbro in the early 1990s. Interest in the toys peaked in 1990 and 1991 and then began to decline. By the time this series of figures was released in 1994, the WWF had hit a pretty low point, and pro wrestling’s popularity declined. As interest in the WWF waned, fewer kids wanted wrestling toys. As a result, Hasbro produced a very limited quantity of the green-carded figures, which turned out to be the last series in the Hasbro line.

Yoko’s first figure was released a year earlier on a red card, but his green-carded figure is much scarcer and more popular with collectors. This figure features Yoko in black tights and white sumo gear.

Because so few of these figures were released, many were snatched up by collectors. Today it is much easier to find the figure still packaged than loose. Either way, secondary market prices are very volatile. Loose figures sometimes sell as low as $15 and as high as $45, while packaged toys sell anywhere from $25 to $65.

Yokozuna figures have also been produced by Jakks, first as a part of its original bone-crunching action (BCA) style toys, and then in the popular WWE Classic Superstars line. Mattel recently released images of a new Yoko toy, which will be included in the 15th series of Elite figures later this year.
Depending on your taste in figures, there is probably a Yokozuna toy that is perfect for your collection. But, Yoko’s green-carded Hasbro figure likely will remain his most valuable for quite some time.

Collectibles News

-- PWTorch reader David Peck’s impressive collection of PSA graded Wrestling All Stars trading cards was recently featured in an extensive article in SMR Magazine. Peck has provided scans of the article at Forums.Collectors.com .

-- Kudos to Robert Haithcock, who pointed out that the first female toy ever included in a WWF product was Wendi Richter. The Richter item isn’t an actual action figure, but an eraser that was included in a six-piece set. The erasers were based on the “Hulk Hogan’s Rock and Wrestling” cartoon and are incredibly rare. One seller is offering the set of six on eBay for more than $1,000.

-- The 1985 WWF Pro Wrestling Stars trading cards from Topps have garnered a considerable amount of attention from collectors over the last few years. In the 1990s, these cards were often found in bargain bins in card shops for 25 cents or less each. A 36-pack box recently fetched $200 on eBay, and a PSA 10 graded copy of the Hulk Hogan card sold for a whopping $550. Raw, ungraded cards are very common and don’t command much, but the age and sensitivity of the set makes cards with high grades very difficult to find.

-- The injury to TNA’s Jesse Sornesen has generated interest in his first cards, which were included in the TNA Reflexxions set released in January. At the beginning of February, his autographed card from that set was selling for under $2. Over last weeks, the same card has been selling in the $8-$10 range. However, the purple version, serial numbered 1/1, recently sold for just $15.56.

Sloppy Signature Trivia Answer

The Diva autograph in last Thursday’s sloppy signature trivia contest stumped quite a few readers. The most common guess was Mickie James, but the sloppy signature actually belongs to Christy Hemme. Congratulations to Dai Yut, Todd Riley, and Larry Lutz, who recognized the autograph.

This Thursday’s collectibles column will include answers to reader questions. If you have a question you would like answered, contact Michael Moore at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com.

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