By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: ECW figures made by OSFTM in 1999 and 2000 are an affordable collecting option for long-time fans of the Philadelphia-based promotion.




In 2000, children wandering through the toy department at their local store might see Pikachu, Anakin Skywalker, Furbies – and a guy named Balls Mahoney.

The World Wrestling Federation came under fire during the Attitude Era for marketing what had become a violent, crude, and sexualized product to children through Jakks-Pacific’s line of WWF action figures. When toymaker OSFTM launched its line of ECW figures in late 1999, it managed to avoid the ire of the same watchdog groups who were targeting the WWF.

The ECW toys didn’t have nearly the presence of their WWF counterparts. While WWF toys were prominently displayed by virtually every major retailer, the ECW figures were only sold by Toys R Us, Target, and a few others.

The figures were released during the dying days of ECW and didn’t sell very well. It didn’t help that figures of ultra violent, hardcore wrestlers were very cartoonish and showed little resemblance to the grapplers themselves. Each toy also had an action feature; for example, a lever in Rob Van Dam’s back would raise his arms.

The first two series of figures were readily available and included many names most often associated with ECW, including Shane Douglas, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Taz, Tommy Dreamer, New Jack, and the Dudley Boys, along with toys of Chris Candido, Lance Storm, and Justin Credible. These toys didn’t sell especially well, and many retailers gave up on them very quickly; by the spring of 2000, Target was clearancing out a third series of exclusive repaints of the figures for less than $2 each.

OSFTM made three more waves of figures that were available at Toys R Us and some other toy stores. The fourth series, called “Champion Clashers,” included new figures of RVD and Taz, along with the first ever figures of Raven, Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney, Tajiri, Jerry Lynn, and Rhino.

The fifth series, “Bash of the Brawlers,” contained new figures of Justin Credible and Sabu, along with lesser stars like Steve Corino, Nova, Super Crazy, and Little Guido. This series also included the first figures of The Sandman, who had recently returned from WCW, and Mike Awesome, who had just defected to WCW. The sixth and final series, “Thrill Zone,” was made up of repaints of older toys.

Today, the toys are somewhat tough to find, especially the later series; however, that hasn’t translated into much collector interest. Most figures usually sell for less than $10, with some exceptions. The ECW toy of Mike Awesome remains his only figure, and carded toys sometimes sell as high as $30-40.

Jakks-Pacific later made higher quality figures of many ECW stars. Ruthless Aggression-style figures were made following the first One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2005 and the ECW re-launch in 2006. Jakks also incorporated several past ECW stars in its Classic Superstars line.

However, some wrestlers who were persona non grata with WWE or just not big enough stars never had a Jakks figure, so the OSFTM toys remain their only action figures to date. These include Chris Candido, Shane Douglas, New Jack, Axl Rotten, Jerry Lynn, and Steve Corino.

For diehard ECW fans, serious action figure collectors and fans of a specific wrestler, the ECW toys from OSFTM are, for the most part, a very affordable collecting option. The figures are also rare enough that collectors who enjoy a good chase will have a challenge finding some of these figures.

Sloppy Signature Trivia




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