By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: Alberto el Patron may be a bigger star than Alberto Del Rio, and collectors are still buying his figures.

Action Figure Spotlight #64: Mattel WWE Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez

In WWE, Alberto Del Rio was a Mexican aristocrat who flaunted his wealth and looked down on fans. When he turned babyface, he was “born in Mexico, but made in America.” Not exactly inspiring stuff. But everywhere else, Alberto el Patron is a star.

Ever since departing WWE amidst alleged bigoted behavior last year, Alberto has received a hero’s welcome everywhere he has gone. In Ring of Honor, he is big name wrestler working against the company’s best wrestlers. In AAA, he has quickly become the company’s top star, capturing the AAA World Heavyweight Championship. Last week, he brought that belt to Lucha Underground and received the strongest response of any wrestler to date in “the temple.”

With his AAA World Title victory, Alberto did something that may never be accomplished again. He is the only man to have held the top two titles in Mexico (AAA and CMLL) and both of WWE’s top titles (WWE and World Heavyweight Championship, respectively).

Alberto has several Mattel basic and Elite figures from his time in WWE. Many of these figures are very similar, with some variation of yellow, gold, and white tights and boots. He has been packaged with many accessories, such as scarves, a magazine with his picture and a masked Chihuahua (Rey Pequeno).

Alberto’s most popular figure was released in Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 14 set in 2012. It features him in white trunks and kneepads with yellow boots. The figure also comes with a red Money in the Bank briefcase and a painted WWE Title belt. This figure usually sells in the $25-35 range packaged or loose with all accessories; loose figures without accessories can usually be found for $5-6.




Mattel also made two figures of Ricardo Rodriguez, Alberto’s personal ring announcer. The first was a Toys R Us Exclusive Build a figure released after WrestleMania 27. In order to put together this figure, collectors had to buy all four figures in the set, each of which came with a different piece. To do this would have cost collectors close to $100 ($22.99 per figure). Today the Ricardo Build a Figure can usually be found for about $20-25.

Ricardo’s other figure was released in Mattel’s WWE basic series 34 in 2013. This figure looks similar to the Build a Figure toy, but has a tri-color bowtie in place of the black one. This figure can usually be found for about $15-20.




New Toys and More

Mattel, Wicked Cool Toys, Funko, and other makers of WWE toys unveiled lots of new images and prototypes at last week’s Toy Fair. Wrestling Fig News posted lots of pictures and updates; follow them on Twitter @WWETNAfigures.

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

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