Before it became home to where the bad boys played, World Championship Wrestling was the home of the real men who competed as part of the National Wrestling Alliance.
Mattel actually started out doing all right by NWA fans when it kicked off its WWE Legends line with the Road Warriors version of Hawk and Animal (instead of their WWF red and black Legion of Doom look), a Mid-Atlantic style Sgt. Slaughter, the Sheepherders just a name difference from The Bushwackers, a Four Horsemen-ready Tully Blanchard, and Arn Anderson via the Matty.com exclusives, and an easy to customize Dusty Rhodes. Not to mention WWF Legends that retained their looks when they ventured to the NWA, like Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, and The Iron Shiek. And then… well, the offerings have been disappointingly slim as Mattel started devoted most of its Legends’ attention to the Attitude Era and the occasional WCW Monday Night Era star.
Fortunately, the majority of the NWA’s stars can get conveniently knocked out with just a little bit of Mattel attention, so I’m going to helpfully offer up my suggestions as to how we can get the essential remaining members of the NWA roster to collectors’ shelves.
Honorable mention: Ole Anderson 
The first “Rock” of wrestling and mauler of the original Four Horsemen. Ole apparently has a terrible relationship with Vince McMahon, but the same was once said of “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret “Hitman” Hart, and Bruno Sammartino — all of whom have had figures released, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Ole may have trouble flying off shelves, though, so he’d require a smart case pack-out so he’s not viewed as the guy who killed off the Flashback/Legends line. And while I’m dreaming, he’d need to come with a “Darn (censored for the kiddies) I’m Good” t-shirt.
5. Magnum T.A.
Easily one of wrestling’s great tragedies, Magnum T.A. was poised to become the NWA’s answer to Hulk Hogan, save the Jim Crockett Empire, and put the WWF out of business.
OK, so maybe Magnum’s potential impact has become a bit overstated, but there’s no doubt he was a pivotal member of the NWA roster before his fateful accident.
Of all the members on this list, Magnum is perhaps the biggest no-brainer since Mattel has already gone through the effort of making a prototype figure that is simply stuck in development Hades waiting for a home. Don’t let this legend forever be a tease for NWA collectors, Mattel. Release this figure so we can re-enact that “I Quit” match with our Tully Blanchard figure!
4. Nikita Koloff
The Russian Nightmare started his NWA career teaming with his uncle Ivan as one of the dreaded Russians and was the first competitor to be able to match the vaunted Road Warriors strength for strength with just as an impressive a physique. One-half of “The Superpowers” with Dusty Rhodes, Nikita doesn’t need a lot of accessories, but a chain seems like a natural and if Mattel was feeling especially generous, they could toss in a variant head with hair to recreate his latter NWA days in 1988 or his neck brace from the summer of 1987.
3. The Great Muta 
If you were an NWA fan in 1989, you witnessed one of the most amazing wrestlers ever to perform in The Great Muta. With his spectacular moonsault, sinister face paint, and multicolored mist, Muta was unlike anyone else in the NWA and soon emerged as a dominant force in the promotion as he aligned with Terry Funk (a long tights version is desperately needed) and manager Gary Hart. The trio proved so diabolical a unit that they forced hated rivals Ric Flair and Sting to team up to fend off their threat. Mattel already somewhat has the basis for Muta’s signature ring attire from Tensai, so modifying that would allow us to have a great representation and possibly one of Mattel’s best legends.
2. Barry Windham
The NWA’s golden boy started his career in Florida teaming with his father Blackjack Mulligan, frequent tag-team partner Mike Rotunda, and mentor Dusty Rhodes before making the full-time jump to the NWA. There he became a constant thorn in the side of the Four Horsemen and Midnight Express. After losing his ally Lex Luger to the Four Horsemen, the two rekindled their friendship and went on to defeat Luger’s former stablemates Anderson and Blanchard for the NWA tag-team titles in one of the more electric matches in NWA history at the initial Clash of the Champions. Unbeknownst to anyone, Four Horsemen manager J.J. Dillon was in Windham’s ear leading to Windham shockingly betraying Luger to become the 4th Horsemen in what is widely considered the group’s strongest incarnation. While Mattel hasn’t been as creative as Hasbro with swappable parts for the WWE line, this is one instance where it is absolutely warranted as it in essence gives us two versions of the talented grappler from Sweetwater, Texas. A swappable hand would provide a gloved Four Horsemen era Windham while a regular hand gives us the pre-Horsemen version.
1. Ric Flair
Just as Hulk Hogan was the driving force of the WWF, Flair was his evil opposite in the NWA, constantly thwarting the efforts of Rhodes, Ronnie Garvin, Windham, Wahoo McDaniels, and countless others in defending his world title. And when he lost it, Flair redoubled his efforts and quickly regained “his” title and ultimate symbol of his status. This is merely the start of the opening of the floodgates of a character Mattel would be foolish to not crank out variants for, like Bret “Hitman” Hart, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and The Ultimate Warrior. Mattel has a lot of reds and blacks in the Legends/Flashback line, so for our first version of Flair, hopefully they’ll choose some of his other attires, like this purple tights/white boots combination or his green tights/yellow boots pairing. Either way, Flair is a figure we should rightfully expect many versions of, and since Flair is back in good graces with WWE, it should just be a matter of time before we get “The Nature Boy” on our shelves and alongside his running mates Anderson and Blanchard. All the more reason we need a Windham like yesterday.
So, what do you think? Is there someone more deserving that I left out? Early era Sting? NWA era Lex Luger? Big Bubba? Let’s hear your suggestions! See you next week!