Through the 1980s, the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation waged war to be the end-all, be-all in professional wrestling. With less revenue and marketing opportunities available, the smaller, regional promotions helplessly watched as their stars headed north to tangle with Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and company, or ventured down south to battle Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and The Road Warriors. Thanks to wider access to more homes and the popular Saturday Night’s Main Event program, the WWF was emerging as the dominant name in sports entertainment, with the NWA left watching its influence shrink.
Ted Turner’s purchase of NWA and subsequent renaming of the promotion to “World Championship Wrestling” marked the beginning of a stunning turnaround for the consensus No. 2 company, but it wasn’t until Eric Bischoff lured Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to WCW and convinced Hulk Hogan to turn heel did WCW achieve its greatest success and nearly run the WWF out of business. WCW’s Monday Night Nitro became appointment TV, while the WWF fought to remain relevant under the onslaught of the “new World order” and emphasize newer talent on Monday Night Raw. During the peak of these Monday Night Wars, WCW featured household names, and disappointingly few of them have been translated to figure form thus far in Mattel’s WWE line, so with this week’s Top 5 installment, I’ll list the Top 5 essential WCW wrestlers from the WCW/nWo era.
5. Buff Bagwell
Marcus Alexander Bagwell entered WCW with a decent amount of fanfare in 1992 and even teamed with stars like Sting and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat against The Dangerous Alliance upon his debut, but it wasn’t until he joined the nWo and found a personality as a vain, catchphrase-spouting heel did “Buff” really become interesting. Buff should be a bells-and-whistle figure for Mattel with his sleeveless jacket and top hat, or, failing that, with his removable airbrushed overalls. If they go heavy on the accessories, Mattel would have a Buff figure that truly is the stuff.
4. Lex Luger
In announcing that a Lex Luger Flashback figure was coming, Mattel asked some wrestling fans which version they wanted first. Not all that surprising, Lex’s “Made in the U.S.A.” attire was chosen thanks in part to its colorful look and Luger’s prime main-event status in the WWF at the time. Since Mattel has been willing to revisit Legends with other gimmicks, one from his 1996-1998 is essential for any decent WCW roster. While Sting hung in the rafters for half a year, Luger was the undisputed top wrestler fighting the nWo for a year. This version has to have Lex sporting a ponytail, black tights, and white boots. There’s not much by way of an accessory you could include, save a WCW world title from when he famously knocked off Hogan for the belt on Nitro, but skimping here would allow Mattel to go all-out on another figure.
3. Goldberg
Of all the newcomers that became icons during the Monday Night Wars, besides The Rock, arguably no one else emerged as a bigger star than “Da’ Man!” WCW officials were so impressed with this no-nonsense grappler that they gave him a nearly year-long undefeated streak as he beat legends like Hogan, Sting, The Giant, Curt Hennig, Raven, and DDP. Goldberg is another ridiculously simple figure for Mattel, but one accessory that could double sales would be to pack him with the removable black and white shorts he wore while in the WWE. It may be getting a little close to doll territory for some collectors, but it gives strictly WWE fans a Goldberg and prevents a WWE Goldberg from tying up a precious Flashback/Legends spot in the future.
2. Scott Hall
None of the excitement for WCW would have been possible without Scott Hall strolling through a standard edition of Monday Nitro, grabbing a microphone and proclaiming that “we” are taking over. In the weeks and months that followed, his words proved prophetic as Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hogan terrorized the company and battered anyone that opposed them. Since our nWo collection already boasts Nash, The Giant, and Savage, the other half of The Outsiders is a no-brainer. He should come with his red vest and higher, non-pulled back ponytail hairstyle to best capture his early nWo look. And for fun, give him a spray-paint can as well. And, however unlikely, I’ll go ahead and have my pipe dream that the WCW tag-team title could also be included.
1.”Hollywood” Hulk Hogan
Another no-brainer. With Hogan returning to the WWE just in time for Wrestlemania 30, it’s just a matter of time now before we finally get our grubby hands on a Hogan figure, and his evil heel alter ego is a must. After turning his back on the fans and aligning with Hall and Nash, Hogan reveled in playing the bad guy and this incarnation is far more essential to WCW collectors than a Hulkamania-lite red and yellow version from his early days in the promotion when he was beating all of the longtime stars and being treated like he was a much bigger deal than anyone else.
Like Buff, Hogan should be packed with accessories from a Hollywood Hogan t-shirt, removable weight-lifting belt, and n.W.o. spray-painted belt. Boas are optional, but not essential.
A Crow Sting version would undoubtedly be my top choice, but until he officially signs with WWE (if he does), I figured I’d hold him out of this list. I was likewise torn about whether the list should include a Ric Flair, but by this point in WCW, “The Nature Boy” was being treated as an afterthought by the bookers and constantly being made to look foolish by the nWo, and I figured a Flair at his prime from ’85-’89 was far more important. Not to worry, though, as an NWA list is already in the works, at which point I will definitely make sure to be fair to Flair.
So that’s all for this Top 5. I’m thinking my next one will tackle the Top 5 essential tag teams so start thinking of your own lists and see how they match up with mine. Till then, see you ringside.
