With the release of the otherwise not particularly useful Warlord and The Berzerker, Mattel is getting us ever so closer to a major achievement — completing the vaunted Royal Rumble ’92 lineup. Of course, we’ve already gotten most of the principal players from Sid Justice, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Rowdy Piper, and eventual winner Ric Flair. Out of the 30 participants, we’re down to eight guys left to finish the roster. The remaining few are going shouldn’t be that hard to finally check off. There’s a couple of obstacles thanks to that pesky concussion lawsuit. Maybe we’ll get a few more as soon as this year’s San Diego Comic Con.
For a refresher, here’s everyone we have so far: The British Bulldog (1), Ted DiBiase (2), Ric Flair (3), Jerry Sags (4), Shawn Michaels (6), Tito Santana (7), The Texas Tornado (9), Nikolai Volkoff (12), Big Boss Man (13), Roddy Piper (15), Jake Roberts (16), Irwin R. Schyster (18), Jimmy Snuka (19), The Undertaker (20), Randy Savage (21), The Berserker (22), Rick Martel (25), Hulk Hogan (26), Sgt. Slaughter (28), Sid Justice (29) and The Warlord (30).
Now for who’s left in order of their Rumble ’92 appearance.
# 5 – Haku — We’re reaching a point in the Legends/Flashback line that it’s crazy we don’t have Haku yet. Not only did he carry the banner of The King for the Heenan Family, but he was also responsible for Andre the Giant finally becoming a champion in the WWF as one half of the Colossal Connection. Haku would also go a long way to giving Earthquake some backup for his Survivor Series ’90 team.
# 8 — The Barbarian — Clearly Mattel just has a problem with The Faces of Fear in general. Barbarian’s solo attire looked much cooler than his Powers of Pain partner, the Warlord. Largely due to The Barbarian looking more the part of an actual barbarian instead of a Phantom of the Opera reject. Only problem with Barbarian is he is listed on the concussion lawsuit. Then again, so was Warlord and he got a figure out so maybe there’s some loopholes there?
#10 — The Repo Man — This is one of Barry Darsow’s more humorous gimmicks. Repo Man actually was featured strongly in the early days of Monday Night RAW. His outfit would definitely help him stand out on the shelves. We’ve gotten a lot of the main event guys of the pre-New Generation era. Repo Man would be helpful in giving the main stars someone to beat up on. Darsow also is on the lawsuit and we haven’t seen any rumors of future figures including another Demolition set.
#11 — Greg Valentine — The Hammer isn’t on the concussion suit and announced awhile back, he’d signed a legends deal, which should include a figure. While he was long past his prime by ’92, his look didn’t change much. Give him a robe and we’re all set. And then give us a Rhythm and Blues variant just for fun.
#14 — Hercules — Here’s a guy who hasn’t had a figure since the LJN days. Of course, Mattel was able to get figures of other guys Jakks never secured most notably Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat and Kerry Von Erich. Hopefully this is another case of Mattel needing to work its magic. Hercules was a real player in the early ’80s. I’m catching up on his run in Mid-South where he was treated like a real main eventer. He didn’t change his look much during his career so one Hercules figure is really all we need. Just package him with a Power and Glory shirt and chain and we’re all set.
#23 — Virgil – Granted, we probably need Million Dollar Man valet version before we get candy stripe wrestler version. And then probably an n.W.o. Vince version after that, but hey wrestler Virgil shouldn’t be ignored either. He was involved in some nice moments in the early ’90s.
#24 — Col. Mustafa – Yeah, we have an Iron Sheik figure, but this is like putting Smash in for Repo Man. We need the full Iraqi soldier garb, which would also be useful for re-enacting Summerslam 1991’s main event.
#27 Skinner – Steve Keirn’s gator man gimmick was weird. It’d probably make for an epic pegwarmer, but again, he was one of those punching bag heels for the Bret Harts and British Bulldog of this era. And as silly as the gimmick was, Skinner could still put on good matches. He’s probably the biggest long shot of them all to get a figure. But we did get a Shockmaster figure so never say never.
Hopefully we get a few more guys checked off the list. Getting this roster done would be one of the highlights of my Mattel WWE collection and it’s not that far out of reach. Which legend would you say is definitely a priority?
Photo Credit: WWE
