Click These Links to See The Individual Wrestling Action Figure Pages

Professional Wrestling has been around since the 1800’s in some form or another, but it started becoming a pop culture event during the 60’s and 70’s. This popularity shifted into HIGH gear when Vince McMahon brought the WWF into existence during the early 1980’s. The WWF was stocked full of colorful and fun personalities, which appealed to fans across the globe. This was coupled with the ever expanding cable television industry beaming wrestling matches into millions of American households, which made professional wrestling must see TV back in the day. With the market ripe for professional wrestling merchandise based on these larger than life characters, LJN swooped in and began releasing WWF action figures in 1984. The figures didn’t have much articulation and were kind of clunky, but there was a great assortment of characters and they were the only game in town. Eventually the rest of the world realized how lucrative this market was and began slapping the WWF Superstars lineup on just about anything they could get their hand on.

With LJN’s amazing success of their WWF action figure line, Remco jumped into the wrestling action figure game with a new line of their own, based on the rival AWA (American Wrestling Association) in 1985. This league had some great characters at the time, but just didn’t have the same marketing and appeal as the WWF, and the Remco line came to and the following year in 1986.

LJN eventually ceased production on their WWF line in 1989, but not because of poor sales……..but rather they went out of business. Grand Toys came into the picture and released the final wave of WWF figures in 1989. Hasbro then snagged the expired licensing rights to the WWF, and jumped into the professional Wrestling toy market in 1990. Hasbro’s line of action figures was popular but eventually ran out of steam in 1994, when the line came to an end.

Next up was Galoob, who began producing WCW action figures from 1990 to 1991. The WCW was closest thing that the WWF had as a rival at the time, mostly due to an incredible lineup of their own with such big names as Ric Flair, Sid Vicious, Lex Luger, The Steiner Brothers, The Road Warriors, and Sting. Once again, the issue was Galoob’s lack of marketing and resources, and the line ended after two short years. Toy Biz then picked up the WCW toy rights in 1999, and released a series of action figures and accessories of their own until eventually ending in 2001. Finally, a relatively new toy company called Jakks Pacific secured the WWF toy rights in 1996, when they began releasing their own crazy successful wrestling action figure line. Jakks Pacific seemed like they finally figured out the secret to wrestling toys and really broke through to fans of all ages with their dozens of different themed series with our favorite wrestling superstars. This fun and successful line eventually ended in 2009, but not before Jakks Pacific left an indelible mark on the action figure industry that has lasted until this day.

Over the years, we’ve seen some really fun and creative professional wrestling action figures, which still continues to this day. Just like every other toy line, the values of certain items can greatly fluctuate over time. This is based on several factors, including the item’s time period, scarcity, consumer demand and overall condition. The good news for wrestling collectors is there is always a demand for these items, as LJN, Remco, Galoob, Hasbro, Toy Biz and Jakks Pacific created some truly iconic and fun pieces during their runs. Because there were SOOOO many different wrestling action figures released over the years, loose and carded individual figures can be easily found in any secondary market, but determining which ones are worth buying is a whole other story. Carded figures from the early LJN line are becoming a tougher to find in good shape, while other lines being not nearly as difficult to find. Values on Wrestling items remain steady to date, with the market remaining strong due to the incredible interest still generated from Professional Wrestling. Each generation has had their own favorite wrestlers and are becoming more nostalgic with time. These generations still want the toys they played with as kids, so the market is constantly shifting. One thing is for sure though, the figures and accessories from the various wrestling toy lines will only increase in value as these figures become harder and harder to find in the future.