WWF's Hasbro figures from the early 1990s was one of the main reasons we here at Wrestling Merchandise and Memories got into figure collecting.
Those misshapen, chunky figures with "action moves" paved the way for many wrestling stars to have their very first action figures, and the collection was so iconic that decades later, several companies began cranking out figures in a similar style. To our end, we have an annual Hasbro-style competition on our site known as The Retro Rumble and we've even named our list of the Top 50 WWF Hasbro Figures.
But did you know that in 1992, a new form of WWF Hasbro figures were briefly distributed?
Originally issued as a Royal Rumble-branded wrestling ring, Hasbro initially released mini versions of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Sgt. Slaughter, Jake The Snake Roberts, The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and Big Boss Man.
Looking similar to their larger Hasbro cousins, these figures came affixed on a small disc that you would place in the ring. Two players could then pound joystick-type devices that came with the ring to "shake" wrestlers out of the ring. Last man in, won the Royal Rumble.
The figures proved popular enough for Hasbro to release three more packages of four wrestlers so you could have a bigger Rumble. The packages featured:
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Brutus The Barber Beefcake, Greg The Hammer Valentine and The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch)
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Mr. Perfect, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Rowdy Roddy Piper and The Texas Tornado
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The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake) and The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)
While these figs certainly weren't as detailed as larger Hasbros (nor were they articulated in any way), these were reasonable facsimiles of the original Hasbros. In many ways, it's a shame that they didn't give every character the full minifigure treatment (imagine minifigs of Tatanka, Yokozuna and Kamala, for example), but we'll take what we can get.