Bundy,
Bloody BUNDY
You have to admit... this is one of my best column titles EVER! Get it? The U2 song "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"? Two different versions of Bun.... awww, never mind.
King Kong Bundy is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers and I have a handful of pieces of merchandise of The Walking Condominium. I even met him when I was doing public relations for a small independent promotion in the late 1990s, and he choked me out in the middle of the ring (as part of a photo opp. But still - Bundy!).
I could not tell you why he's not currently in the WWE Hall of Fame and when he passed away in 2019, I will admit I shed a tear or two for The Great Bundy.
These two Bundy figures from Figures Toy Co. always eluded me for some reason. Actually, I know the reason -- any time I came across these figs (circa 1998, right around the time I was getting choked out by the WrestleMania II main-eventer), they were like $30 each - WAY more than WWF's Jakks and WCW's ToyBiz lines at the same time. So I figured, to hell with it - do I really need these?
It turns out, I really DID need these, and these bad boys only got more expensive as time went by. I patiently watched the secondary market until I found a reasonable price and - BOOM - Double Bundies!
And you know what? The regular version of the figure is pretty cool. They got all the details right, including his unique body shape, the infamous black tunic, the wrist tape and the fact that he never had eyebrows for some reason. Pretty much the perfect King Kong Bundy figure in my mind.
Then you have the Bloody Bundy version and, man, I don't know. This was not unique to King Kong, but all of the Figures Toy Co.'s Legends of Professional Wrestling at the time (a line that included Abdullah The Butcher, Captain Lou Albano, Tito Santana and dozens of others) came in bloody and non-bloody versions.
But this figure doesn't look like The Bundmeister did a blade job after Andre The Giant smacked his head into the ring post or some shit. It looks like Bundy did something.... well, criminal, and now the police have a lot of questions for him.
I mean, look at the color KKB got -- it's not just around his head, but all over his legs, back, arms, lack of eyebrows, etc. Forget about asking for a five-count: King Kong Bundy should be asking for a blood transfusion. Or possibly for his right to an attorney before he's asked any questions.
Figures Toy Co. were smart enough to make their Legends figures size-compatible with most of the other wrestling figures at the time. And even here, when they clash with the S.H. Figuarts versions of The Undertaker and Kane, they absolutely don't look out of place.
In fact, WWE should book the team of Bundy, Bloody Bundy against The Brothers Of Destruction, possibly at their next Crown Jewel show. Oh wait... they can't now because Bundy is no longer with us. Sniff.
Thanks for the bloody memories, King Kong.
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