Flea Market Findings II
Back in March, I visited a local flea and antique market and was surprised by how many cool wrestling artifacts there were for sale. During a more recent visit? Not so much. But let's take a peek, just the same....
Bring Home All The Action!
For prices ranging from $12 to $25, you could own scratched, nicked up versions of: Kamala, Bruno Sammartino, S.D. Jones (yellow and red shirt versions), Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, Hercules Hernandez, Magnificent Muraco, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, George The Animal Steele, Brutus Beefcake, Corporal Kirchner,, Hillbilly Jim and Slick.
If I didn't have some or any of these, I might have considered adding some of these to my collection. But they were in pretty terrible condition for the most part (as are mine), and the flea market officials even mislabeled Jesse The Body Ventura as "Hulk Hogan". I guess that makes it a rarity?
National Art Gallery of Sweaty Men in Underwear
I'm not sure whether these were created for the serious art collector or not, but I think you'll agree when you see some of these works of art that.... meh.
What we have here are paintings of John Cena, Batista and The Undertaker (there was also a Triple H painting, too; I just can't find the photo I took of it on my phone) that shows each star portrayed in a variety of poses.
I can't imagine who would buy these, especially for $35 a pop, other than possibly a misguided aunt or uncle who thinks "You know Little Jimmy wants for his birthday? A painting of them WWF guys!". And you have to admit, that's a fairly small market.
Everyone's Got A Price For The Million Dollar Statue (except me)
I'm not sure where this bad boy originated - I vaguely remember one of the toy companies once made statues of WWE Legends, but from everything I recall, they weren't quite this large.
It almost seems as though the owner took a perfectly-serviceable Million Dollar Man feet, legs, arms and torso and then for some reason chopped off its head and replaced it with one made out of clay.
Don't get me wrong - it's probably legit. But for $18, I wasn't going to find out. And you can take THAT to the bank. Ahahahahahahahahah!
Backpack 3:16 SAYS I JUST STORED YER DAMN LUNCH!
I've seen a ton of Stone Cold Steve Austin merchandise over the years - some legit, some bootleg - but I can't say I've ever seen this particular backpack before.
Unfortunately I couldn't reach it off the shelf to get a price (nor I could see if a can of whoop ass was stored in the pouch), but what you're looking at here is essentially an overstuffed Stone Cold figure with a.... unique (read: constipated) facial expression and two flimsy-looking nylon straps holding the entire contraption together.
And that's all I got tah say about that!
The Swerve is There's No DVD in The Box
A TNA DVD Board Game? Seriously? Can't say I've ever heard of this one before. And considering four of the five wrestlers on the box aren't with the company any more (unless.... is Samoa Joe gone, too?), this had to be a while back.
Rarity or not, and even during TNA's prime (?), I wouldn't have dropped the $35 price tag for this. Although I hear that once you get to a certain level in the game, everything pauses indefinitely while they scramble to get a new television deal done.
Whatcha Gonna Do, When Hulkamixia Runs Wild on You?
I almost missed this one, as it was hiding on a shelf with ancient books and DVD's, and what appears to be a decapitated head (seriously, folks, look in the bottom right corner of the picture; it's from some sort of CPR dummy).
Speaking of dummies... many years ago, Hulk Hogan was allegedly offered the rights to what's now known as the George Foreman Grill. The Hulkster passed on the opportunity, lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars, and later came out with a (lame) serious of knockoffs, including a pastamaker and this handheld mixer that lets you "mix up your favorite recipes" including, I'm just guessing here, steroids.
Speaking of steroids.... Hulk doesn't look to be on them in this picture here. Maybe the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer makes you look anorexic as well? The flea market was charging $14.50 for the mini-blender, but given (a) I already have one of the non-Hulk Hogan variety and (b) who the hell wants a used mini-blender?, I gave it a pass, brother.
Plus About 12 Zillion Action Figures
In addition to the aforementioned LJN figures, the flea market had hundreds (if not zillions) of assorted action figures stuffed into every nook and cranny of its showroom. Some of them include (going counterclockwise):
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Guy Figure. Not sure if he's an actual wrestler or a repurposed He-Man toy, but I felt compelled to post a picture given the name the flea market had given him. I can almost hear The Fink saying "Here is.... Guy.... FIGURE!"
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Maximum Sweat Triple H. We've already covered the Maximum Sweat line on this site (ironically, from a figure I'd purchased at a different flea market), but this one was still in its package and carried its own sweat bottle. Still, I can't pretend they're not asking $15 for a figure that sweats out water droplets. Is that truly what's Best For Business?
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WCW figures! There were easily a half-dozen Stings on display, all of The Crow variety, and none overly exciting. Plus you had The Giant, Rey Mysterio, Kanyon, Goldberg, Wrath, Mike Awesome and a really badly-damaged Kevin Nash. Insert your own joke here.
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Gigantic Chris Jericho. Seriously, my attempt to scale him against a Sega Genesis game box is probably lost of 99 percent of you reading this, so just take my word that this version of Jericho was, like, four times the size of a typical action figure.
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Not pictured: WWE semi-recent action figures including John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho (non-gigantic version), The Rock, Batista, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brian Kendrick, Eric Bischoff and for some reason, either Trish Stratus or Kelly Kelly wearing a referee outfit.
In case you're wondering, the figures ranged from $7 to $20, depending on whether they were loose (almost all of them were) and how battle-scarred they were (again, most fell under that category).
This month's Flea Market Findings weren't nearly as varied or fun as the previous iteration.
Here's hoping for better finds during my next run closer to Christmas time...