Random Wrestling Stuff
I Found While
Cleaning The Garage
Technically, my wife found it. While she was cleaning the garage. But still - wrestling stuff!
I was working in my office one night recently, when I heard a crash outside the door. It was a box of my random knick-knacks that had quite literally been collecting dust in the garage for about seven years now. She tossed it on the ground as if to say "Oh, look - here's even more of your shit!" although she's so awesome, she'd never actually say that.
But I did recognize the box. It was hastily packed when I moved from my bachelor apartment years ago and the description said "BOBBLEHEADS ETC." And while there were a couple of bobbleheads in there (as well as a semi-functional DVD player, a couple of autographed baseballs, and for some reason, about 200 old movie ticket stubs.... I had a funny feeling there was probably a lot of random wrestling stuff in there, too.
Let's find out together what was in the damn box.
1980s Wrestling Buttons
Fun fact: When I was just a little bitty Bulldog, I had a fairly massive button collection. Displayed on several tall pieces of styrofoam, I probably owned a few hundred at one point. Political buttons. Commemorative buttons. Promotional buttons. Music buttons. Whenever a family friend or relative used to visit, they'd proudly bring me a button they'd swiped from their local Burger King or what have you. Buttons must have been WAY more popular back then.
Anyways... the collection also included a few wrestling buttons, which I hung onto years later. In this collection, I see Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, The Junkyard Dog, Andre The Giant and my all-time personal favorite, King Kong Bundy.
The Undertaker Action Figure
Believe it or not, I completely stopped buying collecting wrestling figures from the late 1990s until a couple of years before I opened this website in 2014.
So how did I end up with this Jakks Pacific Undertaker figure that looks to be from the mid-to-late 2000s? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. It's possible someone gave him to me as a gag gift. It's also possible I found him in the building of my laundry room. I'm really not sure.
But now that I own approximately 200 zillion wrestling figures... The Dead Man will be a welcome addition. Even if he looks of grimy and dirty today.
Big Boss Man Rubber Stamp
Well, if you ever take a trip down to Cobb County, Georgia. You better use a stamp, respect the law and order.... no wait, that's not how it goes. Also, I'm pretty sure I didn't acquire this bad boy in Georgia.
Research would suggest that this rubber stamp was acquired from a Canadian Pizza Hut or KFC (in my case, definitely Pizza Hut) circa 1990. They also apparently had Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior stamps available, although I don't believe ever owned such items.
Thirty years later, the stamp is completely sealed in its package, and probably looking to do battle with the rubber stamp of The Mountie or something. Cool little find!
Hulk Hogan "Thunderlips" figure
Okay.... this one I remember buying!
It was the late-2000s, and I was walking through "Winners," a clearance-type department store that was attached to my old apartment building. I found a few figures from the old Rocky films, including Rocky Balboa, Ludmilla Drago and of course, Thunderlips, "The Ultimate Male," and the character Hulk Hogan played in Rocky III.
The figure was discounted down to, like, $5 and depicted The Hulkster with a red cape and white fedora. I would have been crazy NOT to buy it!
Hulk Hogan Pencil Cup
ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME?
I have such fond memories of this pencil cup... and I'm not even joking!
My parents got this for me when I was just a little Hulkamaniac and for many years, it held all kind of pens and pencils on the desk in my room. Then when I had my first "real" job, I brought it with to my office, where it had a special place on my desk. And up until a decade ago, it sat proudly on a shelf in my bedroom.... before getting boxed up and sadly disrepected.
This pencil cup is EVERYTHING. The accurate face rendering. The weird, floppy yellow and red legs that allow it to "sit." The baseball hat on top of the structure that identifies this as "Hulk Hogan," as though it could be anyone else...
Stone Cold Steve Austin figure
I couldn't really tell you the backstory here, only that the way this figure is packaged, it must have been some sort of special giveaway. And clearly, it's meant to commemorate WrestleMania XV, both because of the backing card attached to the package, and the T-shirt that Stone Cold is wearing.
Which must be some kind of error - Austin was never at the "jobber who wears a PPV T-shirt" level during his entire WWF run.
Beyond that, I have to point out that the figure really doesn't look all that much like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Possibly it's meant to represent a random bald, goateed guy in your neighborhood who pretends to be Stone Cold Steve Austin for birthday parties or what have you. And that's the bottom line.
Wrestling PPV Movie Theater Ticket Stubs
We're really scraping the bottom of the barrel (er, box) here.
Earlier, I mentioned that I had hundreds of movie tickets stubs. I don't know why; it isn't like concert ticket stubs, where you're possibly one of a few thousand to see the performer that night. You're one of millions to see the same damn thing as everyone else.... plus there's no real need to ever prove it.
Anyways... I used to go to monthly PPVs at the local movie theater. So there ya go. If you REALLY care.... these ones are from Armageddon, No Way Out and Royal Rumble in 2007/8.
Triple H Bobblehead
I mentioned bobbleheads earlier (as in, the title of this particular box). I never really collected 'em, and definitely not of the wrestling variety.... but I probably had a half-dozen at one point, just taking up space in various rooms in my apartment.
This Triple H one? I seem to recall someone knew I was a wrestling fan and handed it to me. I didn't have the heart to tell them that 2000-era Triple H wasn't really jam. Ehhh, whatever. Looking back, it's not terrible or anything. Plus he's standing in a teeny, tiny wrestling ring.... so there's that.
Ultimate Warrior figure
Last but not least.... the origins of this figure are vaguely familiar.
I remember seeing this figure in a store and randomly deciding I needed to own it. Why? Because The Warrior is dressed here exactly the same way he looked at WrestleMania VI, where I watched him defeat Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Championship in my hometown of Toronto. He even has the rare "chest war paint" on here!
Overall, I'm glad Mrs. Bulldog forced me to clean up my old box of crap. It resulted in a cool walk down memory lane.
