I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I started purchasing some vintage toys out of nostalgia. Well, WWE and Mattel sucked me into their new stuff. I now buy a few figures a month. You can view photos of my collection on my Instagram account.
I apologize for not posting a review of Elite 44. It was an above average series with Sasha Banks and Tugboat being the best from the set.
The lineup in Elite 45 is quite solid. The WWE Superstars included in Elite 45 are Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Lex Luger, Lord Steven Regal and The Dudley Boyz
We give our thoughts on each figure and include some pictures.
I already received Elite 45 (minus Roman Reigns) just this week. I’m quite pleased with how they look in person. Seth Rollins is the one figure in this set that could be extremely hard to initially find at retail.
Seth Rollins – This is one of the most highly-anticipated WWE figure since the first Finn Balor elite. There have been hundreds of custom figures people have made that have sold on eBay with Rollins in this white attire. I guess people are already calling this ‘White Power Ranger Seth’. I wished this would have been a Defining Moments figure, since Rollins won the U.S. title at 2015 Summerslam. This will be a crazy hot seller for Mattel.
‘The Narcissist’ Lex Luger – This is Lex Luger’s second elite figure. His last elite was back in Elite series 30 and that was back during the super patriotic ‘Lex Express’ period. This elite is from when he debuted on WWF as The Narcissist. I like this headscan a lot more than his previous elite.
Lord Steven Regal – I hope Mattel starts to make more elites from the WCW roster. Just off the top of my head, I think we’ve only had Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Magnum T.A., The Shockmaster and the Four Horsemen four-pack. I could be missing a few, but this Lord Steven Regal was needed. I’d love if they make his teammate in the Blue Bloods, Earl Robert Eaton. I’d like a Midnight Express Bobby Eaton instead, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Roman Reigns – I buy just about every regular series elite Mattel puts out, but I may skip this one. Yes, it comes with a nice new VAC WWE championship title, but it’s just about the same Roman Reigns figure we’ve got in the past. He really needs to change up his attire before I buy any more of his elites.
The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von) – It’s a shame that The Dudley Boyz didn’t have a better run in the WWE this time around. The opted-out of their contracts recently and I’m not sure if we will ever receive any flashback Dudleys. These elites are nice, but I’m a sucker for either their debut WWF attires or something from ECW. It’s a bonus that each figure comes with a table and two sets of glasses…since glasses are so damn easy to lose.
Elite 45 should be found at retail some time in late-October.
The official lineup for Elite 46 has been released, but rumored lineups have been leaked. If the rumors are true, I love two of the flashbacks, but the modern-day figures in the series are weak.
You can pre-order everything at RingsideCollectibles.com. I’m not getting paid to plug them (although it would be nice to get a nice discount – wink wink). I just highly recommend them. I’ve been pleased with every purchase.
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About the Author…
Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.