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.

The NXT lineup was announced either at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con or Ringside Fest (I can’t quite remember). Collectors have been anxiously waiting.

When it comes to store exclusives from Mattel, they just all of the sudden appear there without any announcement. That happened with the NXT series at Target, with both elites and basic figures.

We give our thoughts on each figure and include some pictures.

Bayley – This figure comes that a wacky inflatable arm-waving tube man…or a Bayley Buddy, which WWE trademarked. This figure looks a lot like the recent Network Spotlight figure from Toys R Us, but I like it.

No Way Jose – I question the addition of No Way Jose in this series, but it’s probably the only line to put his elite. He was pushed when he first debuted, but seems to have falling down a few pegs, since he didn’t appear in the last two NXT Takeover events.

Seth Rollins – Collectors have been waiting for Mattel to release an NXT version of Seth Rollins. He comes with an NXT title due to him being the first NXT champion before debuting in The Shield soon after.

Austin Aries – I dig this figure. Now that he’s stuck on 205 Live, I doubt we will see another elite of him anytime in the near future.

There are six basic figures in the NXT Build-a-Buddy set. If you get all six figures, you can configure a few extra Bayley Buddies. The figures are Tye Dillenger, Andrade Cien Almas, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe & Hideo Itami.

I’m sure Dillenger and Almas will be the hottest sellers in this group. I have a feeling Hideo Itami might be the worst. They used a new headscan on his basic, but his first figure died a death at retail. The rest of the set are popular wrestlers, so they could be easy buys for kids.

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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.