Round 2: Roster Series 2
Starting this time with the Wrestling MegsStars they signed up the following list of wrestlers: King Haku, Adam Bomb, Hollywood Nova, The Blue Meanie, Big Stevie Cool, Big Daddy, Gangrel, Luna Vachon, Tanga Loa and Giant Haystacks. Also, within this time frame were figures of Swoggle, Al Snow and a Rhythm, Blues Greg the Hammer Valentine and Jay White.
Heels and Faces meanwhile signed up Andre the Giant, Raven, Bruiser Brody, Kevin Sullivan, King Kong Bundy and Nick Gage.
A figure of Rob Van Dam was announced for series 2, but can’t find if this is coming later or what it’s current status is. Likewise, Roadkill, Mike Awesome, Busick and others figures were announced for 2022, but I assume delays may mean this is later and I believe a two pack with variant Nick Gage and Matt Cardona figures is part of this series but can’t confirm when this is happening.
At the time of writing most of these figures are yet to be in collector’s hands, and though we’ll touch on it later distribution and release dates of these lines of indie figures hasn’t always been crystal clear. As such it may be that there could be extra figures released as part of either range of series 2 figures. Several Heels and Faces announced for 2022 which you could believe were for series 2 haven’t been shown in final form yet so there have been delays and Chella Toys have had something of a disaster where Wrestling Trader are now taking over the figure line so many of those are delayed as well.
I’d be tempted to say that the Wrestling MegaStars takes this one just based on the number of figures with thirteen against the six-eight Heels and Faces, but like I say with blurry lines of when some of the WM figures will release and the potential for more to join the Heels and Faces as the Danhausen and Double J figs came after series 1 I won’t make this purely about numbers.
Heels and Faces definitely have the biggest star with the Andre the Giant figure leading the pack. King Kong Bundy also is a wrestler who main evented WrestleMania. Also, Raven is a former ECW and NWA World Champion and arguably a bigger ECW guy than the combined BWO on the WM side of things.
These series also see the battle of the giants as ZST has Andre and King Kong Bundy against WM Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. In the UK Haystacks and Big Daddy are the bigger stars than Bundy, but I’d say nothing can topple the star power of Andre in this round.
Wrestling MegaStars definitely pick up some points for their inclusion of Adam Bomb and Greg Valentine. Adam Bomb did get a Hasbro figure during the impossible to find green series so this marked the first time many collectors would be able to get an Adam Bomb figure without breaking the bank. The fact they released a glow in the dark variant is also very cool. The Greg Valentine figure does what the ZST Jeff Jarrett did in the first round and gives collectors a new version based off a cancelled Hasbro figure as although Hasbro did release a Greg Valentine it didn’t release as originally shown in his Rhythm and Blues outfit.
Bruiser Brody, Kevin Sullivan and Nick Gage all fall onto the slightly less mainstream side of star power where casual fans these days are less likely to know instantly who they are. Nick Gage being a current indie star from GCW and the others being legends from the 80s and 90s.
On the flip side the Jay White figure may be off to the side of the series of Wrestling MegaStars but was the current IWGP World Champion in NJPW around when this released.
King Haku fills that wrestler who should have had a figure back in the day spot and Luna gives another female star. The extra releases of Al Snow, and Gangrel also give a dose of attitude era stars and Swoggle gives us the first little person wrestler to get a retros figure.
So, who wins?
Although I’d say the combination of Andre, Bundy and Raven may top the name value and Gage gives something for current audiences, I’ll give this one to the Wrestling MegaStars based on a bigger selection of upper mid to mid-tier names like Jay White, Haystacks, Big Daddy, Haku, Al Snow and Valentine combined with the Valentine and Adam Bomb filling in gaps that collectors have wanted for a long time.
This round felt much closer than the previous round. We may later update the result once all figures emerge or not just to clarify which unreleased figures are in which series.
Winner: Wrestling MegaStars
Round 3: Upcoming Series of announced wrestlers
So, with already blurry lines of which wrestler is in what series, we must now to look to the future at wrestlers who have been announced to be coming out. For some of these we have just had announcements which usually come with some artwork and for some we have seen some non-final versions of the figures. Let’s take a look at who we have!
Heels and Faces:
Road Warriors Hawk and Animal, Smart Mark Sterling, One Man Gang, Slick, The Rock n’ Roll Express Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, Hercules, Paul Roma, The Brooklyn Brawler, Mike Awesome, Roadkill, Tajiri, Ultimo Dragon, NZO, Mr Hughes, Bill Alfonso, Jack Tunney, Todd Pettinggill, Mikey Whipwreck, Johnny Gargano, Chris Candido, Bastian Booger, Bad News Brown, Big Bully Busick, and Rob Van Dam.
Wrestling MegaStars:
Road Warriors Hawk and Animal, The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith, Adrian Street, Warhorse, Demolition Ax and Smash, Killer Bees B. Brian Blair and Jumping Jim Brunzell, Colt Cabana, Mo, Diamond Dallas Page, Eddie Guerrero, Andre the Giant, Gail Kim, Atsushi Onita, Warlord, The Barbarian, Buff Bagwell, British Bulldogs
Wow this is tricky to judge and with such long lists on both sides it becomes a bit more subjective (not that any of this isn’t) and down to who you see as bigger stars based on personal experience.
Interestingly both Zombie Sailor and Wrestling MegaStars will have the Road Warriors so that makes it a tie just in terms of roster. WM also have signed Andre the Giant up for a figure, but we have to take into consideration that Andre is already the headliner of the Heels and Faces series 2 set, so whilst they play catch up here they don’t break any new ground.
Outside of this I’d say RVD and the Rock N Roll Express are the biggest stars on the ZST and note there’s a decent ECW representation with Mike Awesome, Roadkill, Tajiri, Mikey Whipwreck, Bill Alfonso, and Chris Candido also in there. Slick, Jack Tunney, Pettinggil along with Alfonso also gives a decent dose of non-wrestler names. Johnny Gargano gives the set a current WWE superstar.
The Wrestling MegaStars have arguably the bigger names coming with Eddie Guerrero being the most impressive signing. Demolition are another impressive signing along with Diamond Dallas Page and The British Bulldog. There’s a bunch of tag teams in the list with a two pack of the Bulldogs, Power and Glory, Killer Bees in addition to Demolition and the Road Warriors. Colt Cabana gives a current AEW/ROH star and Gail Kim is another impressive female star added to their roster.
For this round I give the edge to the Wrestling MegaStars for multiple main event/Hall of Fame level talents with the combination of Eddie, Demolition, Page and the Bulldogs beating out ZST list of RVD, Gargano and Rock N Roll Express by a hair.
