|
|
Post by DZ: WF Legacy on Jul 16, 2021 13:23:31 GMT -5
From what I gathered from that one time Boss Bill yelled at us about Legends failing, it sounds like Mattel got pretty burned by it, so the higher-ups or whomever it was issued an edict to never sign talent on their own dime ever again. I'm pretty sure it's all on their end and not WWEs. I was amazed that one time we got D'lo and Shamrock since they are atypical people to get merch deals, but apparently that came about from Mattel issuing a request to WWE for those specific names. While a lot of the more marketable legends have been made, there's still plenty of guys that could be done. With someone like Raven, you could make a lot of money using his IP. He'd be a great one to get on board. With someone like Nick Bockwinkel or Justin Credible, I'm not sure if WWE would get a lot of value in signing their estates/names on to the Legends program. No disrespect to them, they'd be great for a figure or two, but their merchandising potential is rather limited from WWE's perspective.
|
|
crush
Main Eventer
WF 10+ Year Member
Yes, i know it's weird...
Joined on: Mar 8, 2012 16:07:14 GMT -5
Posts: 4,720
|
Post by crush on Jul 16, 2021 13:32:56 GMT -5
From what I gathered from that one time Boss Bill yelled at us about Legends failing, it sounds like Mattel got pretty burned by it, so the higher-ups or whomever it was issued an edict to never sign talent on their own dime ever again. I'm pretty sure it's all on their end and not WWEs. I was amazed that one time we got D'lo and Shamrock since they are atypical people to get merch deals, but apparently that came about from Mattel issuing a request to WWE for those specific names. While a lot of the more marketable legends have been made, there's still plenty of guys that could be done. With someone like Raven, you could make a lot of money using his IP. He'd be a great one to get on board. With someone like Nick Bockwinkel or Justin Credible, I'm not sure if WWE would get a lot of value in signing their estates/names on to the Legends program. No disrespect to them, they'd be great for a figure or two, but their merchandising potential is rather limited from WWE's perspective. I can't speak to Mattel a decade ago, but IIRC(correct me if I'm wrong) it's basically been confirmed that as of their most recent contract WWE won't allow outside Legends even if Mattel wanted to. |
|
|
|
Post by J'Dinkalage Morgoone on Jul 16, 2021 18:27:17 GMT -5
i legit would take a volfoff, mr wonderful, and heenan if someone found them on clearance for me
|
|
|
|
Post by ChuckPOORis55 Cody Gang 4 Lyfe on Jul 16, 2021 18:27:40 GMT -5
From what I gathered from that one time Boss Bill yelled at us about Legends failing, it sounds like Mattel got pretty burned by it, so the higher-ups or whomever it was issued an edict to never sign talent on their own dime ever again. I'm pretty sure it's all on their end and not WWEs. I was amazed that one time we got D'lo and Shamrock since they are atypical people to get merch deals, but apparently that came about from Mattel issuing a request to WWE for those specific names. While a lot of the more marketable legends have been made, there's still plenty of guys that could be done. With someone like Raven, you could make a lot of money using his IP. He'd be a great one to get on board. With someone like Nick Bockwinkel or Justin Credible, I'm not sure if WWE would get a lot of value in signing their estates/names on to the Legends program. No disrespect to them, they'd be great for a figure or two, but their merchandising potential is rather limited from WWE's perspective. The worst part is they have people signed they could make figures of and just actively don't. Regal hasn't had an elite in how long, Corino is sitting in the PC and no one can go down and hand him a merch contract, JBL has had 3 elites in 10 years and 2 of them are tag looks, D'von is a road agent and we've never had a Revrend D'von figure. They got options. |
|
|
|
Post by stc13 on Jul 16, 2021 19:24:50 GMT -5
From what I gathered from that one time Boss Bill yelled at us about Legends failing, it sounds like Mattel got pretty burned by it, so the higher-ups or whomever it was issued an edict to never sign talent on their own dime ever again. I'm pretty sure it's all on their end and not WWEs. I was amazed that one time we got D'lo and Shamrock since they are atypical people to get merch deals, but apparently that came about from Mattel issuing a request to WWE for those specific names. While a lot of the more marketable legends have been made, there's still plenty of guys that could be done. With someone like Raven, you could make a lot of money using his IP. He'd be a great one to get on board. With someone like Nick Bockwinkel or Justin Credible, I'm not sure if WWE would get a lot of value in signing their estates/names on to the Legends program. No disrespect to them, they'd be great for a figure or two, but their merchandising potential is rather limited from WWE's perspective. I can't speak to Mattel a decade ago, but IIRC(correct me if I'm wrong) it's basically been confirmed that as of their most recent contract WWE won't allow outside Legends even if Mattel wanted to. Pretty sure both are correct. Per Steve, their contract is limited to people signed by WWE. But I think there was also a "gap" period after the Legends line ended and before those contract terms were negotiated where they could have signed legends, but Mattel higher ups wouldn't allow it. And it makes total sense. They probably dropped some serious coin early on with the intention of a Legends line that would rival or exceed CS. They (prematurely, imo) killed the line and then were left with a ton of dead money on the books. I'm sure the bosses were furious. I think at one point Bill basically admitted that they forgot about those contracts, and had to rush out some people like Sammartino and Crush that were signed to Mattel deals before their contract expired. That was why we got Demolition Crush instead of a Kona figure that would need more design time. I also remember it being strongly implied that there were some folks signed who never got a figure. WWE could absolutely make money some of the names available out there. But I'd imagine they have a pretty set formula of X guys from the Golden Era, Y from the New Gen, Z from the Attitude Era, etc. Once you factor in top stars and people who are getting deals as political favors or contract sweeteners, there are probably only a couple of spots that could realistically open up from year to year. And it's also about how WWE wants to tell their history. A guy like Brutus Beefcake fits a lot better into their narrative than somebody like Raven who was really successful outside of WWE but is barely a footnote WWE's story. |
|
|
|
Post by SteveHulk on Jul 16, 2021 19:43:19 GMT -5
From what I gathered from that one time Boss Bill yelled at us about Legends failing, it sounds like Mattel got pretty burned by it, so the higher-ups or whomever it was issued an edict to never sign talent on their own dime ever again. I'm pretty sure it's all on their end and not WWEs. I was amazed that one time we got D'lo and Shamrock since they are atypical people to get merch deals, but apparently that came about from Mattel issuing a request to WWE for those specific names. While a lot of the more marketable legends have been made, there's still plenty of guys that could be done. With someone like Raven, you could make a lot of money using his IP. He'd be a great one to get on board. With someone like Nick Bockwinkel or Justin Credible, I'm not sure if WWE would get a lot of value in signing their estates/names on to the Legends program. No disrespect to them, they'd be great for a figure or two, but their merchandising potential is rather limited from WWE's perspective. The worst part is they have people signed they could make figures of and just actively don't. Regal hasn't had an elite in how long, Corino is sitting in the PC and no one can go down and hand him a merch contract, JBL has had 3 elites in 10 years and 2 of them are tag looks, D'von is a road agent and we've never had a Revrend D'von figure. They got options. Steve has said though that even if people are currently signed with or work with WWE, it doesn't automatically mean they can have a figure made of them (eg. Brother Love)... I'm pretty sure merchandise deals are a separate thing. |
|
Eric
Main Eventer
Joined on: Jul 22, 2020 11:43:27 GMT -5
Posts: 2,914
|
Post by Eric on Jul 16, 2021 19:46:47 GMT -5
I didn't check the one near work but that's what I'd expect to find, too. My Walmart never marks anything down, either. Not long ago they had Marvel Legends on the shelf that were three years old. however, my wife picked up 4 marvel legends and 3 mcfarlane DC for me for under 70$, all the marvel rang up for like 5.99-9.99 Nice! I needed a few things today so I went to that Target near work on my lunch break. I was wrong about nothing on sale: they had one Elite marked down. BUT it was grey AJ Styles from a few years ago, which they must have pulled from the back because they used to have 20 but then had none for a while. Today they had 13 of them, on sale for 13.99, so they're still not going to sell. Bobby the Weasel was still 19.99 (and no other action figures were on sale as far as I could tell). I did pick up Fireball Island, though, so that was cool. |
|
