Top picks/Greatest Hits Determination

I would imagine it is usually determined by who is popular on the shows, proven hot sellers that won't warm pegs, recognizable people that they (and stores) want regularly on the shelves, etc. WWE being live entertainment makes it differ from other toy properties, so while I'm guaranteed to find some sort of Spiderman or these days Grogu toy at the store, I might not find a John Cena, Roman Reigns, or Rey Mysterio. Top Picks provides a slot for that so retailers get hot products that are more likely to sell and Mattel gets to keep more slots open in other lines for differing talent.

Well, It's more about like wrestlers like brutus beefcake getting a greatest hits.

My impression of the Top Picks/Talent line is that it's people who (supposedly) sell well. Top stars who move merch and the stores want to have lots of them on hand for the kiddos and stuff.

Of course, this means nothing when you have pegs upon pegs of nothing but Top Picks Roman figures that you can't friggin GIVE away.

As for Greatest Hits, the idea seems to be figures that had distribution issues or are hard to come by now. Or both. They aren't ACTUALLY "Greatest Hits" figures at all. They're mostly a way for Mattel to cash in on fan demand for figures that would do well on a second go around because the first run was so long ago that most people missed out, or because the first run had distribution issues and therefore the people who wanted them couldn't get them.

And then there was the planned Bray who was a release of a figure that had been cancelled. (And has now been cancelled again. Third time's a charm maybe?)

Top Picks are top guys, big sellers, people who sell well enough that they should be available most of the time - instead of putitin Roman Reigns in every 3rd or 4th wave of regular Elites, he will be in the Top Picks line. Same with Cody, Seth, Iso, Drew, and a few legends like Rock or Undertaker. I would FULLY expect CM Punk to be the next big name to be rotated into this line in the next year or two, after we have had a few of these in Elite, Ultimate, and basic form.

Greatest Hits seems to be made up of mostly Legends and mostly figures that are 'rare' or were otherwise hard to find due to whatever circumstances. These are figures like the original Walmart Flashback Harley Race, Legends Brutus Beefcake, and Legends DDP. Harley was a first in the line originally as a Walmart Flashback Elite figure that was very poorly distributed, while Legends Brutus and DDP were pulled from the Legends line and sold only online in shorter numbers for whatever reason (was this during the pandemic? - maybe that was it).

Side note, and I have said this in other threads, but I don't see how they do not re-release the Hall of Champions Ron Simmons as part of the Greatest Hits line. It seems like THE perfect place for that figure to come back.

As everyone else said, TP are the most recognizable wrestlers. People who are popular on current programming or all time great legends. They also strategize their releases like with the Usos. One was in the Elite line and the other was a Top Pick and both hit the shelves around the same time.