Unsigned legends...wwe's choice or talents?

Either or, depends on the talent. Some may be a mix of both.

Honestly, great idea for a thread and an idea like this and literally every question you pose are all so unbelievably on point and needing clarification, that this probably should be posted in the Q&A thread with Steve to see if he's willing to address any of them. It would be a win for the community too to get some information on things I'm coming to learn are very important to all of us.

To add to your idea, let's turn this topic (or start a separate poll maybe?) to have people post the names of people we don't have yet in figure form and keep a pinned master list that gets updated and names get removed as they're announced. I'm willing to make that topic if you like.

Mods? What do you think?

To get the ball rolling, in addition to zen's suggestions I've included a few of my pwn. If wfigs users want to add suggestions and keep the list updated that could work too.


Ahmed Johnson
Barbarian
Barry Darsow
Barry Horowitz
Bill Alfonso
Billy Kidman
Buff Bagwell
Charlie Haas
Chuck Palumbo
Chris Benoit
Chris Kanyon/Mortis
Crush
Dan Severn
Disco Inferno
Droz
Ernest "The Cat" Miller
Funaki
Gangrel
Grand Master Sexay
Hardcore Holly/Bob "Sparkplug" Holly
Haku
Heidenreich
Hercules
Horace Hogan
Hugh Morris/Bill Demott
Jamal
Jerry Flynn
Joey Styles
Johnny Grunge
Justin Credible/Aldo Montoya
King Kong Bundy
Konnan
Lance Storm
"The Genius" Lanny Poffo
Meng
Mike Awesome
Mr. Fuji
One Man Gang
Patriot
Perry Saturn
Raven
Rocco Rock
Rosie
Sable
Sabu
Scott Norton
Sharmell
Spike Dudley
Steve Blackman
Steve McMichael
Taka Michinoku
Test
Ultimo Dragon
Zack Gowan

Why would Steve address this topic? He doesn’t work for WWE and would not know the details of the negotiations of legends deals. And if he did, that would surely be information that WWE/TKO wouldn’t want shared publicly by one of their licensees.

I truly and honestly cannot imagine suggesting that Chris Benoit get an officially released figure in 2024. He was a goddamn killer. If you want a Chris Benoit figure so bad either find an R3 tech and make one yourself or pay someone to make one for you

Ive always wonderded if mattel is not offering enough or if these smaller companies are throwing the kitchen sink at every wrestler to try to compete directly with mattel. With mattels earnings report it would seem they could easily quadruple the offers

From the wrestlers that I've spoken with (and I've spoken with quite a few)..... and I'm trying to word this diplomatically......

The WWE Legends Contract isn't all that lucrative.... and in fact, sometimes it actually LIMITS them from accepting other deals/bookings where they could make money. A few have told me that the wrestler actually sees very little of the action figure money. For example, the Legends contract wouldn't just cover action figures, but probably all merch such as T-shirts. Once a talent is signed with WWE they aren't typically allowed to sell T-shirts on PWtees, where they might stand to make more money than the small percentage WWE would pay them.

I'll never forget chit-chatting with Jeff Jarrett at a convention, we were standing next to each other looking at a merch table covered with figures.... he pointed to the Brian Pillman Elite & said "that's nice, when did they make that?" I told him it was a couple years old..... then I asked him if we'd be seeing a Jeff Jarrett Mattel figure (this was recently after his Hall of Fame induction)..... he actually put his arm around me (it was slightly weird but cool) and said "Not..... part...... of the deal." Reading between the lines..... it wasn't worth it for him to sign that agreement with WWE.

During the period where Karrion Kross was fired from WWE, he told me that Scarlett was making far more money on her "Fans" website than anything WWE was paying them so financially they had zero worries.

I also worked on an Independent wrestling show that advertised D-Von Dudley, but D-Von had to pull out because WWE wouldn't allow him to appear. D-Von had been working for WWE as a producer at the time, he has since left WWE.

Look at Sting/AEW figures.... I'm now hearing from someone who has a hand in AEW merch that they can't do Surfer Sting figures because of some sort of lock that WWE has in that IP. So Sting lost out by signing his WWE deal. Take it with a grain of salt, but that's what I heard from my inside "buddy."

I have seen some wrestlers recently getting "Nostalgia" contracts, I suspect those are smaller scale but also likely less-limiting as far as exclusivity. Perhaps we'll see some headway with the Nostalgia contracts...

There were also all those wrestlers involved in a lawsuit against WWE (I think Demolition was part of that). It makes sense that WWE wouldn't try to market/promote/pay individuals who are actively suing the company.

So.... various reasons. It's between WWE and the entertainers. Now that WWE is under new ownership, it's entirely possible that these contract structures will change - or maybe it won't.

Thanks for this posting this - very informative. 
I had thought that with smaller companies, they might have payed less money - but with a quicker return.
But with your dealings it seems to be the reverse.

Thanks again.

Wow mind blown. Had no idea it was this complicated. Always thought it was just between mattel and the wrestlers or their family. There shouldnt be so many restrictions for wrestlers when it comes to the toys but im guessing the exclusive end of it is probably forced on by mattel. Looks like our dreamlines are all out the window then. Really puts a damper on collecting knowing that we will never get everything we'd like which is why all of us are starting to look at other companies to conplete our lineups. In that regard mattel is stabbing itself in the back and other companies will be doing the same if they put these restrictions on their signees. In a perfect world all these companies can sign anyone they want and in the end the lowest cost with the best sculpts can win out. Ok well im definitely going to start looking at other companies now as its apparant that once a wrestler sees what the wwe (mattel) offers that they never reconsider. So for me as a big king kong bundy fan i doubt ill see him as a mattel figure in my lifetime. Well thanks for all that info. Good to know. Still curious to learn about how these contracts are formed and especially how many years they are signed for.

I believe Jim cornette commented once on it or it may have been hall of fame - my memory is fuzzy but I think that he said legends contracts (this might have changed since now they’re called something different) had built into them an element of public appearances (maybe things like access etc), potential tv appearances such as one offs etc and he didn’t want to sign up to that.

Maybe people who are older, settled etc don’t want that hassle and are happy to sit by and get lower numbers with the indie companies etc