Celebrating ‘Figure February’ with Canadian Bulldog

Josh Olsen

Canadian Bulldog Interview

A lot of people say we’ve been experiencing a new golden age of wrestling, but we’re also living in a golden age of wrestling merchandise, with the wide availability of more wrestling action figures, trading cards, T-shirts, and other collectibles than ever before.

If it’s a golden time for collectibles, then it’s also a golden time for coverage of all the goodies, and one of the best to do it is Canadian Bulldog.

Over a decade ago, Canadian Bulldog created Wrestling Merchandise and Memories because he wanted to make a fun, positive place to discuss wrestling collectibles, and for the past five years, Wrestling Merchandise and Memories has dedicated an entire month of content to wrestling figures, so to help celebrate Figure February, I connected with Canadian Bulldog to chop it up about wrestling collectibles.

Having contributed on occasion to SlamWrestling, Canadian Bulldog has been a huge wrestling fan since the week after the first WrestleMania, when he was in the seventh grade.

“Ever since then, I have always been glued to the product,” he said, while reminiscing about his grandmother, in her mid-80s, yelling at the television screen in Yiddish. Wrestling fandom was just part of his family DNA. (And we are sworn to protect his identity.)

Like so many kids in the 1980s, Canadian Bulldog collected a few wrestling figures here and there, but as he got older, and his disposable income began to grow, he slowly started building up his collection. Wrestling figures, books, magazines, shirts: he loved it all. Canadian Bulldog started contributing to wrestling message boards, and around 2004 he began to provide some humor columns for different websites that are no longer around. He just liked being somehow involved in the wrestling community, and he did that for about ten years, but eventually it lost its luster. He felt much of the fandom was too negative, and it wasn’t fun for him, so he wanted to create something different.

Canadian Bulldog was inspired by the website Dinosaur Dracula, which “celebrates the sheer joy of trivial things, from Halloween decorations, to Ninja Turtles, to the pewter dolphin pendants sold in every aquarium’s gift shop. Dinosaur Dracula is, if nothing else, my perpetual excuse to enjoy things I’m no longer ‘supposed’ to enjoy.”

Dinosaur Dracula was a fun, lighthearted, cool, and different way to talk about hobbies, and Canadian Bulldog wanted to do something like that specifically for wrestling, so he created Wrestling Merchandise and Memories.

Wrestling Merchandise and Memories was launched over ten years ago, and Canadian Bulldog still likes going on “little deep dives” and adding to the website about 45 minutes to an hour each day, like writing 800 words inspired by a CM Punk toothbrush.

Canadian Bulldog said he’s still a writer, first and foremost, and it’s a pleasurable distraction to continue to work on Wrestling Merchandise and Memories.

For more evidence of his writing, and other creative output, just take a gander at Figure February, his annual celebration of all things wrestling figures, where he’s posted at least 100 different articles on wrestling figures, including a new article ranking all of Paul Orndorff’s figures. Canadian Bulldog said he currently has over 1,400 figures in his personal collection, so this is a great source of inspiration to tap into, and has kept Figure February going strong for five years and counting, and for this year’s Figure February, Canadian Bulldog is giving away five free wrestling figures to people who subscribe to his Wrestling Merchandise and Memories YouTube. Just follow the directions on this video.

As for which wrestling figures Canadian Bulldog collects, he said, “it depends on my mood and what I’m trying to do.” He said that part of the joy in collecting is going to flea markets and seeing what odds and ends he can find. For example, when WCW’s Original San Francisco Toy Makers line of figures originally came out in the late-1990s, he didn’t collect them, but not long ago, he found some of these loose at a flea market and “got a wild hair,” and now he’s tried to get as close to a complete collection as possible.

Another passion project are the WCW Galoob figures, some of which he found on a family trip to Florida. He eventually collected the entire base collection, then got into the UK exclusive figures when he became more savvy.

The current line of figures he spends the most time and money on is Mattel’s WWE Ultimate Edition figures, but he said it’s unsustainable, due to the prices involved, and once they began incorporating chase and variant figures, like a Batista figure that came with blue or white trunks, that specific line of figures became cost prohibitive to many collectors.

Even though wrestling figures comprise most of his collection, and his content, Canadian Bulldog also has a selection of wrestling trading cards. He said he mostly has the early WWF and WCW sets and other “odds and sods,” but his “pride and joy” is an uncut sheet of 1985 WWF O-Pee-Chee trading cards (the rarer Canadian version of the 1985 Topps set), which he says he has “no earthly idea” how he got it, but it’s been in his collection over 20 years.

Canadian Bulldog also likes the “flimsy, little” 1986 Monty Gum Wrestling Stars cards, which he says can be found at Canadian flea markets.

In addition to his figures and trading cards, somewhere in his basement, Canadian Bulldog has 300-400 vintage wrestling magazines from the 1990s.

“They may be dog-eared now, but they’re still good bathroom reading material,” he said while acknowledging he should have protected them better.

“I bought every magazine on the shelf, as a kid,” Canadian Bulldog said, and the reason why he eventually subscribed to WWF Magazine were the trading cards inserted in each issue.

Every collector has to draw the line somewhere though, and Canadian Bulldog admits he hasn’t delved much into the world of independent wrestling merchandise.

“It’s such a dangerous game,” he said. “Because you wanna collect everything.”

Canadian Bulldog said he thinks Zombie Sailor Toys makes the best retro figures, but living in Canada, most independent figures are too expensive, although one indie retro figure he did add to this collection was Dynamite Kid, who he found in a Detroit-area toy shop, and was happy to pair with his Davey Boy Smith.

“God bless them,” he said. “They’re doing a great job.”

Right now, in addition to the Wrestling Merchandise and Memories website, Canadian Bulldog’s YouTube page is his passion. He also makes Canadian Bulldog’s Twisted Themes, which are a series of “AI-infused alternate versions” of popular wrestling theme songs.

He also created the Wrestling Figure Database, which he said he put a ton of time into (although he recommends viewing it on a computer rather than a mobile device). This initially started as COVID project, but he said it’s a “living document” that he continues to update at least a couple times a month with new figures and articles.

Canadian Bulldog has amassed an impressive collection of wrestling figures, but even more impressive than that is his creative output, designing and maintaining the various facets of his website and YouTube page. He clearly loves wrestling, and wrestling merchandise, and I look forward to talking to Canadian Bulldog again real soon.

To enter for a chance at a free wrestling figure from Canadian Bulldog, watch this video (also posted below) and follow the easy steps in the video description.

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