Major League Wrestling has entered the world of wrestling action figures. After the successful launch of its first series of figures, featuring Jacob Fatu, Alexander Hammerstone, Killer Kross, and Mads Krugger, series two is now available for pre-order, featuring EJ Nduka, Lince Dorado, and a properly scaled Microman.
MLW CEO Court Bauer was more than happy to talk to SlamWrestling.net about the new figures. “MLW’s arrival as a hot brand in the action figure space is exciting. To see MLW action figures next to the Marvel and Star Wars line on Entertainment Earth or any major toy and collectible site is a thrill,” he wrote in an email.
Bauer said that MLW is entering “a phase of aggressive commercialization in the licensing and content distribution. MLW is now in 60 countries and growing, which is unlocking doors in the licensing space,” but clarifies this is just the beginning of a “long gestating process.”
MLW action figures are made by Boss Fight Studio, a “full-service toy design company with extensive experience in all levels of the toy production process,” that makes and sells toys for brands such as Popeye, Fraggle Rock, and Umbrella Company, but also the Legends of Lucha Libre line of wrestling figures.
What went into the planning and development of this first line of MLW action figures?
“Lots of fun!” Bauer said. “The Boss Fight Studio team are huge wrestling fans, so we sat down over several sessions talking everything from debating weapon accessories to whether to include both Mads Krugger masks (we did in fact do such). As a lifelong fan, it’s a dream come true to be sitting in there with Boss Fight Studio and cooking up action figures featuring a roster you’ve developed, curated, and in some instances created characters from scratch.”
As for who they decided to include in series one (Fatu, Hammerstone, Kross, and Krugger), and how, Bauer said it came down to who were the most popular and had the best chance to drive sales, and when he was asked if there were any concerns now that some of the talent featured in series one are no longer with MLW, Bauer said there were “none whatsoever.”
Bauer further clarified: “That’s just part of the ebb and flow of wrestling. Every company experiences it. Plus, you never know when an old face will pop back up in MLW, do you?”
Bauer said they surprised the talent in wave one by sending them each a box of their figures, and “hearing and seeing them do their own version of an unboxing on Facetime was great.”
“It was like Christmas morning,” Bauer said, “and they are the kids unwrapping gifts under the Christmas tree. Pure joy on both sides of the phone.”
In addition to this, the customers and fans have been very impressed with the quality of the action figures. Bauer admitted that the bar is high in wrestling for awesome figures, “so you want to frankly over deliver, which we all feel we did with the initial wave. Boss Fight Studios did a superb job.”
As of right now, series one is sold out, since the demand exceeded all of their expectations, but Boss Fight Studio is moving fast to restock, and Bauer said they’re “deep into development on wave three and sketching out wave four as we speak.”
Bauer enjoys sharing the good news. “We just informed Alex Kane he’s got a figure hitting in 2025 and he was pretty stoked. It’s definitely a milestone moment for a wrestler to be immortalized with a figure.”
You can pre-order series two now in the Boss Fight Studio store, and there’ll be more MLW action figure pre-orders announced in late summer 2024.
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