The Horror Movie BBQ

It's been a very stressful month due to a loss in my family, so my movie reviews have been a bit late. Sorry about that folks! But now, they're live and more will be coming! Let's kick things off with some great releases from Shout Factory!

THE JERK:



Hailed as one of the funniest movies of all time, The Jerk stars Steve Martin as Navin Johnson, the adopted son of a poor black sharecropping family in Mississippi. When he learns that the world is a much bigger place than he'd ever imagined, Navin sets out on a quest to find his "special purpose." His adventures lead him to encounter a would-be assassin, jobs in carnivals and gas stations, a life-saving dog, romance with the girl of his dreams and more money than he could ever spend. But his life in the clouds may come crashing down when the source of his new fame and fortune creates disastrous side effects.
Bonus Features: NEW Remastered from a Brand-New 2K TransferNEW A Conversation with Steve Martin and…

Welcome to the inaugural "Tales From The Gimmick Tables". A running series of articles where I look at random wrestling merchandise through the years that either hold sentimental value or could be some of the lamest stuff I've seen in all my time of being a fan. Today though, is a most excellent piece of memorabilia!

When it comes to collecting things, there are some items you search way too long for and some items, you spend way too much on. This is one of those items that fall into both categories.

Back in 1991, WWF released their third set of collector cups featuring the best tag teams in the company at the time. In a huge upset, it seems Power and Glory were shoved out for the Bushwackers, but who am I to judge? These cups were pretty spectacular and ONLY available in the merchandise catalog or at the live events. In essence, if you owned something from these legendary catalogs, you pretty much belonged to an exclusive group. There was no store this fun merch was ava…

I've been holding off on this one for a good reason, but since we're a week away from the Royal Rumble, why don't we dive in and discuss one of the greatest Hasbro figure disappointments: Ric Flair.

When Ric joined the WWF in 1991, he made a sudden impact by challenging world champion Hulk Hogan and pretty much every other babyface in the company. He became the most hated guy and it was only a matter of time he'd receive the Hasbro treatment. The Hasbro line was at it's peak so fans had their hopes up for a hot figure. Sadly, we didn't receive a Flair figure until after he was back in WCW and on top of that, what we got was one of the biggest let downs.


Again, what Flair looked like and how we all remember him:

And what we got:



Not a great representation of the legend but you work with what you've got. Flair was given the "Rick Rude" body, which was an even bigger misfire in 1990. While it was the right body size for Ric considering how small Ric…

Here they come! The Steiner Brothers! The world class athletes from Michigan arrived in the WWF, to much fanfare, in late 1992, off a very hot period in WCW. Fans salivated at the idea of a potential WCW vs. WWF tag team battles. Yup, a lot of fantasy warfare going on there in our minds!


There also was fantasy warefare in the toybox! Rick and Scott got the Hasbro treatment in 1994, a little after their departure (which was pretty common at that point) which being released later in the line provided the Steiners to take on a lot more opponents when it came to playtime. Ever wanna see them battle the Rockers? Or The Mega Powers? Demolition? The Mega Bucks? The sky was the limit! For some reason though, I could only find Scott in stores and could never score a Rick. Which was always a theme. If I had a Rick Galoob, I had a Scott Hasbro. If I had a Toy Biz Scott, I had a Classic Superstars Rick. For some reason, I've never had two from the same line or company. It just seemed to happe…

Back in January 1999, my mom and I hopped on the AmTrak to take a VERY special trip to NYC to take a tour of MARVEL COMICS OFFICES! Well, it took a while to get there, but let's go back a little...

"Everyone knows Kamala. Kamala's a classic"-Triple H, Triumph and Tragedy of WCCW. 2007.



Truer words were never spoken. The Ugandan Giant was born onto the wrestling world in the 80s, taking on all comers in every company he had every been apart of. WWF, WCW, WCCW and everywhere in between. Kamala was used as a big attraction for the hero to take on. So if you were in Philly and you had a ticket to an afternoon at The Spectrum, it was mainly to see Hulk Hogan defeat his larger than life opponent. And man, was he effective as a heel. You would believe he'd chew Hogan's head off and swallow it. But, the red and yellow prevailed and after a while Kamala was gone. Until 1992 when he returned to the WWF. Same beast, but a little toned down for the era and was managed by Harvey Whipplemen and Kim Chee and his first and most memorable foe? THE UNDERTAKER. They'd battle for months until The Dead Man disposed of him in a casket match at Survivor Series 1992, which I l…

In the history of wrestling, no character has fascinated me more than Nailz.


I can't explain it very well but he always has. Maybe it's because he debuted at one of the periods when wrestling was really leaving a huge impression on me and something I soaked up like a sponge and in 1992, there was nothing that held my attention like an episode of Wrestling Challenge and Superstars.

Portrayed by Kevin Wacholz (Kevin Kelly in the AWA), Nailz was supposedly a former prisoner under the guard of The Big BossMan during his days as an officer in Cob County Georgia. He was also supposedly an innocent man imprisoned for crimes he didn't commit. I guess he should've just joined the A-Team and gone underground to prove his innocence but instead Nailz would debut in May of 1992 by racing out of the crowd and proceed to beat the living hell out of the former prison guard putting him out (in storyline) for a few weeks. Following that, we'd see Nailz beat other opponents with Bos…

1992 was a bizarre year for the WWF. It was a big transition year, departing from the previous "Hulkamania" era and focusing on smaller, more younger talent. In that time, the company offered some wild and memorable storylines and characters. But perhaps none more wild than PAPA SHANGO!

Portrayed by Charles Wright, Papa Shango debuted in 1992 a little before Wrestlemania 8 but was thrust into the main event when he was given a big push and feud with The Ultimate Warrior. Essentially, he was a crazy witch doctor that would put spells on everyone he passed. In a very legendary segment, he made The Ultimate Warrior vomit due to a "hex". He wouldn't stick around much longer than a year but would return years later as the ultimate fighting machine "Kama" and the famous pimp "The Godfather". Wright would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.

Of course, being such a cartoony character, Papa Shango was simply a perfect fit for a Hasbro figu…

Ahhh...Big Sid Justice. The man who wanted to rule the world. The man who won multiple world titles. The man who could've taken over Hulk Hogan's spot and been the next big superhero. Unfortunately, he was also the man who crapped his pants multiple times in the ring and became a joke at times.

But before all that, he was one of the most impressive wrestlers ever. Just look at him! Dude is almost 7 foot and looks like the real life Brock Sampson and most likely just as dangerous. If you were to create a perfect looking wrestler, this is what he'd look like. As a good guy, he was popular like you wouldn't believe. As a villain, people LOVED to hate him. Plus, the name "Sid"? That just sounds powerful. Sure, he had a lot of trouble with promos and interviews, but man, he got over with the audience huge. Now, Sid's had a lot of action figures throughout his career in both WCW and WWF. He even received some figure treatments by Mattel, which were pretty fanta…

What better way to describe this figure? Good? Great? Nah...this figure is absolutely PERFECT!

Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig was one of the all time greats in pro wrestling. His ability to cut an obnoxious promo and put on an amazing match was matched by no one else. Curt could beat you so quick, it would make your head spin. On top of that, he'd brag about it too, making him come off as that a-hole jock you hated in high school. You couldn't beat him. No matter how hard you tried.

His figure was just as perfect as he was and his action feature was one of the few figures that actually gave you the opportunity to preform his "Perfect Plex", a move in which he hooked his opponent's head, grabbed their leg and dropped them on their back for their 3 count.


Ok, so the action feature itself was not "perfect" per se, although it's still closer than we could've gotten at that time. Hasbro didn't always give a lot of thought to capturing the signature move…

LISTEN UP, MCMAHON! THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST FIGURES OF ALL TIME! AND AIN'T NOTHIN' YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!

Jesse The Body Ventura is one of the most colorful and unique performers in pro wrestling history. From wrestler to commentator to interview segment host and everything in between, Jesse has seen it all and done it all! Of course, the king of conspiracies would receive a few action figures and his LJN may be the one everyone remembers the most.

By the time this figure was released, Jesse had retired from in-ring preforming due to injuries and had become a commentator on tv shows and PPV's so it was a little out of date. But at that time, it took a lot longer to get figures released in their current gear than even now. For those who had been huge Jesse fans this is the way they'd want to remember him.

Check out those tights! Almost as colorful as he is! Of course, even in his announcer days, he'd still maintain his wild and crazy fashion. Jesse never had any t…