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Premium Toyetic Event: 2026 WWE Elimination Chamber
0 Playsin 7 hours
The 2026 WWE Elimination Chamber is now in the books and it's time to unpack it and determine who we think is most deserving of the action figure treatment from the fine folks at Mattel. Part review, part analysis, and part fantasy booking, join us as we discuss the ins and outs of the last PLE stop on the road to Wrestlemania!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
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Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric.
00:00:15
Speaker
And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls. Along with our journeys as collectors.
WWE Elimination Chamber Recap
00:00:48
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting Premium Toyetic Event Housen. Hi, Dave. Hi.
00:01:02
Speaker
We're back. i Elimination Chamber happened, and it was a lot of fun. It was. Everything pretty much happened as expected with, like, one kind of Two exceptions, I think.
00:01:18
Speaker
I think two exceptions for me. Oh, i I wasn't expecting AJ to win. Spoilers, if you haven't watched Elimination Chamber, we're going to talk about it. But, um yeah, that was the one thing for me. shocked that you didn't expect that.
00:01:34
Speaker
I thought she was going to cheat to win, and and then she was going to get the win at ah Mania. that was That was my... I thought Becky was going to cheat to win. That's fair. And then that's the way I thought they were going to kind of build the trajectory for that.
00:01:50
Speaker
But um one of my picks, I will posit a theory and one of my picks will... help us talk about that a little bit.
Premium Toyetic Event Segment Intro
00:02:00
Speaker
But before we get into our picks, so first of all, um as we usually do with premium toyetic event, ah if you this is your first ever premium toyetic event with us, welcome. ah This is where we break down who we think were the most toyetic uh athletes those most deserving of a figure from our friends at mattel uh from a premium live event so in this case we're going to be talking about the elimination chamber the 2026 elimination chamber which wrapped uh over this over the weekend um
00:02:33
Speaker
If you are listening to this on Monday, as it is as it is a new episode. um Yeah. So we'll talk about that. we We won't get into every match. We won't talk about, you know, all the winners and losers, but we'll talk about maybe some context around why we picked who we picked, why we think it would be a good figure. Is it just purely an aesthetic thing or is it some sort of contextual thing that, ah you know, requires a little more of an explanation?
00:02:55
Speaker
But before we hop into that, a little bit of housekeeping. So happy March. We are yeah we are steps steps closer to spring, which ah here in New Jersey, we are all very, very much so looking forward to. It's supposed to get nice weather this week.
00:03:10
Speaker
There has been a lot of snow um and it has been gunking up the works here
New Jersey Weather & Spring Hopes
00:03:15
Speaker
in New Jersey. But um yeah, so I would like to punch a certain groundhog in the in the junk for for what for for predicting more more winter.
00:03:27
Speaker
um We got enough snow this year. I'm good. I'm good. I'm over it. Although I feel like like that's never like, yes, it's like, oh, six more weeks of winter. It's mid-March anyway.
00:03:40
Speaker
like yeah Yeah, but I mean, like... Groundhog Day to like... So much snow. So
Instagram Giveaway Announcement
00:03:49
Speaker
much cold. But that also means we do have a new giveaway available ah up ah on our Instagram.
00:03:58
Speaker
And this month, we are giving away...
00:04:04
Speaker
The ah Image Comics ah Founders Edition, Elite Edition, McFarlane Toys Spawn. um One of my favorite toys of the year so far. I know we're only in March, but um and there's there's a year...
00:04:20
Speaker
left to go but um yeah great release first in this founders edition uh of hard to come by now so this is your chance to add a spawn to your collection so yeah we have partnered yeah We have partnered with friends, friend of the pod, Paternia. John has partnered with us on this giveaway. So um you can visit either our Instagram or his that's at AIC underscore podcast or um at paternia.com. That's D O T com.
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah. And look for this post and follow the instructions or look for the post with this picture on it on our Instagram. It will be pinned at the top. Um, And follow the instructions to enter to win this. And you have all month to enter and bring yourself home a ah spawn.
00:05:10
Speaker
so Yeah. yeah In retrospect, we should have done Stone Cold Steve Austin this month because it's 316 March. Stone Cold should ah should have flip flopped these. But hey, you know, congrats to the winner of the Stone Cold giveaway last month.
00:05:26
Speaker
Not not everything is is on the nose. Yeah. So, ah yeah. So that's that's really our housekeeping for this month. No, no in-person events that we're aware of yet, at least ah coming coming up anytime soon. i Hope you all really enjoyed our Toy Fair coverage. um Seems like you did based on yeah all of the all the views.
Reflecting on Toy Fair Success
00:05:50
Speaker
Yeah, i YouTube, ah you guys you guys really enjoyed the interviews. I'm i'm glad you did. um Shouts to Aaron, who, like, I feel like a Aaron Margolin, who went out with, like, a a bang over on our YouTube channel. i If you missed it, Aaron has ah has announced that he is stepping away from his duties at Jazzwares and moving on um to new opportunities. He was not let go. It was a mutual decision. He he decided to ah to resign. um But yeah, we we will certainly miss Aaron's presence at Jazzwares. And if you would like to see a great interview with him revealing ah a lot of this year's upcoming Five Nights at Freddy's product, i
00:06:38
Speaker
head on over to our YouTube channel. ah There is a playlist from New York Toy Fair this year, and among ah those videos is is that walkthrough with Aaron. so And it's one of our most... ah um We don't usually talk metrics on here, but yeah, it is one of our most... If it's not one of them, it is the most, at this point, watched long-form video. Believe it or not, our most watched video is a YouTube short, and it is for the... i ah Is it Bendy?
00:07:10
Speaker
What's the the the like inky guy like from the video game in machine? Yeah. in the in yeah machine Bendy are ah one of the the team of Jack sent us over Bendy in the ink machine box at some point. And I made us what I thought was a very silly video about it. um And it has like.
00:07:31
Speaker
hundreds of thousands of views or something like that it finally beat the uh the star wars cave oh that that got that got buried like a long long time ago thankfully i i can't delete it from youtube because it has so many views but i hate that video um at least the inky or bendy one is is i guess you could find it funny i kind of made made a little skit out of it but People really like themselves some Bendy, just like they like Five Nights at Freddy's. Maybe it's like
Supporting the Show
00:08:00
Speaker
that the game spooky, spooky gaming.
00:08:03
Speaker
That's we need we need to focus on more spooky gaming, Dave, and maybe less. Wrestling, I don't don't know, but that he is a spooky game. I thought it was. I think it's just a platformer.
00:08:16
Speaker
Okay. Like one of those like old, like, yeah, like Cuphead. Yeah. I don't know. I thought there were some spooky elements to it when I was doing the little bit of research I did before I made the video. But anywho, um that's it for housekeeping. As always, if you want to support the show, best way to do that is by hitting the subscribe button here on YouTube over on our ah podcast platforms.
00:08:41
Speaker
Make sure you subscribe to us, leave us a rating, leave us a review, all that good stuff. And if you want some, uh, some merch, if you want to wear some adventures in collecting merch, you can go to aicpodcast.dashery.com. We have got a bunch of t-shirt designs. Um, I'm pretty fond of the GI Joe inspired one that's up there now. That's,
Toyetic Picks Discussion Continues
00:09:00
Speaker
I think that's the newest design. You can be hashtag toyetic.
00:09:03
Speaker
you could be hashtag toytic You can You can let the folks at Target know you're coming with ah with a particular design. In a way, they can either they can either mentally prepare themselves or avoid you entirely.
00:09:18
Speaker
um one One of the two. But ah with that, Dave, I think it's time for us to get into our premium toyetic event. What do you what do you say? Speaking of hashtag toyetic...
00:09:29
Speaker
ah Yeah. So, Dave, I think you should kick us off here with your with your first pick. Yeah, now we're um going straight into the second match of the evening. um You and I are both going to do that. And my so nothing against the women's chamber match. It was great, but I don't think there was there are maybe a couple standouts, but nothing that really kind of had any bearing on the events.
00:09:57
Speaker
that you would say like, oh, this needs to be made a figure. However, someone winning their first singles title in like a decade, I feel like calls for a figure, especially in.
00:10:11
Speaker
A kind of new, like different outfit for her instead of usually the blue denim shorts, we went with the black. So pink and black theme um for AJ, AJ Lee. um Chicago's adopted, New Jersey's own AJ. Paramus, right? She's from Paramus, I think.
00:10:32
Speaker
Union City. Union City. um She is not Bergen County. She is Hudson County. got it Hudson County. um But AJ Lee winning the women's intercontinental title.
00:10:46
Speaker
um You have the, of course, the pink. and black theme, very toyetic with the studded belt and the super high top chucks. um Just a lot of deco hits for her.
00:11:00
Speaker
And, you know, it's cool that she won a new title. So it's a way to get a new Intercontinental title out there with new side plates, all that good stuff. so Now, would you would you go with here's the question?
00:11:15
Speaker
Here's and and this is always the question with these yeah situations. Would you go AJ with Becky's title in this outfit? I feel like Becky's gonna get becky's side plates. So.
00:11:28
Speaker
Because do you want it to be match accurate or do you want it to be like. Because, like, right, if she's in this outfit, there's a good there's a good chance we're never going to see this combination ever again with the way that these, you know, the the talent these days. So if you were if you had the ultimate decision, would you make, let's say this was going to be an ultimate release. Mm-hmm. Okay? Let's go out there. Let's throw it out there that this is going to be an ultimate a j so that way they can get, like, the abs sculpted, sculpted new body, you know, like, because they they would need that for her. Yeah. um
00:12:03
Speaker
You're going ultimate edition. Are you putting her side plates or are you going to do Becky's side plates? I do hers. Okay. Because who knows how many AJ intercontinental champion figures we're going to get.
00:12:19
Speaker
fair. It's fair. I would also do the same thing. I know it would drive the the mock collectors probably a little bonkers because you get that match description on the back, you know, but i I'm with you. I go AJ side plates on it for for us openers so that way we can display her with her with her title. that would That would be my...
00:12:41
Speaker
maya my direction, I guess you could say as well. Cause she, she still hasn't had an elite since like the enormous box days.
AJ Lee Figures History
00:12:52
Speaker
Yeah. Like it's been a it's been a long time. The big, enormous white box for elites. Yeah. want to say it's like elite. It's either in the teens or the twenties. I feel.
00:13:07
Speaker
I know the one that I teen, the only figure I have of her is a basic. But it's and you have the late. I think you have the last one. Yeah. um She's got like a necklace.
00:13:21
Speaker
That was one of the selling points of it was like with that. Yeah, her accessory is necklace. Yeah. But she doesn't even wear anymore. ah No, this was this was really great anymore anymore either.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah. Well, mine isn't she doesn't have plaid. She's got. Oh, yeah. You've got the love by shirt, the green. No, it's just black. Oh, the green, I think, was one of the last ones.
00:13:45
Speaker
Hold on, I'm going to get it, because it's not far away. And I'm going to...
00:13:53
Speaker
This one. This is the one that I have. Oh, okay. So you have, like it's more like... It's more like... I think it was maybe part of a two-pack?
00:14:06
Speaker
Series 21 was the AJ Elite. But, I mean, the the the movement on these... The basic for the women is actually pretty good. Figures back then were basically elites.
00:14:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, she's got she's got the bicep swivel. She's got the, you know, single jointed. But yeah, I mean, I I genuinely enjoy this figure. Again, it's like a softer likeness because it's prior to the the the original yeah is is like the lighter hair and kind of early AJ. Yeah.
00:14:37
Speaker
She never got another elite when she was Divas Champion or anything like that. But yeah, great, great first pick, Dave. Fantastic first pick. Now, i personally, i thought in this match, and this is going to segue into my my first pick, I thought this match was going to go
Spotlight on Referee Jessica Carr
00:14:56
Speaker
the different direction. I thought because every time these two have have squared off so far, that being AJ Lee and and ah and Becky Lynch, has ended in the, it's not the tarantula, the Black Widow? Tarantula? What does she call the the Black Widow? Yeah. Tarantulas, the ropes, that's the teary one.
00:15:15
Speaker
Yeah. um Has ended with Becky Lynch tapping out and a but in a Black Widow. Like, that that has happened... ever what That is the third time, fourth time um Third time Granted this is the first time they've met i In singles competition So far but I thought For sure Becky was going to find some way to cheat her way Out of that win And then the rematch would happen at Wrestlemania And that's that's when when ah AJ was going to get her her kind of Comeuppance um Becky would get the comeuppance
00:15:51
Speaker
Yes. Thank you. um Yeah, I was thinking that that was going to go that route. However, based on how this match went and knowing what I know about my pick, um I have a feeling somebody is going to be taking off the stripes and and suiting up for for potentially a match at WrestleMania. And that is my first pick.
00:16:12
Speaker
Uh, referee Jessica Carr. Um, everyone knows how much I love a referee action figure. Uh, they are essential for toy photograph photography, essential.
00:16:24
Speaker
Um, and we have yet to have a female body, uh, uh, wrestling figure uh referee from mattel um we've got a bunch of men's uh we have yet to have anybody in the modern gray and black um and jessica carr is incredible like she's she's incredible she's one of those referees like a charles robinson like a uh uh mike cone john cone John Cohen. Sorry. In um in history, we're going to have like in this like era to the two like generational women referees in Aubrey and AEW and Jessica here.
00:17:08
Speaker
Yep, and you know I think every time she's in the ring, like she does exactly what ah ah a great referee does, which is fades into the background when she needs to.
00:17:20
Speaker
And the moment needs she needs to be part of the match, it's believable. It's it's well executed. She took a... like a sick bump in this match. I mean, that that kick that she took from Becky was was no joke, and she sold it amazing. And for those that don't know, you know, she was a masked wrestler prior to... um and She was just a regular wrestler prior to... think she I thought she had a mask i thought she she wore a mask.
00:17:46
Speaker
So there's a masked wrestler in Evolve who resembles the body type of referee Jessica Carr. Oh, okay, so that is not... Kayfabe, it is not confirmed to be her.
00:18:01
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Okay, got it. Thank you. um But yeah, so she's she's awesome. I love her. I love the opportunity to get more referees, especially with the incredible um you know women's roster of of action figures that we have.
00:18:18
Speaker
For action figure photography right now, the only way that I can, you know... have a ref in the shot is, you know, one of the the male refs. And again, we don't have the outfit that matches the current look.
00:18:31
Speaker
And, you know, Jessica Carr is out there, you know, reffing most of the matches. I'm blanking on the other referee's name. She's also great. But, um... Jessica Carr being a participant you know in this match in a couple of different spots. you know One, she took the bump. Two, she did the typical like restringing up of the um the the corner pad, the ah the turnbuckle.
00:18:57
Speaker
um So, you know, she's she was as much of a participant in this match as as a referee could or should be. um And like I said, she's she's also a a trained ah wrestler. So I'm hoping, I'm hoping, hoping, hoping with the the beef that they have going on on social media. If you are not following Becky Lynch on social media, it is one of the more entertaining things right now in wrestling. um Everyone is saying it, not just me, Dave. Everybody's saying it.
00:19:27
Speaker
um everybody but uh all the all the press sports illustrated bleacher report yep yep um twitter like lion sam robinson you know he's he's also he's also saying roberts sam roberts i don't know what i'm doing in my names today man it's i'm like jet lagged i've been flying a lot lately yeah you have i'm uh daphne la sean and uh they're they called up i think uh victoria d'errico has also been called up Daphne LaShawn was the one I was thinking of. I had Daphne in my head, but I didn't want to screw up her last name. So instead I screwed up Sam Roberts instead.
00:20:02
Speaker
um Hi, Sam. Hi, Sam. ah Yeah, so that's my pick. I think she would be an awesome addition. Plus, you know, it gives us a female referee body type for them to do additional female referees, um which is a great thing.
00:20:18
Speaker
So and a perfect build a figure like get get her in as a build a figure. you know, they've been doing that with they did that with ah with the other referees so far, and it's been great. So keep keep it going.
00:20:30
Speaker
That's my that's my first pick.
00:20:34
Speaker
um So my second pick will remain in the um family, as it were.
CM Punk's Toyetic Gear
00:20:42
Speaker
um We're going with Chicago's own Punk.
00:20:49
Speaker
You know, his if for a title match in Chicago, you'd expect nothing more than CM Punk to be very Chicago-themed. He had the Bulls entrance, which...
00:21:01
Speaker
You know, he got to see I popped huge for that. And I'm not even like a bad all guy. um Which has been kind of co-opted in wrestling, but actually only done for real for the first time here.
00:21:15
Speaker
It didn't Ricky Steamboat use that song in some capacity. I'm calling serious when I was a child. Yeah. Yeah. In my youth. And Punk mentioned it in the post show.
00:21:27
Speaker
But OK. I remember that's how I knew the song originally was it was Ricky the Dragon Steamboat's
00:21:35
Speaker
song. I was only reading that today. like I instantly knew it as the Chicago Bulls song. And did they also get the the Chicago Bulls announcer to yeah read? Yes, the PA announcer did the the intro. Yeah, i thought I thought I picked up on that too. Subtle, but i mean that's one of those like if you know, you know things, I guess.
00:21:55
Speaker
um Everybody in that building knew Yeah, no, no. I mean, as a non basketball aficionado, non Chicago native, non Chicago sports fan, even I was able to pick up that. So I thought i thought that was cool. um But yeah, it's. ah You know, he had the the Blackhawks, which I guess they probably wouldn't be able to do it to a T. But, you know, knowing the fanatics licensing and all that these days.
00:22:26
Speaker
Who knows? yeah I assume nothing's impossible. um He had the stripes on the side. um you know, this the kick pads looked like the um socks, the hockey socks. So it was, you know, it was as Chicago as can be from ah Punk.
00:22:47
Speaker
I think you could do that without the sea. Like, like if you did this right, like with the the stars, the one, you know, the the stripes and then, you know, kind of skipped over the sea or even just did the two tomahawks with no sea. Like, I think you could get away with it.
00:23:06
Speaker
I think you'd be better off with just a yellow sea.
00:23:11
Speaker
Or a yellow star. Yeah, something. You could figure it out. the But also this this jacket. The jacket was also what. I saw the artist or the designer post it.
00:23:26
Speaker
On Instagram. um
00:23:32
Speaker
Leading up to the event, and i was like, oh, he's going to wear this out like this is and this is going to have to be part of the the figure. And we have the they have the pattern now for his jacket, because we've we got the... the the ah In one of the more elite more recent Elite waves, he, for the first time in a WWE wwe figure, has that the track more modern-looking members-only track jacket, starter jacket, whatever you want to call Well, he has... The the most recent Elite that's come out has the... like
00:24:05
Speaker
Larry straight edge jacket, like the Ring of Honor style. Yep. Yep. Carra jacket. But I think we're getting one of these. Yeah, that would be awesome. I love this.
00:24:16
Speaker
This new trend with him. Yeah. Where he's wearing the like Ribera type jacket. Yeah. I always call it members only. I don't think that's right.
00:24:26
Speaker
But no, it's not. um It's more. I mean, you wouldn't even you could use the Letterman jacket. Template for it. Or like the Rock and Sock Connection. Yeah, that would work, actually.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome ring gear, though. Like, yeah, it was great. He knows. He knows what he's doing. If they wanted to do like a ringside exclusive, they could give him the bloody lip.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He's got some. He like. Older, let's say older era. Face like at the end from the post show, like you could really if you wanted to do that with an extra head, if you wanted to make him an AJ celebrating in the ring afterwards, the new Brandy and Cody two pack ultimate two. Yeah, good.
00:25:15
Speaker
And that's how you get. And that's how you get the that's where you put the Becky belt in. Because that's... you can Yeah, because that's what she has in that. Yeah. Yeah, that would be fun. um But yeah, I mean, he gets it. Phil phil gets it. he knows He knows what the deal is with the ring gear. He's always keeping toyetic. He finds a way to make, like, guy in trunks interesting every match.
00:25:39
Speaker
I mean, that's just... i The one that I really hope that they can get to is the the Halloween 3. We didn't... That wasn't on a premium to to premium live event, so we didn't get to talk about that one. But the Halloween 3 gear, I think, is like an all-timer for him. Yes.
00:25:56
Speaker
That would be one that I would i would jump on pretty quickly. um Yeah, very, very cool. As was the one. The...
00:26:07
Speaker
ahstein yes Yes, the Steiner gear. yeah The Michigan gear from ah the and of Netflix anniversary show. The season premiere. Yes. So this this takes us to my next pick. um And my next pick is also kind of like...
Seth Rollins Mystery Figure Potential
00:26:24
Speaker
don't know, unconventional, I guess you could say. But one of the other big moments for in the Elimination Chamber was in the Men's Elimination Chamber match um where where Seth Rollins was revealed as the real man behind the mask after we had our two kind of like jobber fake reveals.
00:26:41
Speaker
Which i think were his students. Which would be very funny. And also, like, it's one of those things where I hope that we can look back on this in... five six years and be like oh look the first time we saw future superstar was when he was wearing a mask you know that could be a cool thing but um uh you know we've seen so many people over the years and i'm going to provide a little context for why i think this would be a good pick right we've had a lot of seth rollins figures he's he's one of those guys that gets out there very frequently um but gotta have him on the shelf
00:27:15
Speaker
We have had a lot of, over the years, not just in the last two years, but like over the years, we have had a lot of instances of black hooding, black pants, black balaclava,
00:27:31
Speaker
mystery men. Like it's been, it's been like a wrestling trope for years and years and years. And we have never gotten it in figure form. This gives you the opportunity to put that removable hoodie, the removable sweatpants or track pants and the removable baliclava on a figure.
00:27:48
Speaker
And be able to reuse that on whatever you want. Like you get you effectively give give figure collectors carte blanche on who you want to use that with. Whether you're a kid booking a fig fed and you're playing, it gives you that accessory.
00:28:03
Speaker
um Whether you're a photographer, again, gives you that accessory and it gives you a really cool display moment for this version of Seth Rollins. So and the soft, as I've said before, know, the soft goods have improved over the years to the point where it doesn't look like pajamas.
00:28:19
Speaker
anymore yeah yep and it gives you a really cool opportunity to do two-in-one figure so you know we've seen a lot of times Seth Rollins appear in like his version of plain clothes which is you know black usually some sort of black like pants and Yeah, so you can put that kind of like those sculpted black pants under the, ah you know, the the removable sweatpants and maybe throw throw in the the chain, you the the um the SR chain that he wears. So the new the new merch shirt because that's black and silver.
00:28:59
Speaker
It looks so effectively back to that. Yeah. So effectively, you know, you could also make it like. could make it cash in seth rollins you could make it promo seth roll seth rollins like you could really make this a ah two and one ah two and many figure couldn't do cash in with this he had on the sparkly jacket Well, when he actually got, he took that off in the ramp when he got in the ring, he just had pants.
00:29:24
Speaker
So, you know, if you just give him plain black sculpted pants under under this. Or just give him the jacket, like make it an ultimate. Give him the jacket. Yeah, you could do that. um Again, it's utilizing a lot of materials that we've seen in other figures that you could just kind of throw on this and make it happen. And then, you know, you would just need the polyclava, really.
00:29:44
Speaker
But ah yeah, this was a key moment. Or make it a molded head with the mask. Yeah, that works. And you could just put the hood and have it be like an actual hoodie. Yeah, yeah, that works, too. I would actually do that.
00:29:58
Speaker
Molded mask. mask ah Alternate alternate head with a molded mask. And an alternate hand with the mask in his hand. That's a cool that's a cool idea. um Like like we've seen with like Spider-Man figures in the past, like the the the the like hard plastic loose mask. And I think that the one MJF figure has the mask in the hand, too.
00:30:20
Speaker
Yes, yeah the devil mask. um Also, it gives you the opportunity we we to get a new man bun Seth Rollins head out there. We've only we've got a very old one at this point from like the um the Monday Night Messiah days of Seth Rollins.
00:30:37
Speaker
So i new man bun head for him. ah Yeah, this this is my pick. you know I think it's a it's a key moment. it's It plays up a wrestling a long-standing pro wrestling trope.
00:30:50
Speaker
And ah I think it's a, it's a, a fresh way to get Seth Rollins back out ah on the shelves as opposed to, you know, just one of his many incredible ring gear, you know, that he has, but you know, something, something different.
00:31:06
Speaker
And now a word from our sponsors.
00:31:14
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:31:30
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at chubzywubzy.com.
00:31:42
Speaker
That's
00:31:49
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:31:55
Speaker
And now, back to the show.
00:34:17
Speaker
And I think that was it. Nothing else really happened at Elimination Chamber. No, think we can wrap it up here, right? No, I think.
Dan Housen's WWE Debut
00:34:25
Speaker
No, no, we both we both have a third pick and it's the same. I mean, there's no way one of us could pick this over the other. um The big moment, Dave. I mean, a big moment in your house, big moment in my house.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah, massive, massive, massive pop for this. um And much to the the chagrin of most people who are saying otherwise, there was a loud cheering response when he popped out.
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah, i you know what? I've been thinking about this. So let's let's talk about this for a second. let's let's go let's ah Let's actually talk about wrestling and as opposed to like... Yeah, let's let's unpack this for a moment before we talk about the awesomeness of this.
00:35:08
Speaker
So here's what I think. Here's what I think happened. So for those that didn't watch... the The crate that the ad has been teased for like just about a month now gets rolled out in in front of the front of the entrance.
00:35:23
Speaker
Aldous and and and um Adam Pearce crowbar the crate open, and inside is an old-fashioned coffin. And they reluctantly walk like they're like, i I'm done. Whatever. cool They walk away. Coffin opens. Puff of smoke. Dan Housen and the ah the ghoul or ghoul housings.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, well, I was going call them the housenettes, but the ah the ghoul. I believe you called them ghoul housings. Okay, the ghoul housings come out of the ah come out of the the the coffin like a clown car.
00:35:58
Speaker
um a A very 1960s surf rock, almost Adam West Batman sounding um new theme song, which fits him hits him fits him perfectly.
00:36:12
Speaker
you know Going for that Munsters Elvira, campy... but totally nailed it. He walks to the ring. He hands his teeth, his jar, of his iconic jar of teeth to Michael Cole gets in the ring, hits the curse pose. Lights go out.
00:36:29
Speaker
Come back on. You forgot the three best things that happened. Oh, the the the fake, the the the like crappy pyro at the end, which was great. Crappy pyro when he first came out, the crappy pyro when he first hit the curse and the the crappy pyro at the end when he hit the last curse.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. um Great. Just so great. Across the board. Fantastic. If you if you have been a fan of Dan Housen and listen, I can understand if if you are one of those people who like who hates lives and and well, just lives in a camp, right? Like you live in WWE wwe world. You live in that bubble. You don't pay attention to you. Let's start there. Yeah.
00:37:11
Speaker
Right. Like if you're one of those people, which your confusion is legitimate. Yes. And and I can completely understand who the hell is this guy. i don't understand is this. Yeah. Why why did air this just happen?
00:37:27
Speaker
Very fair. You will find out soon. Hopefully, you know, like that. things Like you will find out on Monday. Hang in there. Hang. Just hang in there. OK, so that's get ready. If you are one of those people and I don't mean those people in like a derogatory sense, I just mean like factually, if you are if you are a person WWE and never have watched indie wrestling or never leave that wrestling bubble.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah, and there are a lot of people like that. and that That exists. There are people who legitimately don't think CM Punk did anything for 10 years. And they and i i I literally found that out like this morning. like I didn't know that that type of person existed.
00:38:11
Speaker
Hang in there, okay? Hang in there, all right? um So that's one. Two, the other thing that we have to talk about here is when this happened, when he walked out of the crate, Chicago is a is a historically Dan Housen friendly place. I mean, that's where he made his re after he got hurt and he came back on a television. They they they did it on dynamite in Chicago.
00:38:38
Speaker
I went back and looked to to to much applause like they love. He's a Michigan guy. Absolutely loved him. He got a massive pop. There was no issue, right? So Chicago as a city, no at least like the wrestling fans there who are AEW fans know who he is. So let's get that out of the way.
00:38:59
Speaker
um So there was a pop when he showed up. When he got to the ring after his song, after, you know, the the kind of pomp and circumstance and the last pop, and then it faded to black, there were audible boos. Now, we happened to know somebody that was there, and and I reached out and I was like, were were the boos that loud?
00:39:19
Speaker
Yes. So let's just throw that, out let's clear the air on that. They did boo. here's my Here's my theory. I think they were not booing they were not booing him like and the fact that he is in WWE, wwe they just were expecting it to go somewhere else and not just be like a fun little bloop moment, fade to black, he's done. Because there wasn't a...
00:39:48
Speaker
There were no boos while he was on his way to the ring. There were no boos as he entered the ring, as he interacted with Michael Cole. I think the fans, to a certain degree, were booing because it was over so quickly.
00:40:02
Speaker
And they were expecting some sort of him on the mic, something. Like something else, some sort of interaction, some sort of story element, not just a like...
00:40:14
Speaker
gobbledygooker sort of like but here he is so i think partially that is part of the reason why boos were there the other reason the other part of my theory is i think wwe wwe fans are still going to boo anything special and surprising until it's chris jericho yeah Yeah, like i just um I'm in the same boat. um I'm in the same boat. I think that they've reached a point where it was like everything where there's been a special episode or a special thing like, you know Stranger Things
Chris Jericho Speculation
00:40:51
Speaker
Raw. Well, Chris Jericho is going to come from the upside down. He didn't come from the upside down. He's still like reported.
00:41:00
Speaker
legitimately reported under contract. He's not, yeah Dan Howes, he's not showing up till he disappeared off the AEW, disappears off the AEW website. You know how I know? Dan Howes disappeared off the AEW website.
00:41:12
Speaker
Yep. Powerhouse Hobbs disappeared off the AEW website. Like...
00:41:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, He's still under contract. It ain't gonna be him for a while.
00:41:25
Speaker
It's... it's a tough and and It's a tough situation, right? It's a tough situation because you do have expectations are really high, right? There is, in in any fandom, there is a certain level of entitlement.
00:41:39
Speaker
it's just sure It's with any fandom. It's not just something exclusive for wrestling. It's even going to concert and wanting to hear a song that you really like and you don't hear it and you're bummed out. Yeah, I mean, i am on AEW's website.
00:41:52
Speaker
right now and there he is he is he is very much so waving at you from the aaw roster page so yeah i would would ah listen would i love to see chris jericho back in w wwe one more time absolutely protect the man the man can still work as As long as he maintains shape, I mean, we've seen the ebb and flow of like when he's in great shape, he works really well when he's, you know, starts to kind of phone it in. He starts to kind of phone it in. I mean, it's just it's fact guys, not 25. But I mean, the guy also deserves to be in the retire and be in that Hall of Fame, like 100,000 percent.
00:42:32
Speaker
like let's be real And there are people that I think he could still work really great matches with in WWE wwe that I would love to see. i would i would love to see it.
00:42:44
Speaker
Does that make me upset that, like, this guy, all right? Did you think that Chris Jericho was coming out of a box that neither Nick Aldis nor Adam Pearce wanted?
00:42:58
Speaker
Never in a million years. That would have been this This is a perfect perfectly silly way to reveal Dan Housen. The fact that they have now canonized AEW sending a wrestler to w WWE via mail is hilarious.
00:43:19
Speaker
Like, that is hilarious. Yeah, that's it really the thought process behind it if you think about it. Like we like the joke being and we obviously that they're not working together, but like the joke being that like AW was like, we don't want this anymore. You take it is hilarious with this character.
00:43:40
Speaker
It's so subversive and just ridiculous. Yeah. And, and ah you know, like like a lot of people are like, well, where does he fit in? You know, like, OK, so let's be real. Dan Houser. Everywhere and nowhere.
00:43:55
Speaker
He's a mid-card talent. the The guy's not going to be winning a world heavyweight title. Like, it's it's just not that's not going to happen. But like, he is a solid. Maybe he could at some point.
00:44:08
Speaker
But he's he's a solid worker. He has not really had the opportunity. I think people are overly critical of his wrestling ability. Because it's not as bad as people. Like people are like, oh, he can't wrestle.
00:44:21
Speaker
Yes, he can. The guy was doing indie matches before he was signed to AEW. And just because his... What's what's the long-running phrase in in wrestling?
00:44:34
Speaker
Funny doesn't make money, right? um Wrong. This guy has been a ah merchandise machine. This guy was selling t-shirts when he was on wasn't on TV for two years.
00:44:45
Speaker
Like he, ah it it is, it is just, it is remarkable how far this man's work ethic and his gimmick has gotten him.
00:44:56
Speaker
And if you give him a shot to actually get in the ring and wrestle, which you can go ah and watch a few ring of honor matches. You can watch some indie stuff, like go watch him and orange Cassidy wrestle each other in a gym somewhere on YouTube. It's he, he can wrestle page or like,
00:45:14
Speaker
and And one of the more one of the more recent matches that he had was the very evil Dan Housen, which was, I believe, was a ah ah countdown match. It wasn't even on the the the card, like on the pay-per-view. Right. It ruled. um It came in late. Everyone lost their mind and he just did moves and did the teeth.
00:45:38
Speaker
and So that's, that's the other thing. So like, maybe like if you don't know this character, right? Like if you're, if you're watching this and you've not had any sort of exposure to Dan Housen. There's nothing I'm going to do. That's going to change your mind.
00:45:52
Speaker
But he is a he is a ah multi-talent athlete, right? Like, he he he can move in the ring. He is incredible on the microphone. But he's also kind of this two-in-one character where he can be goofy and he can be kind of slapsticky in the ring. And, like, he he has that ability. But when he does the very evil, the, like, ah ah what's the the demon from... um The Exorcist when he goes, yeah, when he does the Pazuzu thing and he goes very evil, he is just he's like lights out. And and you know, we've seen how that type of character can work in w WWE previously. I mean, how like he showed up only for a battle royal, a pre-show battle royal and the place went bonkers. Like, yeah, people once they once you are exposed to what this is,
00:46:48
Speaker
It's hard not to enjoy it. My my fiance, who I only who is only exposed to wrestling when I'm watching it and she's here around loves like understands and fully appreciates Dan.
00:47:03
Speaker
I mean, just look at how toyetic this guy has been in the past. Also, everything about him. You know who one million percent loves Dan Housen? Kids.
00:47:16
Speaker
Do you know how many like masks and paint kits and kids t-shirts and figures they're gonna move like yeah i come on the guy's a merch he's a merchandise machine and and to your point like i you said it actually in a text message to me when we were speculating on this with the box car a couple weeks ago um a chaos agent yeah That's that's a great role for him. Kind of like to a degree, kind of like our truth. Right. Like kind of like shows up and just kind of throws everything a wrench in everybody's shit.
00:47:54
Speaker
Somebody on the Internet had the best description. If I think you should leave was a wrestler.
Dan Housen's Character & Merchandising
00:48:00
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, I saw that, too. That does. He is the Tim Robinson of wrestling. Absolutely. Where he is. He is masterful at his craft.
00:48:11
Speaker
And if you don't get it, there is no way I can show you how to understand it. Yeah.
00:48:18
Speaker
It's it's absolutely it's absolutely right. Like, yeah, he loves Conan O'Brien. He's Conan O'Brien on Hot Ones like he's. Yeah. If you don't think sloppy steaks are funny, you are never going to think that they're funny. There is never going to be a point in your life as an adult. Like if you are an adult person and you're like, this is not for me, this is not funny. That's fine.
00:48:41
Speaker
That's fine. There is nothing that I'm going, and any of us are going to be able to do to rewire your brain to find that humor, for that humor to resonate with you. You would probably need like a head injury to have even a chance.
00:48:56
Speaker
and and And Dan Housen is- Shoot amnesia. And Dan Housen is is going to be that way for a lot of people. But I would just yeah already I would just say i would just say if this is your first exposure to him and you were so confused to the point where maybe you were even a little upset.
00:49:15
Speaker
Just give this just give this a chance. Just good because that was probably the point. Yeah. Yeah. If you were, if you watch this, when that was the cringiest thing I've seen this year in wrestling, maybe in the last, like, this is the cringiest thing I've seen since a battle Royal with zombies in the w WWE. If that, if that was your feeling after this segment, I think that was the point.
00:49:40
Speaker
There's, there's no way they didn't anticipate that this was going to be a possibility. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, you could see you see the shirts are already selling well, apparently. So, you know, he's got he's got great opportunity for for action figure. His wife did him choreography.
00:50:02
Speaker
his His wife is right here. That's her. Yeah. i don't know if you I don't know if you can hear. I'll i'll make her larger. But so his wife is a burlesque ah performer. um And she was she was playing one of the the ghoul houses, which Dave, you had a great idea. Make this a two pack. Make this a two pack.
00:50:23
Speaker
get Get Dan Housen and Lulu a figure. um But the other thing that's... I don't think we're going problem getting Dan Housen a figure. But so let's get Lulu a figure. The thing, and I have one of the Jazzwares Dan Housen figures here. um Of which Magic, show having Magic back on this when he did such a fantastic job the first time. Yeah.
00:50:45
Speaker
Just such a good figure. But um as you you can see ah in this, right, like, you know, that there there are some differences. So there are some there are some really new tattoos, fun differences between this and the like and and the current look. There's, you know, obviously a different logo. There's more yellow. ah The shoes. He's not in Doc Martens. He's in like proper proper wrestling boots, I guess you could say. I wouldn't be surprised if those are brain deads.
00:51:13
Speaker
ah her a But um it's like Brody. I have I have the old the the in the the Ring of Honor cape of the Ring of Honor. um But the ah ah he's got a ah black and red cape.
00:51:27
Speaker
um The Dracula obviously be soft goods. Yeah, he's got the different collar on this one. The Dracula collar. Yeah. So Mattel's got a even if you are a longtime Dan Housen collector, Mattel has an opportunity to give you something that's that's that's new and fresh and will stand out on your red wrist tape or gauntlets. I'm not sure which those are.
00:51:49
Speaker
I think it's wrist tape. Yeah. Wrist tape. but um But yeah, so I mean, this is this is our collective third pick. um We saved it for last, but I think we would we could both make the argument that this would be like, if we could both have one thing from this event,
00:52:07
Speaker
Oh, 100%. It would be Dan Housen. um i As soon as I heard the laugh, I screamed, yes, in the house. Yeah, yeah my 10-year-old flipped out. like I haven't seen her flip out over something wrestling-related since SummerSlam.
00:52:23
Speaker
since Since we went to went to SummerSlam and she got to see stuff in person. um Yeah, she she hasn't, like... been that excited for something and around. And that says a lot, right? Because, like, we don't... We say it all the time with toys and and collectibles, but, like, it's with these properties, too. if If we don't have... If we don't cultivate tomorrow's fans today, the wrestling that we love today will not be around eventually. Like, you need... Like, it can't be for us old people.
00:52:51
Speaker
She loves him. I think she's seen him wrestle twice. Once. Once. She saw him in a bat She saw him in a She saw his debut when he lost in 30 seconds and she was yeah so like, why did he lose?
00:53:06
Speaker
He's awesome. Why did they do twice? Because I also showed her the very evil thing and she thought, yeah, I showed her that too because I was I was there. But but yeah, so ah it was just um overall good event. i'm I'm very hopeful for whatever they have planned for for. And this is true. When I when I asked you,
00:53:27
Speaker
my niece, what are you excited for elimination? sha She's like, I heard Dan Housen's going to be there. Like that was the first that was the response. Yep. Yep. So I think I think we're all, you know, in an agreement that, ah you know, this is this is going to be good for WWE. We're a wrestler.
00:53:51
Speaker
If Beetlejuice and 1989 Batman a Joker combined to wrestler. if Beetlejuice and Cesar Romero were. Well, I mean, he he he has he has kind of the the Jack Nicholson.
00:54:07
Speaker
you know, sort of marketing aesthetic, I guess you could say. Right. The love that Dan Housen. Yeah. mean, this is such still such a good figure. I love this figure. And that's the point is like he's supposed to be like a sociopath, but he's bad at it. Like it's yeah, like he like he wants to take your real human money and buy a blimp with it and buy a blimp.
00:54:29
Speaker
Yeah. Because evil people have a blimp like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like he there's he's like part Dr. Evil, part Cesar Romero Joker and part Beetlejuice all in one.
00:54:45
Speaker
And then if you piss him off to a certain degree, he just turns into like an actual demon person and will will like mess you up real bad. um But yeah, no, he's he's great. He's a he's a villain from and like an early 1900s. And it took him a while to get to this, too. Like if you if you ever go back and look at his original like Dan Housen character, it is dark.
00:55:09
Speaker
Yeah, well, he he was the focusing on the very evil for. hmm. the beginning part of it. And it's great. Like that part of it's great too. Like if you like the horror stuff, like that's what got me into it to to me. It's this is like, ah and and I promise we won't, we won't go on anymore about this. Cause we've been talking about this for like, we we won't stop gushing about Dan Housen, but we will stop on the air.
Impact of High-Gimmick Characters
00:55:33
Speaker
It it's like, you know, we've, we've seen stuff like this work over the years in w WWE really well. Right. Like no truth. but But even The Fiend, um you know, The Undertaker, Kane, just the elements of those kind of, like, high gimmick horror-adjacent characters. Like, even to what's going on right now with the Wyatt Six to a degree. like And that's not me suggesting that Dan Housen should join the Wyatt Six. That's those... is The Undertaker.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, they need to keep them as far apart, actually, as I as i think humanly possible. But... um These types of gimmicks work in w WWE. I think production value really helps.
00:56:20
Speaker
um I was telling Christina, you know what I can't wait for? Like, you know how they had the Wyatt Six house this year at Halloween Horror Nights? Oh, man. I can't wait for Dan Housen's very nice, very evil haunted house, but it's like funny, not scary.
00:56:36
Speaker
Except for the last room, which is actually terrifying. Yeah, that would be amazing. That would be great. i need that as in where it gets scarier as you go. Yeah. um Yeah. i ah Listen, there the possibilities are endless. He's in the right place for his character to be the pop culture phenomenon it could be.
00:56:56
Speaker
the The important thing here is that they need where they got his where A.W. dropped the ball with him. Truthfully, is they did not let him work enough. They did not put him in the ring and get him.
00:57:11
Speaker
And he's the type of guy where if he doesn't wrestle, he gets hurt. Yeah. So I think the the character is strong. He's got the Internet presence. people will People will figure it out. They'll get on board. He's similar to Punk in that regard now, where if he doesn't wrestle, he he's going to get her Yeah.
00:57:26
Speaker
That part they don't need to worry about. Like, that part will sort itself out on its own. They need to get him in the ring, and they need to get him working. Like, but and especially now that they...
00:57:39
Speaker
we done now that they Now that they don't do as many house shows as they used to, like the the man needs to work. They've got to get him between the ropes. They've got to get him in the ring. He's been wrestling on indies and hasn't been injured since AEW let him do it.
00:57:53
Speaker
So get him in the ring. you know let him Let him work. you know Put him in matches with Gargano. you know who's I think he's going to on Raw. Oh, okay.
00:58:06
Speaker
Um... Yeah, they'll figure it out. they'll They'll figure it out. Tozawa, Otis. Yeah, yep. Grande. Yep, those guys. um Like, that's perfect. ah Iguana, bring Iguana in. Imagine him and Mr. Iguana.
00:58:23
Speaker
ah Or him and Finn Balor. Imagine him walking past Finn Balor. and being Yeah, any of the Lucha guys, honestly. Any of the AAA talent. Like, did Judas look like me? Like...
00:58:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That would be funny. That would be very funny. Your Dan Housen is not that bad, Dave. Dave Housen. So yeah.
Episode Wrap-Up & Listener Engagement
00:58:46
Speaker
So that that wraps up our ah our picks for um for this edition of Premium Toyotic Event. As always, we want to hear what you think.
00:58:55
Speaker
So if you're watching this on YouTube, head down to the comment section and rip us a new one. If you're one of those people that is just not ready to have Dan Housen near w WWE, we'd love to hear you and, and why you feel that way. I hope I can fast track him into the game, to be honest.
00:59:10
Speaker
we We also just, you know, we would love to hear, ah you know, what you think. who what what a Who do you think was most toyotic? i mean, we didn't even talk at all about the the very, very good, like, women's elimination chamber. It was the better as a whole match elimination chamber match. The finish on the men's, though, ruled. Like, yeah but like the last five minutes of the men's match was awesome.
00:59:34
Speaker
Asuka had one of the coolest gears. I think ever. Alexa. is Yeah. Alexa's was great. Even Tiffany's was Was that a Beth Phoenix tribute? It looked like it to me. Red and black. it was was cool as hell, though. But yeah, yeah um let us know. Who do you want to see? And then, ah yeah. and And as always, we'll be back next time to unpack another another premium live event. So ah Dave, I think with that, don't you ah send us out of here?
01:00:05
Speaker
Enjoy or you will be cursed.
01:00:09
Speaker
Thank you for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro.
01:00:20
Speaker
Learn more about him in the show notes. Our music is Game Boy Horror by The Zombie Danes. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Adventures in Collecting, and on Twitter at AIC underscore podcast.
01:00:35
Speaker
Stop by and say hi. Show us your hauls and photos. Tell us your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it on a future episode. don't try this at home void wire prohibited some assembly required each sold separately not a flying toy consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours
01:00:55
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaoui. This program and many others like it on the Non-Productive Network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.
01:01:15
Speaker
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