Welcome to the new year and Wrestle Kingdom 12 Eve. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and received some fun toys no matter your age. As for Good Brother Chuck, I received not one but TWO Hollywood Hogan pops (thanks Good Brother Mike and Great Wife Cortne) and a Zack Ryder from my mother-in-law.
Today we’re going to review POP! WWE 26-31. I decided to break the tradition of going by intervals of five because I did not want to break up The New Day (let’s hope WWE continues to feel the same way). There are some things to love and some things to hate about these pops, so without further adieu, let’s get to the reviews.
26 Eva Marie
Rating: 6.50
Pop Price Guide Value: $4
I kind of feel bad for Eva Marie, if you follow Total Divas you would know that she at least Kayfabe put a lot of effort into improving her in ring ability only to be released. I think it is important to note, her in ring performance was possibly the worst I’ve ever seen (and I watched George South vs Ricky Morton…in 2015), but she seemed to at least kind of care…I guess.
I know this is a pop review blog, but just for giggles, here are my top 3 moments from Eva’s short career.
3. This bump.
2. How after an eternity of promotion as “All Red Everything”, she shows up like this:
The great part about this look, is it came during Blue Pants’ NXT run as well. So a woman whose gimmick was she was all red infringed upon a woman whose gimmick was she wore blue pants. How can you not love that?
1. Um….well….2 out 3 ain’t bad, right?
As far as Eva’s pop, it was more true to character than Eva herself at times (see #2). I think they did a great job with some of the finer details such as the nail polish and the color of her hair. I’m not so sure about the dark eye make-up, I don’t ever recall that being part of her look. One last observation, Eva Marie’s best moments were definitely on the Total Divas show but she was not marketed under the Total Diva’s brand even though the Bella’s and Paige carried that logo on their pops.
27 Kevin Owens
Rating: 9.00
Pop Price Guide Value: $7
The Prize Fighter joins the fun at #27 and I have to say I love this pop! They absolutely nailed the Owens look and really hit dead on with some pretty fine details. This is the look KO sported when he officially joined the main roster. The simple but very well branded KO cut-off t-shirt, wrapped hands, the “Fight Fight” athletic shorts and even his tall boots into knee braces. Funko really nailed the detail and there is no mistaking this pop for anyone other than Owens, I mean look how great the bull tattoo on his right arm looks!
I really have nothing bad to say about this pop. It is still a fairly new addition to the series, so I hope the value will improve with time.
28 Bray Wyatt
Rating: 1.50
Pop Price Guide Value: $8
So we have just left a pop that I really had nothing bad to say about to one I have nearly nothing good to report.
Let’s get the good out of the way first. I think Funko did a good job with the beard, I appreciate that they included the glove on Bray’s right hand and they put a fedora on him. I also have to say the blank expression given by the all black eyes “fits” the Bray Wyatt character.
So now the bad. As good of a job as they did with KO’s tattoo is as bad as they did with Bray’s. They just look like ink blots, absolutely nothing discernible on either arm. I get it, maybe it was too hard to achieve that level of detail on such a small figure, I mean only if there was an alternative, right? Well how about one of the Hawaiian shirts the character was so well known for wearing during this time? Not only would it have covered up the horrible tattoos but it would have added to the Bray look. Believe it or not, that is not my biggest complaint with this pop. Funko, how hard would it have been to have this guy holding a lantern. Literally every Bray Wyatt appearance he has a lantern and you couldn’t take just a touch more material to give this pop one!?!
I’m a pretty big fan of Bray Wyatt and the only things I’ve seen worse than his on screen booking, is this pop. I would much rather have had this spot gone to another superstar rather than see this poor of an attempt at Bray.
29 Big E
30 Xavier Woods
31 Kofi Kingston
Rating: 7.80
Pop Price Guide Value: $7, $6, $5
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The New Day, after a rough start, had a rise to one of the top acts in WWE. I had the pleasure of seeing them perform at the house show I attended in December, and they were one of the most entertaining acts I’ve ever seen.
I really liked this look from The New Day (Summer Slam 2015 if I’m not mistaken). The unicorn horns, Big E’s pose, Xavier and Kofi’s shoes are great, and of course Francesca 1 (RIP) immortalized forever in vinyl glory. Once again, Funko really hit all the details for these three superstars. Their hairstyles, facial expressions, and body styles are all unique and really give the pops some personality.
Once again, these are “fairly new” pops, so I’m sure value will increase one day. I enjoy having these individual pops in my collection as well as a couple of The New Day 3-packs.
That wraps up our look at POP! WWE 26-31. This section of the series presented us with the highest of highs as well as the lowest of the lows. If you enjoyed reading this, please check out my past reviews, conveniently linked for you below. We’ll have a short review next time as we will look at 32-35. Believe it or not, we are quickly approaching the latest releases in the POP! WWE series, which I completed earlier this week. As long as they keep making them, I’ll keep writing about them. Until next time….
Good Brothers Wrestling 