Zack Ryder Says LJN Figures Got Him Into Collecting
This week, The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling welcomed WWE Superstar, Zack Ryder. “The Long Island Iced Z” joins us to discuss his podcast, “The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast”. Co-hosted with his WWE Universe tag team partner and friend Curt Hawkins, Ryder chats all about the aspects of his wrestling figure obsession and how he and Hawkins crossed over their success from the WWE to the podcasting world by creating a loyal following of fellow figure fanatics that tune in to hear stories of figure purchases as well as some behind the scenes and never before released information on the growing world of wrestling figures. The full episode can be downloaded at this link. Thanks to Chad and John for the transcript.
What figure line got him into collecting:
“It was LJN figures. I was super young and I don’t remember and people ask me all the time I don’t remember the first match I watched, I don’t remember the first figure I had all I remember is my whole childhood since I was basically a baby involved wrestling and being obsessed with wrestling and the wrestling figures. I still have all my childhood LJN’s and if you look at them they are all beat up, I was playing with them and I was even biting the fingers off them. But those things were indestructible”
Old fans re-buying figures they had as a kid after selling them or losing them:
“I’m guilty of it too. I’d sell something and re-buy it and sell it and re-buy it and I’ve done it so many times where now I tell myself when in doubt do not sell and just store it and hold on to it. But I’m guilty of selling stuff as well and then regretting it and buying it again and selling it and buying it back again. It is an addiction. They do call me the Michael Jordan of wrestling figure collecting and it started off with the toys that I played with as a kid. As I got older and I stopped playing with them I had to go back and re-buy the LJN figures because mine were all chewed up and I had to re-buy the Hasbros and even the Jakks because they were all scuffed up. Once I turned 18 and started going to wrestling school I became more of an adult collector at that point.”
