By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: The Dick Woehrle toy from Remco's AWA Mat Mania series is one of the most valuable wrestling figures ever made, and can sell as high as $500 in the package.




Action Figure Spotlight #21: Remco AWA Mat Mania Dick Woehrle
Originally Released: 1986
What you can expect to pay: $25-100 (loose); $300-500 (packaged)
Recent sales: $27.99 (loose) (Disclosure: The most recent sale at $27.99 was by Moore on eBay in January.)

Most of the major wrestling toy lines have included a referee toy, from an unnamed WWF ref in the LJN Superstars of Wrestling line to Shawn Michaels in referee gear from Jakks-Pacific. But, no referee toy is more sought after by collectors than that of the late Dick Woehrle.

Remco released two fictional referee toys – commonly referred to as “Nasty Ned” and “Curley Brown” – as a part of its AWA battle royal package in 1985. When the Mat Mania line of figures was released in 1986, Remco included a toy Woehrle, one of the top referees of the day.

The Woehrle figure features a new gray-haired head on the same body as the other referee toys. Different eye color variations are known to exist, but collectors don’t really seem to prefer one over the other. The figure is so rare as it is that most collectors are willing to take what they can get.

Woehrle’s recent death brought renewed attention to his figure, as more have surfaced on eBay. One seller is asking $700 or best offer for a packaged figure, and two loose figures are listed for $100 or more each.

Woehrle’s widow Judi mentioned his figure in a recent interview with NJ.com , noting that the figure is “going for $800 on Amazon.” While a seller may be asking that much, $800 is pretty steep for the Woehrle figure.

But, the Woehrle toy is incredibly scarce, not to mention valuable. It was released as a part of the Mat Mania series, which was the last series of AWA toys made by Remco. These are some of the most valuable wrestling toys ever made; packaged figures of Nord the Barbarian, Boris Zhukov, and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie can sell for more than $1,200 packaged in the rare occasion that they show up for auction, and figures of Buddy Rose, Doug Sommers, Shawn Michaels, and Marty Jannetty aren’t far behind. Woehrle is the cheapest figure in the series, but still can command as much as $500 packaged.

Collectibles News

- Topps included redemption cards for a Shawn Michaels autograph in its 2011 Allen & Ginter product, which is a series of trading cards that includes baseball players, celebrities, athletes, historical moments, and more. These autograph cards feature the athlete’s signature on a smaller card that comes framed inside of a traditional-sized card. Topps recently began filling these redemptions, and the first few live Michaels cards surfaced on eBay over the last few weeks, selling in the $80-110 range. There is also a rare red ink version of this card; only one has surfaced on eBay so far, and the seller is asking $299.99, or best offer.

- Kmart is giving fans the chance to buy a commemorative WrestleMania 28 folding chair. The chair, which is similar to those that WrestleMania attendees in the first ten rows will be able to take home, features pictures of The Rock and John Cena, along with the April 1 date. In order to get one, you first have to spend $30 on WWE merchandise at Kmart – and then the chair will cost you another $75. More information is available online at kmart.com.

- Don West is offering quite a few TNA figures from Jakks-Pacific at discounted prices at ShopTNA.com. Many of the Deluxe Impact figures are being sold for $5.99 each, including figures of Jeff Hardy, Angelina Love, Hulk Hogan, Raven, and others. Some of the more collectible figures – most noticeably Velvet Sky – are not included in this deal. The Cross the Line two-packs are being sold for $9.99, but again, more valuable figures – such as Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns – are not included for this price.

Trivia Answer

Last Thursday’s trivia question asked readers to name the AWA referee toys made by Remco. Only Mike Mazur correctly identified Dick Woehrle, Nasty Ned, and Curley Brown.

Do you have a question about wrestling collectibles, or a unique item that you’d like to share? Contact Michael Moore at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com.

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