Target (Argos in the UK) NXT Exclusives

Welcome all, I hope you're all well. The grind continues, today I’ll be taking a look at the NXT series of figures that were exclusive to Target in the US but in the UK surprisngly they were available in Argos, it's a shame they didn't do that with other US exclusives because if they had of, we'd have saved a pretty penny over the years.

So, the first series consisted of 4 figures, I own 2 of the 4, still want No Way Jose, passed on him so many times but wish I hadn't. The other one I don't have is Bayley and I guess, unless this is the first time you have read one of my blogs, you'll know I don't collect female figures (money and space to display them is the reason). 

Now onto the ones I do have, first there was a Seth Rollins (Left) as a big fan of the indies I was a fan of Rollins under his former guise of Tyler Black but never really saw him in NXT, yes, I don't watch the WWE product, haven't since 2002 really, caught the odd bit here and there over the years but not too much. However, I do collect the figures, of course. Good figures this, very bright especially as a lot of his early WWE figures were quite dark as he was in the Shield originally when he made his main roster debut, this one comes with the original NXT title. 

The other one from this first series I have is 'A Double' Austin Aries (Right). From what I have read online, Aries was rather misused/under-utilised by the WWE but also may have had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Again, the like of myself who have seen Aries on the indies have seen the very best of him, he, like Rollins as Tyler Black, were former ROH world champions, this was pretty much the pinnicle of independent wrestling promotions so when the guys leave the indies and go to WWE be that to NXT or FCW which was it's forerunner or the main roster a lot of fans who have seen them previous to them signing with the WWE have high hopes but it very rarely pans out, we know to be successful in the WWE it's not just about what you can do in the squared circle when the bell rings it's about all the other stuff you need to succeed to be a WWE superstar and a lot of these guys just don't have what WWE require, Rollins himself isn't the best talker but is obviously well-thought of by the WWE's top brass. Anyway, onto Aries' figure, it is a good figure, was really wanting this one when it was released more than Rollins, the headscan isn't anything to write home about but it's a good figure nonetheless.

Series 2 again consisted of 4 figures, I have 3 of these, the
one I don't have is Asuka, it's covered above as to why I don't. There was a Shinsuke Nakamura figure that came with a longer jacket (rubber), another decent figure. the next two were The Revival of Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder (Left), I had to put some leg work in to find these ones here in the UK and the way it works buying them at Argos is you need the members of staff to have them sent down so you can look to see what they have available, of course, when looking it was always "they are for my son, he has given me a list of what he needs" this was a total fabrication of course. The figures are very good in design and come with the first NXT tage titles but just a bit too small in my opinion. Maybe they will get a release in the AEW Unrivaled line soon where they are more to scale.

Series 3 again, had 4 figures and I only have 1 from this line so, in there series was Ember Moon, nothing more needed to be said, there was an early Roman Reigns, doesn't look too bad but I have never gravitated to Reigns figures, I only have one in my collection and that is a not very good one to be honest, it's one of his early Elite line ones. I have just never gravitated to his figures. I will say though, some of the later ones with the extra heads haven't been too bad. And the other one in the series I don't have is an early Rusev, real poor looking figure, not much more I can say about this figure really, teriible, if there is anyone who likes it, please, get in touch, tell me why. So, the only one I do have from this series is Bobby Roode, now, I had a Roode Elite it was from the Entrance greats line (may cover them soon) but this NXT one had the newer NXT title and I needed to have that belt. I got my wife involved in the hunt for this one but between us we struggled to get it. She knew how much I wanted it and out the goodness of her heart went on Amazon and bought what she thought was this NXT figure however, it was the Entrance Great one and it wasn't cheap either, felt really bad telling her it wasn't the one I wanted as I had it but I said it's fine, I could sell the one she bought, I still haven't, never tried to to be honest, so if you need a MOC Entrance Great Bobby Roode, get in touch. I may add it to my selling page on instagram soon. So yes, decent figure the NXT Roode but to have that belt for the first time was great.

Series 4 ended up being the last series, again, it had 4 figures and at one point, I had all 4, including the female figure in the series. So, this one wasn't available in Argos here in the UK, please, if I'm wrong, drop me a line, so as it wasn't available to buy over here I had to go back to the facebook groups to see if anyone could get them, sometimes you can get US exclusives from UK sellers who get them in with the intent to sell them on but back then we didn't have the independent traders like we would go on to have like the former Wrestling Trader or current ones like Wrestle HQ, DC Collectibles and Fig Pop Shop to name a few so via the aformentioned facebook groups I found a seller over in the US who had the figures but would only sell as a set so I had to buy all 4, of course I wanted 3 of them so I paid the money and thought I'd just sell the female figure of Ruby Riott on which I did with no problem at all. The ones I kept and still have were Drew McIntyre (Left) and yes, he has had new Elite figures left, right and centre but this was the first and is a good figure and even though I have multiple figures of other characters like Rollins, Bret Hart, Randy Savage and others this is the only Drew figure I have. Also there was the first Aleister Black (Right) figure, I saw Black many times before he went to the WWE under the guise of Tommy End, may not be too long before he's on the indies again from what I read. He had one other figure in the Elite line which I would say was an improvement on this one, picked that one up too and he has another one due out soon here in the UK, may be out in the states, not sure. As it stands, I have no plans to pick that one up, but plans change haha.

And the final one in this series was Killian Dain, known as Big Damo when he wrestled on this indies over here, the Beast of Belfast has only had the one figure released and this is it, if I was a betting man I would say there probably won't be another but, who knows, there very well could be. I think he plys his trade in NXT UK now and there are some collectors that would like a NXT UK line, we had a Tyler Bate many moons ago but we need an updated one and we have had a couple of Pete Dunne's but he is more NXT US I believe, I'm not up to date on who's where.

So, that's it there have been some false dawns over the years, I think there was going to be a Roderick Strong but that got nixed and we did get a Strong in the normal Elite line eventually, big fan of that one. Also there was the Hideo Itami (Below) figure, there are images of it but I think the reason, that one never got a release was because he got released by the company and is now working under the name that made him famous - KENTA. I would love that figure to slip out eventually. And finally, there was the Andrade one, he came with a white hat and NXT title. Again, this got canned because the line was cancelled but the figure did get a release as a Ringside Collectibles exclusive, I have just completed a 2 part blog on the RSC exclusives, find them HERE and HERE

So guys, that's it on the NXT line, if you have any corrections for me, please get in touch and I'll adjust the piece where needed. Please share the piece where you think suitible on twitter or facebook in groups maybe I haven't shared it already, all help promoting the blog is appreciated. To find my social media links click THIS link and if you enjoy the blogs please consider buying me a coffee, you'll find the link to do that there too.

 All the best, stay safe,

Stu