WWE Legends Red Rooster action figure review (2025) – Greatest Hits

Red Rooster was a really dumb gimmick from the moment it debuted. Having watched enough Terry Taylor matches from the NWA and UWF/Mid-South, this gimmick felt like a horrible use of a solid wrestler.

Save a Terry Taylor figures from Jakks, Taylor hasn’t gotten much love in figure form. Mattel released a Red Rooster figure back in 2019 that was a Target exclusive that wasn’t an easy figure to find in stores. To prove they’re good eggs after all (sorry, not sorry), Mattel re-released a slightly updated version for those of us who initially missed out on him.

Let’s see if this a rooster worth crowing over or putting back in his shell.

Packaging: This time the Red Rooster gets the usual excellent Legends packaging featuring the warm brown and gold color scheme with the black accents spotlighting the character’s name.

On either side is a portrait of the Rooster with a pretty great drawing/render. It’s still amazing to me how UWF heartthrob Terry Taylor became this goofball character so easily in the WWF.

Over on the back, we get the full portrait with a brilliant pun-heavy bio talking about his tenure and eventual rivalry with The Heenan Family. These are always the best bios in the business. The cross sell shows the rest of the Greatest Hits Legends back in rotation with this wave.

Likeness: As the Red Rooster, Terry Taylor didn’t alter his look much from his regular appearance save a segment of his hair that he styled into a red mohawk. Mattel gave him the cumbersome thick kneepads. Taylor wore his just below the knee. I really wish Mattel would abandon these pads altogether and just use a softer plastic or a soft goods material that could stay in place.

Mattel did go with a solid mold choice for Red Rooster. He was a sturdy size guy, who wasn’t skinny like a Sam Houston or Tommy Rodgers. He didn’t look out of place next to a guy like Ted DiBiase.

His head sculpt is solid and an improvement over the original figure thanks to the DIJ enhancements, but it needed a more emotive expression. He’s giving a disarming smile, which is OK for a shelf display, but a more intense alternate expression would have add more personality to the figure.

Scale: At 6’1″, Red Rooster was hardly a giant and should be eye to eye with the 6’1″ Ted DiBiase and right around the same height as the 6’2″ Tito Santana. He largely wrestled against The Brooklyn Brawler and Barry Horowitz, but occasionally battled guys like the 6’7″ Hillbilly Jim. Next to the 6’9″ Akeem, his height seems about right since the DiBiase Elite is notoriously too short.

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Paint: As the Red Rooster, Taylor kept standard base color of all red. In other promotions, Taylor would rock blue, black and sky-blue attire. The biggest amount of personalization on his tights would be his initials along the right side of his tights and the outside sections of his boots.

In this gimmick, he would either have “RR” or “Rooster” written out on the right section and RR is on the boots, which also had a white trim along the bottom.

Articulation: Red Rooster was a high-level grappling wrestler who could wrestle a technical opponent like Mr. Perfect and battle it out with a brawler like Brooklyn Brawler. My figure’s joints were a little floppy, so he needed more help than usual to hold his poses. I assume this is not the case for most figures.

The main moves in his arsenal are the five-arm and a figure four, which you can do pretty easily once you position the kneepads properly as well as a decent array of suplexes, clotheslines, punches, kicks.

For a finisher in the WWF, he utilized a unique version of chicken wing where he elevated his opponent on his back with the arm clutched behind him. That’s not a bad finisher actually and would probably look great for a taller/giant wrestler. While the Rooster wasn’t a big player, I really do miss the butterfly shoulders joint, which would allow him to hit a far more convincing five-arm.

Red Rooster has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• wrist hinge
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: Red Rooster has all of his essential accessories.

First is ring jacket. This is as good and accurate as Mattel could make it while leaving off the rhinestones to give it that sparkly pop. It’s got the appropriate levels of swooshes throughout and properly fits per the way Taylor/Red Rooster wore it.

Red Rooster’s other accessory is a pair of open palm hands that’s ideal for slapping or chops. Short of another expressive head sculpt that’s really all Mattel needed to include. As a plus for Taylor fans, the red mohawk piece can be removed with a little work although it will still create a gap in his hair sculpt.

Worth It? Red Rooster regularly retails for $22.99, which is a fair price for a re-release without anything new besides the arms. Target has had a bunch of sales in advance of the holidays including a Buy One WWE figure at regular price and get the second for 50% off so there’s a great chance of avoiding paying full price for him.

Rating: 8 out of 10

 Red Rooster hardly left much of a mark in the WWF, but this is a sneaky way to get a decent Terry Taylor figure.

Where to Get It? The WWE Legends line is exclusive to Target so you’ll need to grab him at their stores or Target.com.

As a Target affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.