WWE Elite Shark review – Monday Night Wars (2025)
Shark was one of the first members of The Dungeon of Doom, one of the lamest factions in WCW history. Through Mattel’s sheer force of will to make even the corniest gimmicks fun, I somehow have three members of The DOD in The Giant, Kamala and The Zodiac. I was impressed enough with Zodiac that I regretted skipping Mattel’s first release of Shark when he was a Target exclusive.
While The DOD was excessively goofy, Shark at least had some credibility as one of the few guys to take out Hulk Hogan during his WWF heyday. When Mattel announced they were releasing him in the Monday Night Wars line, he immediately became one of my priorities for this wave.
Let’s see if Shark is the mauler of the ring or if his figure bites.
Packaging: As usual, I appreciate the Nitro-influenced presentation of the Monday Night Wars packaging. The small window’s biggest flaw is it doesn’t show off all the accessories, which is especially tricky with Build-A-Figure waves.
While the front features a small image, the left side has the larger render of Shark with a helpful note of the WCW Nitro where Shark rocked this attire.
Over on the back, we get most of the reference image. As usual, the bio is terrific as it explains what happened when Shark challenged for the WCW title.
Likeness: This is a digitally enhanced version of the Earthquake head sculpts. It’s a good likeness and the head sculpt lines up with the match, however Shark typically wore his hair in a ponytail to differentiate his Earthquake appearance.
Mattel used that ponytail sculpt for the original Shark figure, which would have been the better choice in this instance since it’s more unique.
He also wore this exact attire when wrestling Sting on Oct. 9, 1995, so there was some precedent for using the ponytail sculpt for a Monday Night Wars figure. His sculpt is also the same as other Earthquake figures, which Mattel got right on their first crack. There isn’t much detail on the attire, but his singlet is sculpted.
Scale: Shark was 6’7” making him the same height as Hogan and Kamala, but taller than the 6’4″ Zodiac and 6’2″ Sting. He’s definitely looking up at the 7’1” The Giant although Mattel has Zodiac far too tall.
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Paint: The paintwork is very clean on this figure. From the front, his outfit doesn’t look that exciting with the fin peering out of the blue pool of water. It’s the sides and the back where the outfit and paint job really shines with the various multi-colored sharks along his legs.
A big shark is on the move with a little red around its mouth and Shark Attack is styled with a shark leaping in between it. For a questionable gimmick, he’s had some pretty sweet tight designs.
His beard also has the white paint stripped like shark teeth. Naturally, he’s still got his chest hair and massive tattoo on his left bicep. On his right arm, he’s wearing a forearm pad with more shark graphics on it.
Articulation: Shark was not a fluid wrestler and more of a bruising powerhouse. He didn’t win many matches against the top tier main event talent he was wrestling like Sting, Hogan and Macho Man.
Shark has:
- neck
- bicep
- ball-jointed shoulders
- elbows (double-jointed)
- wrists
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double-jointed)
- ankles
- toe
Accessories: He actually gets some decent accessories including one kinda funny inclusion. First is a set of fists. The right fist continues the forearm wrap.
He does have a swappable head sculpt. This one is the half-shaven portrait after Big Bubba shaved the side of his bead and hair after losing to The Giant. That’s a wild accessory, but it would be better if Mattel had a DOD Big Bubba to pair with him.
As part of the Monday Night Wars wave, he comes with the head and headset of the Build-A-Figure Michael Cole.
Worth it? Shark was $24.99. Mattel added value with additional accessories to their figures ahead of the price hikes so that still seems like a fair value.
Rating: 9 out of 10
My only gripe here is the lack of the ponytail sculpt and his signature head band. This is a fun figure to expand the ranks of WCW’s wackiest faction.
Where to Get It? The Monday Night Wars line is exclusive to Walmart so that’s your best bet to get him. You can grab other Earthquake figures from Amazon.
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