WWE Legends Series 27 Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn figure review (2025)

With the release of the Legends Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn figure, we get the WWF origin figure of one half of one of the promotion’s top teams in the 90s. The only problem for Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn was they didn’t have a lot of quality opposition outside of their initial year when they battled The Headshrinkers, The Quebecers and briefly Money Inc. and The Heavenly Bodies.

Still, the Smoking Gunns were a fun tag team and are long overdue for inclusion in Mattel’s WWE Elite line. While I’m still holding out hope that Bart Gunn will sign a WWE licensing deal, a Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn figure was possible despite Billy being a member of the AEW roster. I wish that were the case with all AEW talent that are WWE alumni (cough cough Sting).

When Mattel revealed the Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn, I was excited about how well the figure turned out and that the Mattel team went all out to do right with his look. Let’s see if this figure rides off into the sunset in style or if he’s just shooting blanks.

Packaging: Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn has the standard Legends packaging with the warm brown and gold color scheme with black accents spotlighting the character’s name. On either side is a portrait of Billy, which is very helpful when looking up at the figures on a higher peg.

On the back, we get the full image of Billy that does a great job of capturing his demeanor during that period. The bio is excellent with a nice historical glimpse at Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn’s career.

No company puts together quality bios as consistent as the Mattel WWE team.

Likeness: Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn has a great likeness with that cheesy grin the Gunns flashed through most of their promos and matches. This is early era Smoking Gunns, so Billy still has his mullet and fluffier hair all around.

He’s using the slender torso mold, which is about right for the Gunns during this period. Bart Gunn was the thicker of the two. Both “brothers” wore jeans that were randomly tucked into their cowboy boots. The Mattel versions are neater as it seems like sculpting it accurately either wouldn’t have looked right or would hinder articulation.

Scale:  Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn is 6’4″, making him taller than rivals like the 6’1″ 1-2-3 Kid and Fatu eye to eye with Yokozuna and Headshrinker Samu.

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Paint: Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn isn’t very demanding from a paint job perspective. The most significant paint work is his hair.

I’m confused why his hair has an orange, brown tint to it though I do appreciate the effort to make the lower portion of his mullet blonde like he wore it at this time period.

The jeans were normally one hue and didn’t have that stone wash appearance, so this is accurate. Neither did the boots, but the belt does have some pattern painted on.

Articulation: The Smoking Gunns were solid hybrid wrestlers who could brawl and go scientific to a degree based on their opposition.

Of the two, Billy was more dynamic and prone to taking higher risk moves like the sidewinder leg drop from the top rope.

With the Elite articulation model, Billy has all the articulation he had to have without needing the Ultimate Edition articulation upgrade package.

Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn has:

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

Accessories: This category is where Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn really stands out.

During their tenure, the Gunns played around with various outfit combinations. To start, they wore long coats with matching cowboy hats, a black vest, a scarf and a long-sleeve white shirt.

Mattel actually did the entire ensemble. The long coat is missing the brown trim — hardly a deal-breaking offense, but everything else is included. This is actually one piece as the vest and front-piece of the shirt are all stitched together.

As they evolved their look, the Gunns dropped the long coats and eventually the shirts before settling on rocking vests and their cowboy hats to the ring. Fortunately, Mattel has plenty of figures with vests if you prefer that streamlined look. I appreciate Mattel going with the early first look at the Gunns.

The scarf is missing the painted detail as shown on the card art. I also think I have some figures with that included as well so that will likely get swapped.

Finally, Billy gets a set of pointing hands as if he’s firing his imaginary six-shooter. That really is a useful inclusion for a Smoking Gunn.

Worth It? Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn started at $24.99, but as usual the price dropped. I got him for $12.49. Since this is always the case with this line, I rarely buy them for the normal price, but given the fun accessories, Mattel made it a solid value. Considering the need for at least a stand-in Bart Gunn, I bought a second and for the clearance price, that was as good as just buying one Billy.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

The Smoking Gunns deserved some love in the line, so I was glad to see Billy Gunn get a non-DX look for the Elite line.

Where to Get It? The WWE Legends line is exclusive to Target and you can still order Smoking Gunns Billy Gunn on the website. He’s also available now on Amazon through resellers though for the standard $24.99 price.

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