WWE Coliseum Collection Ricky Steamboat and Ted DiBiase review (2024)
Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat and ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase would be what Gorilla Monsoon would label a main event in any arena around the country. It’s wild to think these two battled in the late 70s but never had a headline feud in the WWF. That’s probably a dream feud we were denied when DiBiase didn’t win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania IV.
Thanks to Mattel’s Ultimate Edition Coliseum Collection line, we do get to do some fantasy booking with these two Hall of Famers. Let’s see if this set is on fire or wasn’t worth the price I paid.
Packaging: The WWE Coliseum Collection sports the standard outer box featuring iconic museum-style portraits of The Dragon and The Million Dollar Man. DiBiase gets the front section as he’s got the silver foil Ultimate Edition label and the quote on the top with his “Everybody has a price for The Million Dollar Man” catchphrase. Steamboat has the quote on the bottom with his not as signature “The Dragon is ready to breathe fire!”
The side portraits are slightly raised on the box and do a great job of showing the determination of Steamboat and the pompous attitude of DiBiase.
With the outer box opened, there’s two old school LJN style inner packaging. In the ironies of ironies, I got the limited-edition black card back instead of the standard blue. This won’t matter since I fully plan on opening them, but they can easily get placed back into the packaging thanks to the unsealed set-up.
I love that the WWE team has them both posed like their LJN counterparts. There is one insert with two sides — one with the classic WWF interview blue backdrop insert and the other with the Saturday Night’s Main Event style backdrop used for Ted DiBiase’s promos. That’s such a cool bonus.
Also, it’s appreciated how the package is set up so you can lift the figure up without having to destroy the box casing. On the back of the interior packaging is a cross sell of the other CC figures so far. The back also covers the accessories with another portrait and a snappy excellent bio from copywriter Robert Rudman.
Likeness: Ricky Steamboat has had several figures from Mattel over the years. That was one of the early reasons I started getting into Mattel’s WWE line — they were able to sign The Dragon — compared to previous license holder Jakks.
Some of the head sculpts have been better than others. This sculpts with the UE version capture his 85 look down very well. The only tricky aspect with the likeness is the hair, which is tousled like he’s already been wrestling for 20 minutes compared to the normal coming down to ringside neutral look. The hair is also positioned too high on all of the head sculpts giving him a more prominent forehead. That’s intended to provide space for his headband, which should be more of a secondary concern as an accessory.
Steamboat was in fantastic shape, so he gets the smaller muscular torso. That matches up pretty well for his physique basically throughout his career. This figure is based on his Karate Kid-influenced era where The Dragon evolved into a bit of a ninja complete with Tabi-style boots.
As usual, Steamboat has three portraits. His are pretty good as they have significantly different expressions. The default one is a neutral one that works for any scenario.
Next up is a smiling one, which is absolutely a necessary one for The Dragon.
His final one is a yelling expression, which can work when Steamboat is on the attack or grimacing in pain for a welcome versatile sculpt.
DiBiase’s default head sculpt is the weakest of the trio. It conveys a sense of superiority, but the eyes are resting too low making him look sleepier more than arrogant. His other two sculpts are much better.
One features a broad laugh as if he’s just finished a promo and gloating. The third is more of an angry/frustrated sculpt, which can work perfectly whether he’s on offense or defense.
DiBiase gets the slender UE mold. This is probably the best mold choice for him although Mattel might want to create a torso that’s bigger this slender one and the Ric Flair UE mold.
Speaking of fixes, it would be great for a new kneepad mold so these longer, thicker molds could be swapped with a smoother, sleeker looking pad. He has thinner shins, which would make him look too skinny if DiBiase didn’t lower his kneepads to cover them.
Scale: Ricky Steamboat was a shorter WWF superstar clocking in at 5’10”. He’d look noticeably shorter next to the 6’7″ Hulk Hogan and even the 6’1″ Honky Tonk Man. His UE figure is shorter than others, but he’s just a bit taller given his actual height.
At 6’3″ DiBiase wasn’t a giant, but he was taller than the average star in the 80s. Previous DiBiase figures have tended to be on the smaller side so the UE mold bumps him up slightly.
Now he looks appropriately taller than the 6’1″ Macho Man Randy Savage and his 5’11” stooge, Virgil.
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Paint: Neither Steamboat nor DiBiase have overly complicated paint jobs.
Steamboat has his all-black attire with brown trim under his Tabis. His head sculpt has a slight five o’clock shadow that accurately reflects his look for this period. This is his most basic color scheme, but it works for the whole ninja vibe.
DiBiase’s outfit has a bit more detail with gold and silver dollar signs on either side of his tights and the outside of his boots. He’s got white trim on the bottom of his boots. Mattel still hasn’t figure out DiBiase’s hair color. It was blonde with very visible dark brown roots that fed into his beard. Like most DiBiase figures, this one has more of a light coffee brown for the base color.
Articulation: The Ultimate Edition articulation model makes for the most poseable version of both top-tier level wrestlers opening up more possibilities for more accurate looking matches.
A huge part of the credit goes to the butterfly shoulders, which allows for more dramatic raring back — that is especially helpful for Dragon as he makes his top rope chops or deep arm drags.
DiBiase can execute his Million Dollar Dream far more convincingly even if it’s not quite perfect.
Ultimate Edition Ricky Steamboat and Ted DiBiase have:
- neck
- bicep
- ball-jointed shoulders
- butterfly shoulder
- elbows (double-jointed)
- wrists
- waist
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double-jointed)
- ankles
- feet
Accessories: CC figures are always loaded with quality accessories, and this set is no different.
Steamboat gets his karate gi. This does have some color and detail with patches on either side. It has a belt to cinch it around his waist tight as well as a matching headband. This is slimmer than some of the previous headbands that were sculpted on his head.
Naturally, Steamboat has other hand sculpt options — fists, chopping and grappling. All of those are smart options for The Dragon.
DiBiase gets a bit more on this front. This marks the second figure to include removable entrance gear with the magenta accents instead of gold. It’s a slightly baggy fit but it needed to be so it could be easier to remove.
He’s got a similar hand option array as Steamboat, but in place of grappling hands, DiBiase has a pair specifically designed to hold his double wads of dollar, dollar bills y’all. That’s a fun inclusion.
Finally, DiBiase gets his vanity title — The Million Dollar belt. This seems to be the same one Mattel has used for years.
It’s sculpted great although it’s scaled in a way that it only looks right as he wears the entrance gear. Otherwise, it’s too big.
Also, he gets the backdrop from his Saturday Night’s Main Event promos, which is very cool.
Worth it? The set is $70, which is a few more dollars than paying for two UE figures. Creations Mattel had it for $42 during a holiday sale and then dropped it a little lower for $35, which led to a very quick sell out.
That’s a great deal for this Steamboat vs DiBiase set, which featured two first in the Ultimate Edition format figures.
Rating: 10 out of 10
There are some very minor things to quibble about, but this set is really too awesome with great takes on two all-time Hall of Famers.
Where to get it? The Steamboat/DiBiase set is exclusive to Creations.Mattel.com but is now listed as sold out.
You can grab other WWE Ultimate Edition figures over at Amazon.
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