WWE Coliseum Collection Honky Tonk Man and Ultimate Warrior review (2025)
Honky Tonk Man was easily one of the best WWF heels in the late 80s. The guy had a fantastic gimmick and excelled at making the fans hate him. When The Ultimate Warrior made a surprise challenge at SummerSlam 1988 for his Intercontinental title it was one of the more memorable moments in the history of the now storied summer spectacle.
While I have far more Ultimate Warrior Ultimate Edition figures compared to Ric Flairs, Macho Man Randy Savage or Bret Hart figures, in terms of Coliseum Collection sets from Mattel, this pairing makes a lot of sense.
Let’s see if this latest UE two-pack makes me want to shake and rattle or just roll this to the back of my 1988 display.
Packaging: The WWE Coliseum Collection setup is sweet. First is the outer box with a classic presentation of both Honky Tonk Man and Ultimate Warrior that perfectly captures their personalities. Ultimate Warrior is the “star” of the set and gets the front slot with the silver foil Ultimate Edition labeling. Just for the sake of Warrior already having so many UE figures it seems like HTM should have gotten the foil front this time. It’s not like this will be the last one we see of Warrior.
The side features portraits of both characters with expressions that are very fitting for them.
After pulling the easily slipped tab on the other side, the figures are stacked on top of each other. They’re in the classic LJN style packaging with the blue backdrop. I don’t normally care about the chase black cards, but Honky Tonk Man with the black background against his blue jumpsuit actually stands out a lot better.
This set also has the insert with the ringside backdrop and the classic WWF interview blue backdrop on the other side. I wouldn’t mind seeing all of the inserts get the Million Dollar Man treatment with his Saturday Night’s Main Event style backdrop.
As usual, we get fantastic bios written in a timeless style without any reference to a particular time period, which makes sense as this is not a SummerSlam 88 set.
Likeness: Honky Tonk Man has gotten several figures from Mattel and 98% of them have great likenesses. They typically stem from nailing his hairstyle perfectly and conveying his cool, cocky and bad attitude.
The base head sculpt is the best one Mattel has done yet. He’s got an appropriately scaled round head that fully captures his slight double chin. He’s got a cocky smile, and his hair is spot on from the curl in the front to the sideburns. This is the head sculpt of the guy so many fans hated in 1987.
It seems like Honky Tonk Man has the same Ultimate Edition torso as Stone Cold Steve Austin, which is the best match for him. His outfit wasn’t particularly intricate as he just wore tights and basic tall boots.
Ultimate Warrior has gotten five previous Ultimate Edition figures, but this is the first to reflect his late 80s look. For that era, this is a really well Warrior figure with his thicker, longer hairstyle and his default expression that matches his somewhat reserved energy at the start of his WWF run.
He’s got the same muscular torso as other Warrior UE figures and has the essential arm bands with tassels along with thicker wrist bands with fringes.
Thankfully, he has the smaller knee pads with tassels and his unique boots.
Scale: Honky Tonk Man is 6’1″ so he’s the same height as his main rival, Macho Man Randy Savage, who bizarrely never got an Ultimate Edition figure from his pre-1992 WWF career. HTM will be looking up at the 6’5″ Jake the Snake Roberts.
Ultimate Warrior came off taller and more imposing, but he was 6’2 and hardly a giant. He’s looking up at the 6’3″ Ravishing Rick Rude while looking slightly down at King Harley Race.
MORE:
- WWE Legends Series 24 Hulk Hogan review (2025)
- G.I. Joe Classified Series Retro Cobra Viper figure review (2025)
- Transformers Studio Series 86 Scavenger review (2025)
- Dynamite Entertainment 3/11/26 – Space Ghost vol 2 9 review
Paint: Honky Tonk Man had a simple costume with the light blue tights and white boots. There is some light tampo work with red guitars on either side and musical notes and Memphis on the back of his tights.
Ultimate Warrior has a slightly more intricate paint job. His face paint is orange and yellow with blue outlines. Those colors carry over in various layouts on his tassels, arm and wrist bands.
His tights and knee pads are solid orange while his boots have his logo in red and white. It’s a fun mix of colors that helps this version stand out compared to other Warrior figures.
Articulation: Honky Tonk Man knew how to work an A+ wrestling heel style from his Memphis days, so a lot of his repertoire revolved around sneaky, underhand moves like chokes and cheap shots.
He could also bust out some wrestling moves like body slams, axe handles, snap mares and his signature second rope fist drop.
With the addition of the butterfly shoulders, Honky Tonk is able to hit a much better shake, rattle and roll.
Ultimate Warrior is a wild brawler who utilizes an array of power moves. You won’t have any trouble pulling off his chops, flying shoulder tackles, gorilla press slams and his flying splash.
Ultimate Edition Honky Tonk Man and Ultimate Warrior have:
- neck
- bicep
- ball-jointed shoulders
- butterfly shoulder
- elbows (double-jointed)
- wrists
- mid-torso
- waist
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double-jointed)
- ankles
- feet
Accessories: This is the section where the Ultimate Edition and Coliseum Collection figures shine.
Honky Tonk Man gets a very solid haul. First up is his suede jumpsuit. This is his most common one with the blue and red. In a nice sign of things to come, Mattel perfectly matched up the shade of blue for the jumpsuit.
The red flourishes also came out nice as well. For the first time, Mattel also included the jumpsuit belt. This wasn’t so glaring an issue if you put the IC title around his waist, but it really completes the jumpsuit aesthetic.
Adding a bit more to his interview/ring entrance look, Honky Tonk Man also gets his red scarf. That’s a very cool addition to truly make this the best Honky Tonk figure.
As always, CC/UE figures get multiple head sculpts. With the cocky expression out of the way, Mattel added an open mouth expression like Honky is puzzled and upset about something.
Finally, he has a tousled hair and annoyed expression. This was his look when the match was playing out longer than he wanted and he was getting desperate. I really look this one getting included.
Of course he’s got his guitar. This is different from the normal ones Mattel has cranked out with previous Honky Tonk Man figures. Instead of a completely shattered guitar, this one has a swappable base with a hole to place around most figure’s head. This is an awesome change from the previous models.
Honky Tonk Man also has two additional sets of hands — thumbs up and open palms to help him “play” his guitar. Finally, he’s got a classic WWF style mic when he’s ready to start singing for the crowd.
Ultimate Warrior understandably has fewer accessory options.
First are his two alternate heads, which wouldn’t fit in the smaller box in the platform underneath the figure. The first is the neutral one that’s been used on several early era Ultimate Warrior figures. It’s a smart option to include since he wasn’t always intense when he started in the WWF, but seemingly ready to start brawling expression. Next up is a yelling expression that’s best when he starts getting fired up. These are all welcome options to display as his matches progress.
He gets three swappable additional sets of hands — fists, grasping and pointing.
Warrior gets his matching orange T-shirt with an excellent print that looks like a shirt transfer. He also has a towel that could work for a poster for a fan in your crowd.
Worth it? The set marked a noticeable price hike from previous Ultimate Edition sets as this one started at $81. If Honky Tonk Man were paired with another first-time UE figure like say a Greg Valentine, that might me more tempting.
Given the usual discounts on these sets, I waited it out and got it for $51. That’s obviously a way better price. Even at the current price of $67, that’s not a bad price since the going rate for two UE figures is $70.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Honky Tonk Man gets his definitive figure while The Ultimate Warrior gets one of his better Ultimate Edition figures so far. This is a very solid and worthwhile set to add to the collection.
Where to get it? You can get this set now from Amazon.
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.