Brian Myers on IMPACT Wrestling Action Figures: “I’ve Worked Very Hard On A Solution That I Think Is Going To Make People Very Excited”
IMPACT Wrestling announced on August 20, 2022 via the LIVE Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, that they will be unveiling new action figures very soon.
On March 16, 2023, IMPACT released a rendering of the figures and a one-month pre-order date ending on April 17th. Series 1 was to include Eddie Edwards, Deonna Purrazzo, Moose, and Jordynne Grace.
An IMPACT source indicated back in April that the company was expecting painted samples of Series 1 “very soon”, and for Series 2 to be announced on Against All Odds weekend. (Against All Odds weekend was June 9-11). This timeline matches up with what’s discussed below.
Unfortunately, it sounds like the deal fell apart before it reached that point.
Speaking on their Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, former IMPACT Wrestling star Matt Cardona and current IMPACT talent Brian Myers did a “deep dive” into what happened with the IMPACT Wrestling action figure deal.
Cardona – “We gotta talk this IMPACT news. I don’t know how much you want to disclose.”
Myers – “I don’t really want to disclose too much.”
Cardona – “Basically, it’s confusing. Chella Toys was gonna make the IMPACT Wrestling figures, but Asylum was going to be the middle man, the distributor.”
Myers – “Yes.”
Cardona – “Chella goes under or sells to Wrestling Trader/Epic Toys.”
Myers – “Yes, all within this I would say 14 months this whole thing was going on.”
Cardona – “Guys, last LIVE show, last August, we showed the pictures, showed the renders.”
Myers – “The renders….So think about that, the wheels had already been in motion, I’m saying at least 14 months.”
Cardona – “I believe it’s around October of last year, keep in mind I was on a handshake deal with IMPACT. Not an employee didn’t work there, but I wanted these figures to come out. I was on a phone call with Asylum, Wrestling Trader and IMPACT, because I know with this switch from Chella to Wrestling Trader…that these guys were biting off—”
Myers – “they were like, it felt like as if they were just floating in the air with nobody guiding them, that’s what it felt like.”
Cardona – “I said ‘guys, I could smell I don’t want to say collusion, but they were biting off more then they could chew’…and that’s NOT an insult. I have nothing against chasing your dreams and wanting and doing big things, but theres so much mystery right now…I don’t think they should be adding the workload of making the toy line for the third biggest wrestling company right now.”
Myers – “No.”
Cardona – “I said ‘are you guys going to be making IMPACT your top priority?’ They said yeah. The plan was to have protypes by December and figures shipping and in hand by Quarter 1, 2023 (January-March). Now…IMPACT did not receive those prototypes until June, ok…June…and guys, we know, we’ve explained this before…”
Myers – “And I saw these things first hand, and to call these things prototypes was being very generous.”
Cardona – “We know because we make figures. If you’re doing it the right way, you can get a prototype made, painted, and shipped from China to the United States in LESS THAN 2 weeks. What took so long? I don’t know.”
Myers – “I don’t have the answers to that either, I just know that, the term I use when people keep asking me that is negligence. They were just completely neglected.”
Cardona – “At one point, Mark [Sterling], the reasoning as to why they weren’t done is they couldn’t find a painter for the prototypes. What? You couldn’t find a painter? WHAT?”
Myers – “Yeah, and then they sent them to IMPACT to be reviewed, and they were like close to looking like Mackenzie (Myer’s daughter) painted them.”
Cardona – “Horrible, like, not good. Especially not $45.”
Myers – “Not, yeah not premium item level like, you know. And the other thing, just so people don’t think IMPACT is the bad guy in all of this…they were funding these. So, they had to make like a big payment that was due. So it’s almost like two-fold. Do they pay for these and still they never come? Which is still a huge pain in the ass.”
Cardona – “They had paid for the prototypes.”
Myers – “…or do they pay and then they come and you have thousands of figures in inventory and they’re not good that you have to move somehow? It’s like the impossible, it’s just a huge risk.”
Cardona – “So pretty much IMPACT cut their losses.”
Brian Myers – “Right.
Cardona – “You know, and it’s unfortunate.”
Myers – “They still lost all pre-order money.”
Cardona – “They had to refund everybody.”
Myers – “Refunds, and then they lost the money they put in in the first place. It’s just an unfortunate situation. I’ve worked very hard on a solution that I think is going to make people very excited. Hopefully there’s more information on that soon. It’s just unfortunate, and at the end of the day it was just a huge waste of everybody’s goddamn time. A lot of people’s time.”
Cardona – “This is not an official IMPACT statement, this is MY opinion.”
Myers – “Yeah, we can definitely state that.”
Cardona – “Is that Epic Toys bit off more then they can chew. I understand buying the company and there’s a lot of pressure and work that goes into that. But that’s what I mean, they bit off more then they can chew.”
Cardona – “The thing is, I understand the people behind Wrestle Trader/Epic Toys. Listen, we want them to succeed, and their counter-argument is that ‘well they have real jobs and this is their side thing’. Well, guess what…we have multiple real jobs and the Major Pod merch thing is our side job. We’re wrestlers and podcasters. I guarantee you we’re busier then they are, and we’re still making toys. The thing is, and this is why we started Major Bendies…because if you want something done you gotta do it yourself. You know? Hopefully IMPACT can find a company who will make them a priority. I think we’re working on something, O’Brien is kind of doing work behinds the scenes on that.”
Full video here:
On August 16th, IMPACT Wrestling took to their social media Twitter account to reveal that the previous action figure deal fell through due to “not meeting standards or timeframe for release.”
From this conversation, it sounds like a remedy has been sought out and will be revealed shortly.
Bodyslam will keep everyone posted as more information about the action figures becomes available.
Please credit Bodyslam.net and Gerard Ryan if you aggregate this report.
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