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Seeking a New WWE Funko Pop? Here’s Two For Your Consideration!

It’s a rare thing for us to share news of a new Funko WWE Pop. Yet, we are several weeks removed from WrestleMania 40, the new Rock “Final Boss” Funko Pop is sold out, and there are a few new WWE Pops on the market for collectors to get excited about.

One of them is the Pop! Drew McIntyre figure, complete with the Scottish wrestler’s signature sword and kilt. With rumors swirling of McIntyre leaving the WWE this year, this new Funko Pop in the likeness of the two-time WWE champion and former WWE World heavyweight champion may become an even hotter item than expected.

There’s also a new Funko Pop! Eddie Guerrero figure, complete with an LWO-emblazoned tank and “L”-shaped hand signal. The LWO’s current resurgence in the WWE has given way to wrestling fans’ interest in the faction’s history and its members. In addition, Guerrero’s icon status in the wrestling industry and life story have given way to his continued appeal and fascination among new wrestling enthusiasts.

More information on these and other WWE Funko Pops can be found on the official Funko website.

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SUMMERSLAM 2023: IN REVIEW

With numerous major championships on the line and scores to settle (The Bloodline, Seth Rollins & Finn Balor, and more), SummerSlam 2023 was sure to be an eventful return to Detroit, Michigan for WWE.

TEXT BY JASON McVEIGH / PHOTOS BY JERRY VILLAGRANA

At SummerSlam 2023, Jey Uso is attacked by Solo Sikoa while attempting to lay out Roman Reigns in the stands.

THE LAST TIME WWE held a SummerSlam in the greater Detroit, Michigan, area was 1993, when Lex Luger rolled into town hoping to thwart the seemingly unstoppable World Wrestling Federation champion, Yokozuna. Luger had spent the summer trekking across the United States in a tour bus nicknamed “The Lex Express” in an attempt to drum up support for his championship collision against the supposed sumo superstar. The road to that year’s SummerSlam main event had started onboard the decommissioned warship, the USS Intrepid, where, on July 4, Luger had shocked the world by doing the seemingly unthinkable: bodyslamming the mammoth Yokozuna.

The main event of the 2023 iteration of SummerSlam came about thanks to a similarly shocking July scene—that of Jey Uso pinning the seemingly unpinnable WWE Undisputed champion, Roman Reigns, in a tag team match at Money in the Bank. With the main event of Reigns vs. Uso set for SummerSlam, fans packed Ford Field in Detroit to see if “Main Event Jey” could succeed where Luger had failed, by taking the title from a dominant champ.

Ricochet drops Logan Paul from the top rope with a swinging neckbreaker

Of course, that would be the night’s main event. SummerSlam 2023 opened with a fast-paced contest between veteran high-flyer, Ricochet, and social media maven-turned-WWE wrestler, Logan Paul. Given the natural athleticism of both competitors, it was no surprise that this contest quickly escalated into a dangerous game of high-risk one-upmanship.

After a series from Paul that included a flapjack and a frog splash for a near-fall—and Ricochet gaining the upper hand again, only to miss his patented 630 senton—a mysterious, hooded figure at ringside slipped Paul a set of brass knuckles with which to clobber Ricochet. To the chagrin of ring announcer (and Ricochet’s fiancee) Samantha Irvin, it was Paul who was announced victorious.

Brock Lesnar raises the hand of Cody Rhodes after their match at SummerSlam 2023

Next, the trilogy of matches between Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar offered up its final chapter, with Rhodes picking up the hard-fought win in the rubber match between the pair. In a rare post-match show of respect, Lesnar proved that “The Beast” might not be all bad, as he shook the hand of “The American Nightmare.” Though Lesnar’s gesture was a nice one, Rhodes had to earn it by surviving a barrage of suplexes, F5s, and Kimura Locks along the way.

Professional wrestling and Slim Jims go together like Randy Savage and, well, Slim Jims. These days, it appears that LA Knight is the new wrestling face of the brand—thanks to winning the meat sticks’ namesake battle royal at SummerSlam.

LA Knight competes in the Slim Jim battle royal at SummerSlam

Knight outlasted a field that included the Miz, Omos, Austin Theory, Santos Escobar, and others in order to have his hand raised at the end. The crowd in Detroit exploded with joy after seeing the increasingly popular Knight get the win.

Ronda Rousey had what, for now at least, seems to be her last hurrah in WWE. This was an MMA Rules match against former partner, Shayna Baszler. The hard-hitting affair between the two mixed martial arts veterans produced plenty of bruises. And, for Rousey, it offered an unsatisfactory ending to her WWE run, as she passed out while in Baszler’s Kirifuda Clutch submission hold. Still, for former NXT Women’s champ Baszler, this win should serve as a potential springboard to bigger things on the main roster.

Shayna Baszler takes Ronda Rousey down with the Kirifuda Clutch

The lengthy Intercontinental championship reign of Gunther continued next, as the Austrian brawler disposed of Drew McIntyre. Although McIntyre undoubtedly tested his opponent in the early going of the match—thanks to his arguable strength advantage—the Imperium general kept himself going. And, in the end, Gunther put the Scotsman away with a powerbomb. Gunther now stands on the edge of making history, as his title reign approaches that of the historic 454-day run of The Honky Tonk Man.

Both Seth Rollins and Finn Balor came Into their WWE World heavyweight championship bout with differing motivations. For incumbent champ, Rollins, it was about beating Balor for a second time on consecutive pay-per-view events and solidifying his status as champion. For Balor, it was about exorcising the demons (pardon the expression) of seven years earlier, when an injury sustained in a Universal championship tussle with Rollins ended Balor’s reign before it could properly start.

Finn Balor has Seth Rollins on the ropes, literally speaking

Despite how talented Balor is as a wrestler, he has continually leaned on his Judgment Day colleagues’ interference as of late. But, on this occasion, it proved to be his undoing. After Damian Priest slipped his Money in the Bank briefcase into the ring, seemingly so Balor could use it against Rollins, some miscommunication saw the plan backfire. In the end, Balor’s face collided with steel, as he was curb-stomped into the briefcase by Rollins (who picked up the win and remained champion).

Charlotte Flair with mist in her eyes

A choice triple-threat match for the WWE Women’s championship saw Asuka, Charlotte Flair, and Bianca Belair do battle for the belt … only for none of them to leave Detroit with the gold. After twenty minutes of action, Flair locked Belair in the “Figure-Eight” leglock to try and force a submission. Before that could happen, Asuka sprayed mist into the eyes of Flair.

Hoping this would be her opening to retain her title, Asuka tried to go for a pin on Belair, but found herself quickly rolled up by “The EST” for the three-count.

Any celebratory plans Belair may have had were quickly out on ice, as Iyo Sky marched to ringside and cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase for the title shot and, eight seconds later, the victory. While it’s another SummerSlam heartbreak for Belair, anyone who has followed Sky’s career couldn’t help but be happy for her as she celebrated her success with Damage CTRL teammates Bayley and Dakota Kai.

Iyo Sky smacks Bianca Belair in the face with the Money in the Bank briefcase

And what of Jey Uso? Could one of the most decorated tag team wrestlers of all-time do what Lex Luger couldn’t do all those years previously? Could he dethrone the champion in the main event?

As it turned out, no.

Jey Uso leaps over Roman Reigns during their main-event match at SummerSlam

Uso put up a tremendous fight and even stood up to the interference of Bloodline enforcer Solo Sikoa. Yet, what Jey couldn’t have planned for was the interference of another one of his brothers … his twin brother, Jimmy.

Just as it appeared that Jey had Reigns put away thanks to a spear and Uso Splash combination, a masked man pulled him from the ring before the referee could count to three. In a shocking turn of events, the masked man revealed himself to be Jimmy Uso, who proceeded to lay his twin out with a superkick and help Roman Reigns to victory.

Maybe if Jey had procured his own tour bus, things would have been different.

BELOW, FIND OUR GALLERY OF ADDITIONAL SUMMERSLAM 2023 PHOTOS (ALL SHOT FOR PWI BY JERRY VILLAGRANA)

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What’s Old #AndNEW Again

Mystery Pack #1: Classics

Introducing: Vintage Wrestling Magazine Packs

THREE YEARS INTO my tenure as PWI Editor-in-Chief, I continue to be amazed by the depth and breadth of the archives around Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine and its sister publications.

The former London Publishing empire once adorned newsstands with numerous wrestling titles. Well before the 1979 debut of PWI, Stanley Weston’s team of journalists and photographers was responsible for numerous other titles. Most notably, these included Inside Wrestling and The Wrestler, which survived until about a decade ago as a two-in-one publication. Other former mags included the somewhat-sensationalist Sports Review Wrestling, the bold Wrestling Superstars, and the patriotic Wrestle America.

Over the last three years, I’ve frequently been asked whether any of these titles might ever be resurrected. My answer has always been this: If the demand is there, we will do our best to rise to meet it.

Wrestling Superstars, 1990s Turnbuckle Turkey Awards

For those among the PWI readership in search of the nostalgic rush of those fallen sister publications, I have some very exciting news: We’re now able to offer vintage mystery bundle packs from our archives!

Just recently, our fulfillment center uncovered a treasure trove of back issues from the London Publishing archives, with boxes full of well-preserved, unread magazines from the late-1970s through the early-2000s. Most of these publications fall under those aforementioned former titles, which we would call “sister publications” to PWI. Among them are Inside Wrestling, The Wrestler, and Sports Review Wrestling … there are even some immaculately kept PWI Almanac editions in the mix! In all cases, these are long, long out-of-print issues, many of which have been widely coveted by collectors on internet auction sites.

Inside Wrestling copies inside storage box
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!

Of course, the last thing I wanted was for these books and magazines to sit in storage for any longer. Once the most recent issue of PWI was sent off to our printing plant, I canceled all my other plans and made the drive to our fulfillment center to take stock (literally and figuratively) of what was unearthed.

Carefully, I packed my car full of various titles of vintage pro wrestling magazines, and returned to the PWI offices, where I promptly organized and cataloged these precious tomes. Some will be added to our magazine archives for posterity and safekeeping. And yes, it is likely that many of these magazines will be digitized in the not-so-distant future. But the rest? Well …

Rather than start a bidding war over these classic wrestling mags, we figured the most democratic thing to do would be to offer them as part of the aforementioned mystery bundles. Yes, we are selling these for a bit more $$ than some of our more contemporary magazine bundle packs. However, we feel the contents more than justify the slightly higher price. Each mystery pack will be lovingly crafted, packed, and mailed out from the PWI offices, shipped by USPS Priority Mail to those who order them (tracking info available upon request). Dare we say … this is a wrestling mag collector’s dream?!

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to own some amazing artifacts of yesteryear, presented in their original (sometimes wild and controversial) glory. Click on any of the bundles below to claim your piece(s) of wrestling history.

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ALTERNATE COVER: 2022 PWI “500” Issue: ROMAN IS THE ONE

"I'M THE ONE" - Roman Reigns to PWI

ALTERNATE COVER #1: ROMAN IS THE ONE (DECEMBER 2022)

PWD9222_COVER_alt (Roman Reigns)
Alternate Cover #1: June 2022 PWI
As announced on Busted Open Radio, Roman Reigns is again the #1 wrestler in the #PWI500. The 32nd annual “500” list is featured in our latest issue, available now for print preorder at pwi-online.com
The digital edition is available now at pwi.zinioapps.com
In acknowledgment of Reigns’ second time topping our historic annual ranking, we have created a variant, digital exclusive cover in the same format as our print magazine. You can download the Roman Reigns PWI “500” alternate cover, free of charge, at the link below.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF COVER

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IT’S LIST SEASON AT PWI

PWI 500 Heavyweight Talent Junior Heavyweight Talent Open Division Contenders Contenders Women's 150 Women's Title Contenders Women's Division Talent Women's Promotion Talent Tag Team 100 Tag Title Contenders Trios/"Freebird" Pairings

IT’S LIST SEASON AT PWI

HERE’S A HELPFUL INFOGRAPHIC WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.

We get a lot of questions about the #PWI500, #Womens150, and #TagTeam100 (fka #TagTeam50) and the potential overlap between each. Here’s an infographic explaining who you’ll find on each list, plus the release dates for this year’s editions.

PWI 500 Heavyweight Talent Junior Heavyweight Talent Open Division Contenders Contenders Women's 150 Women's Title Contenders Women's Division Talent Women's Promotion Talent Tag Team 100 Tag Title Contenders Trios/"Freebird" Pairings

And here’s a short blog by our Editor-in-Chief, Kevin McElvaney, explaining those overall categories a little further, focusing in particular on gendered divisions and the challenges those present in creating an honest, yet equitable ranking based on in-ring achievement (kayfabe). 

HOT TIP: The 2022 “500” ships to active subscribers this month. But now is a great time to get on board for next year! Just $35 gets you nine issues, including the “Women’s 150,” “Tag Team 100,” “Achievement Awards,” and next year’s PWI “500.”

Subscribe to the print edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated today.

Want this year’s #PWI500 as soon as it drops? Subscribe to our new, dynamic digital edition at pwi.zinioapps.com