“The Greatest of All-Time” is joining the WWE Ultimate Edition line of Mattel action figures.
On Monday, it was announced that boxing legend Muhammad Ali will be featured in a new “Muhammad Ali WWE Ultimate Edition 2-pack” that will be unveiled at San Diego Comic Con 2023 on Friday, July 12 at 12pm ET. / 9am PT.
It is a two-pack that includes Ali’s boxing torso and WrestleMania referee torso, as well as multiple heads, swappable hands, and authentic attire like his boxing robe—and packaging inspired by throwback pro wrestling and boxing magazines from the 1970s and ‘80s.
Bill Benecke, who is Mattel’s manager of product design, spoke with Justin Barrasso of SI.com about the new release.
“The chance to create a six-inch action figure of someone as monumentally influential as Muhammad Ali is an amazing honor,” says Benecke. “We knew our WWE action figure fans—and action figure fans in general—would be incredibly excited by the opportunity to have a figure of someone as iconic as Muhammad Ali join their collections, and interact with the rest of their collections. So our biggest design goal was simple, with no wiggle room: do it right. A great portrait, multiple interchangeable heads for storytelling, fabric entrance gear, and all the articulation you need for authentic posing and photography—we aimed to deliver the most ultimate Muhammad Ali figure we could for our collectors, and fans of all interests.”
“Early on in going down this path, we had a lot of discussions about which version of Muhammad Ali to do here,” says Benecke. “This is a WWE figure, so it made absolute sense to celebrate him in the role of special guest referee at the first WrestleMania—but how could we not deliver on his in-ring look from his boxer vs. wrestler matches? After a lot of conversation, the answer was obvious: both looks were the best, so we did exactly that, and created an Ultimate 2 Pack.”
Check out exclusive photos of the new WWE Ultimate Edition 2-pack featuring boxing legend Muhammad Ali via the tweet embedded below courtesy of PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709).
Check out exclusive photos of the brand new #WWE #Mattel Ultimate Edition 2-pack for #boxing legend #MuhammadAli. The action figure line will be unveiled at #SDCC 2023 on Friday, July 21 at 12pm ET./9am PT. pic.twitter.com/5yML9ArLdz
— Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) July 10, 2023
