'Pawn Stars' guest brings WWF action figure hoping to get $7,500 — but there was one big problem
Collectibles such as action figures and sports memorabilia from the 80s and 90s have become vintage items that fetch a hefty price as decades have gone by. WWE legend James Harris was famously known as Kamala in the arena, and he gained notoriety for his unique, frightening face and body paint style. After making his ring debut in 1984, he was nicknamed 'The Ugandan Giant'. Hasbro toys immortalized the professional wrestler with the WWF yellow Kamala action figure. One such piece turned up on "Pawn Stars," but the owner, who was expecting the appraisal to surprise him, received a shock when it was found to be fake. The seller named Erik brought the rare action figure to Chumlee for valuation. He announced, "I'm here at the pawn shop today to sell my Hasbro Kamala action figure. I found my Kamala figure at an estate sale. I'm hoping to sell it for $7,500 today."
"This is pretty cool, so the World Wrestling Federation, I think it's now the WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, and Kamala was a wrestler in the 80s, portrayed by James Harris. He was supposed to be like this cannibalistic headhunter kind of guy, and he would come out with his mask and his spear. He was considered to be a villain, not the most popular of all wrestlers," Chumlee said, sharing some wrestling trivia. Despite not being a well-known wrestler, Kamala did get the chance to compete against Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, and Andre the Giant. "The really cool thing about Kamala is that he is one of the very few professional wrestlers to have body slammed Andre the Giant," Chumlee continued.
"So the cool thing about this is there's a moon on the belly, and that is originally how he would come out, but for production, they put a star on his belly, they believed that this maybe would have been like um, early pre-release kind of thing that accidentally got packaged," he added, before stating, "Actually, this was going to be the original plan for the mass production, but they went with the star instead." Chumlee described the Hasbro action figure as the "holy grail" for wrestling memorabilia collectors. "This is a piece that any collector would want to have for sure," he stated.
However, Chumlee had inhibitions over the make of the limited edition and called in an expert to review the action figure. "It's got some issues with the glue, kind of like it started to separate, but I know these things go for a lot, even though it looks authentic to me, I need to have someone who knows what they're looking for come down and take a look at it, fair enough." Minutes later, Steve Johnson from Rogue Toys explained that 'The Ugandan Giant' action figure is extremely rare and considered a top piece for wrestling collectors. He further stated that Erik's piece was one of the 24 sample pieces that the production team sent out for approval before making the original piece.
"So the actual production figure was kind of a star, and they were able to produce it without his okay," Johnson revealed. He also mentioned that someone had tampered with the piece by removing the price sticker and repainting the action figure. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unfortunately, it's one of those things that you have a fake and it's actually not the real figure," the expert conveyed. Following this, Chumlee consoled Erik, saying, "Unfortunately, we're not gonna be able to make a deal this time, but I just hope you didn't pay too much for it."
