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SDCC 2014: Sting Crashes WWE Mattel Panel In First Official Appearance For WWE

Jeremy Konrad writes for Bleeding Cool:

Thursday morning Mattel hosted one of the more lively panels of the day, as they introduced new figures to their already vast number of action figures in their popular Basic, Battle Pack, and Elite figure lines.

Joining the representatives from Mattel were WWE announcer Michael Cole (Boo!), former WWE Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, Paul Heyman, the advocate for Brock Lesner, and WWE Hall Of Famer, the Immortal Hulk Hogan.

The panel opened with Michael Cole playing the heel by once again relentlessly plugging the WWE Network (only $9.99 a month!) and the WWE app. After that we got new figure reveals for the likes of Razor Ramon, Rusev and Lana, and the first figures for some of the NXT guys, most notably Sami Zayn. The best reveals were the Doink The Clown with three different hair styles, the first Mattel figures for Hulk Hogan and Razor Ramon, and Junkyard Dog.

Following the reveals, the panel mostly consisted of Q&A. Some highlights:

-Daniel Bryan is still not sure when he might be back, if ever.

-The star of the panel was by far Paul Heyman. Hyping Summerslam, hamming it up with Hogan doing fake promos for fantasy matches, or staying humble when a question comparing himself to Bobby Heenan was raised, he was the consummate performer.

-Hulk Hogan was asked about everything from his time in WCW forming the NWO (4-life), his favorite Sting moment (how prophetic!) which was their match at Starcade 97.

-Michael Cole talked a bit about being a Paul Heyman guy and how he would not be where he is today without him.

-Daniel Bryan gave a lot of one-word answers to questions, but perked up when new signee Kenta was brought up to the panel. Everyone seems quite excited about their signing of him. Cole then said we would be seeing him very soon on NXT.

After the panel was "completed' they had one more reveal still to go. The familiar strains of Sting's music filled the room, and, after showing the first Sting WWE figure, the man himself made his first official WWE appearance on stage to thunderous applause. He then teased that we would indeed see him in a WWE ring sooner rather than later.

Below are some pictures from the panel and also some of the figures on display in the Mattel booth on the con floor.

Jeremy Konrad is the Senior Star Wars correspondent for Bleeding Cool, and co-host of The Dedicated Server. Argue about wresting and Star Wars with him on Twitter @jeremyohio.

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