Are you Ready to Rumble?! We’re just over a month away from the new WWE Heroclix and whether you’re interested in them or not, it’s important to know what changes they bring and how exactly they work. Not a set review, not quite a primer – this is your one-stop shop of learning everything about this new property.

WizKids has been doing a great job of diversifying Heroclix lately. Last year saw the release of Star Trek with two follow-up sets this year, and now we’re seeing WWE added to the roster. While I personally am not a fan, it’s important as a player to familiarize yourself with how exactly these characters differ from your typical Marvel/DC/Indy/Trek figures as yes, they WILL be Modern legal and can be played right along side your Captain America’s and your Batman’s.

Throughout the previews we’ve seen, I’ve felt a little lost with what exactly these new powers are and how the WWE figures will work since they have some different mechanics. Some digging will provide answers, but I figured it would be nice to have a breakdown of these new powers and mechanics in one place while breaking down a few of the figures and how they’ll interact within the larger game.

Inherent Abilities/Interactions

There are several things each of these athletes does thanks to their brand new team ability that other clix don’t have access to. Let’s take a look at that team ability first since it “unlocks” everything else:

WWE Team Ability: Bounce, Pin, WWE Rules, Grand Entrance. Uncopyable.

In order to fully understand this, we need to unpack what each of these items are. Let’s go in order with Bounce.

Bounce: This character treats printed hindering terrain and printed blocking terrain as Ropes.

By itself, this doesn’t mean much, but it will be a bit clearer with the powers these characters have access to. Any kind of improvement to terrain across the board is usually a sign of greater power. But what do “Ropes” actually mean on their own? Well thankfully we just got clarification on this from WizKids:

Ropes: Once per knock back, when a character would be knocked back into a Rope, the active player may choose that instead their knock back path continues in the opposite direction back along that same path. Characters are adjacent to Ropes only along the edges of their square, not diagonally

These figures in particular have the ability to bounce off of printed hindering or blocking terrain, but the active player will get to choose whether this happens or not. That means if you attack someone’s WWE figure and cause knock back, you can choose to bounce them right back toward your figure, although that might not be the best as normal powers won’t be able to take advantage of this (more on that later).

Next up, Pin.

Pin: FREE: Choose an adjacent opposing character that’s on a blue click number and that this character hit with their Signature Move this turn. You both roll a d6, and if your result is higher, deal that character 1 penetrating damage and repeat this process. If your opponent rolls a 6, that character heals 1 click.

Very wordy and quite powerful as each of the WWE figures comes with their own traited Signature Move meaning anytime they use said ability and their target is still adjacent afterwards, they can potentially KO them for free. Of course, the odds of that happening are low and there’s a chance the opposing character gets to heal, but this is some serious potential. Thankfully this won’t come into play very often in multiverse gameplay as most characters these days don’t have orange click numbers. If that one line wasn’t present though, this would seriously put these guys over the top.

As of a few hours after this post was made, WizKids put out an updated article about the WWE figures and their abilities. This went from Orange to Blue clicks, so now this is much easier to use if it works in multiverse games as plenty of characters do have blue click numbers. They also clarified in the bits that this can only happen three times, even though the power itself says you can repeat the process with no maximum. Strange.

So, what do WWE Rules mean? It means they’re really, really strong and hard to deal with.

WWE Rules: This character can’t be the target of range attacks or Outwit if: they’re on click #1, they’re on a click with an orange click number, -or- they’ve already been targeted by a range attack this turn. Protected: Pulse Wave.

That’s one hefty bag of protection for these folks and prevents characters like Deadshot or Hawkeye just obliterating them before they make their way to “the ring”, or fight. As long as the wrestlers are at full health, they can walk around without fear of being hit with ranged attacks AND Outwit.

Next up is Grand Entrance, a way for these guys to get into the fight easier to offset the superpowered characters they’ll be fighting.

Grand Entrance: During your first turn, if this character is in your starting area, they have “FREE: Move.”

Free movement is massive and gives these guys a gigantic boost to get into the fight. While most bruisers and tanks have to worry about the taxation and action economy of getting within arms-reach, these characters can dash into the battle on turn 1 for free, then activate any other actions like Charge or whatever else they need.

There’s just one last bit of information that needs to be covered as it’s crucial to not just the WWE figures, but regular figures too moving forward and it has to do with Pick a Power figures and the Powers and Abilities Card, or PAC.

For purposes of “Pick a Power” abilities, if there are WWE characters in the game mixed in with Marvel/DC/Etc. characters, both Standard and WWE PACs are fair game, but if there are no WWE figures being played in the game, the WWE PAC is off limits. If ONLY WWE figures are being played in the game, then the standard PAC is off limits.

This is a big one because it means that you can be in an event and the powers you have to pick from can completely change between matches. Of course, if you’re running a single WWE figure on your force with your latest and greatest Pick a Power figure, you won’t need to worry about this as you’ll always have access to the WWE powers, but if you aren’t and you happen to match up against someone who is running a wrestler, you just gained 8 new powers to pick from, which means you need to know what they all do.

Hey, that seems like an amazing segue!

WWE Powers

Damn, I’m good! Anyway, if you’re familiar with the old ActionClix system, you might recall circles rather than squares to distinguish powers on a dial. Those circles are back and since nothing is utilizing them, WizKids has repurposed them into WWE powers. Let’s break these down one at a time.

Speed Powers

NIMBLE – (Black) – Improved Movement: Hindering Terrain, BREAKAWAY +2, FREE: Move up to 1 square.

This power seems like a MUCH stronger version of Sidestep. While you’re losing the second square of movement, you’re gaining the passive benefits of Plasticity and Hypersonic Speed and you get to add an improved movement to your dial (while you have this power). Sidestep is a lot better if you’re all by yourself, but how many times have you failed a Sidestep breakaway roll?

LIGHTNING SPEED – (Brown) – POWER: Improved Movement: Characters. Move up to 3 squares, then make a close attack, then move up to 2 squares.

Of all the WWE powers, this one feels like the lesser version of it’s parallel; Hypersonic Speed. You don’t have to worry about your speed value, but it’s absolutely worse than Hypersonic Speed as you have set amounts of spaces you can move, and you can’t make ranged attacks. The only benefit is you don’t have to make any breakaway rolls, which would typically only fail on a 1.

FLYING LEAP – (Orange) – POWER: Improved Movement: Hindering Terrain, Characters. Move up to 3 squares, then make a close attack, modifying attack +1. If this character started adjacent to 2+ Ropes (printed hindering/printed blocking), also modify damage +1.

I tried to put in some reminder text to make it easier to read without going back up and reading what Ropes are. Not quite as good as Charge as you can’t modify the amount of squares you’re going to move, but you do get a free increase to attack, possibly damage as well, and you don’t have to worry about characters or bushes tripping you up on the approach. This is a great power for when you need to get to an opposing character that’s just a couple squares back and there’s some tie-up figures in the way.

SLINGSHOT – (Purple) – KNOCKBACK, but you may choose the direction and can knock back characters that can use Charge or Combat Reflexes. // FREE: Make a close attack targeting an adjacent character that this character knocked back this turn.

This power has combo written all over it. FREE attacks against a character they knocked back in the same turn can get really stupid really fast. Add some Perplexes to their values and you could potentially KO a character in a single turn with just 1 costed action. This is also important because Charge and Combat Reflexes no longer grant immunity to Knockback, a major change up. Regular rules still apply (multi-base characters can’t be knocked back), but this does shake things up a bit.

This gets a lot better if you’re hitting another WWE figure as you can bounce them from “Ropes” back into you so that you can essentially get two attacks in the same turn from one character.

Attack Powers

SUBMISSION HOLD – (Brown) – FREE: If this character hasn’t been moved or placed this turn, deal 1 damage to target adjacent opposing character. Both characters gain Immobile until your next turn.

I know what you’re thinking; it’s Poison, right? Well… kind of. There’s two big differences here, one of which is worse than Poison, the other MUCH better. Submission Hold only hits one character whereas Poison hits all adjacent opposing characters, so there’s a small dip in power. The strength is that you also give out Immobile to your target regardless if they took damage or not. Sure, you gain it too, but that’s a massive advantage to lock your targets down which also sets them up for this to happen repeatedly.

REVERSAL – (Green) – Adjacent opposing characters have BREAKAWAY -2 // FREE: If this character has been given no actions or only a MOVE action this turn, make a close attack targeting a character that missed this character or failed to break away from this character since your last turn.

Plasticity, but without the benefits for your own character. I like the ability to make a free attack against ANYONE who tried to take a shot at your character but missed or made the foolish decision to try and breakaway but didn’t get to. Once a WWE character can be hit by ranged attacks (or you access this with a Pick a Power figure and are attacked via range), they can easily take a MOVE action to get to their target and make a free attack. Again, FREE attacks are very good.

STUN – (Purple) – When this character hits 1+ characters, a hit character modifies attack and damage -1 until your next turn.

Not a bad power as it’s sort of like Precision Strike where it’s always active, except this works like the old Precision Strike where you can hit multiple characters. You only get to pick one hit character to reduce stats on, but it’s a great ability that can bury an opposing character to where they can’t really do anything on their next turn.

SLAM – (Light Blue) – CLOSE: Make a close attack. After resolutions, choose one: Give a hit character an action token -or- Place a hit character in a square adjacent to this character.

This is perhaps my favorite of the WWE abilities because it’s so versatile. Easily useable with Charge as it’s a CLOSE, and anything that would deal damage from a CLOSE (like Blades/Claws/Fangs), Slam gives you some serious control after hitting your target. Giving out action tokens is amazing; it won’t deal unavoidable damage like Incapacitate can if they already have 2 action tokens, but it can push characters. But I would almost exclusively use this to move characters around, setting up attacks for my teammates. Really great positioning and overall control power.

Now that we know everything these characters (and their rules) bring to the table, let’s dissect a couple of them to see just what they can do and hopefully help you guys understand how they’ll integrate into the game.

As I’m not a wrestling fan, I don’t have too many wrestlers that I like, but I do like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold has always had the attitude of “I know what I’m capable of, and I’m not going to play games”. For someone who doesn’t care for the politics and soap opera drama of wrestling (which is totally fine, just not my cup of tea), Stone Cold is a guy that comes across as someone who was around to kick ass and shut people up. So let’s start with him.

The very first thing that I notice with Stone Cold is that he has a massive dial for only 80 points. 9-clicks is usually something you only see on very weak characters that have a gimmick like longevity or immortality, or someone that has a point cost in the triple digits. When you factor in the WWE team ability protecting him from ranged attacks, this guy has some serious ability to annoy the crap out of your opponents. And at 80 points, he’s in a prime position as an ID summoner that’s just incredibly hard to put down.

Stone Cold’s Signature Move is the Stone Cold Stunner, which he can only use if he has one action token, which seems to be a shared cost to these making hem a little less busted when combined with the Pin ability. He gets to make a regular close attack with Knockback and if he hits, he can either give his target an action token, or remove one from himself. This is very strong as Stone Cold can potentially activate his Stunner every single turn. With Indomitable on the dial, he never has to worry about pushing to do this over and over either.

He’s also got a special movement power, Vehicular Assault. It’s a bit like Ghost Rider’s or other vehicle-based characters in that he can move his entire speed value in a direct line and if he does, he modifies damage +1, while also moving through characters and hindering terrain. It’s an okay Charge power, but again, when you take into account all the things these WWE figures have baseline from their team ability, this gives Stone Cold some massive reach. Let’s break this down.

Turn 1: Stone Cold is in your starting area. He activates Grand Entrance to move 8-squares. He then activates Vehicular Assault and moves in a direct line, another 8-squares, hitting someone 17-squares away for only 80 points, or 15-squares away for 50 points. On the following turn, he can Stone Cold Stunner you and if you’re on an orange click number, potentially bleed you out for more clicks of health. Even if you aren’t on orange click numbers, he can keep using his Stunner every turn.

The other areas I want to cover are the special WWE powers.

On clicks 2 and 3, Stone Cold has Charge and Slam. Remember that Slam either gives your target an action token OR places them in an adjacent square. Mid-dial, he picks up Submission Hold with either Flurry, Vehicular Assault, or Charge. This gives Stone Cold even more chances to lock someone into place. Finally, on his last three clicks, he has Slingshot which lets him choose how he knocks people back and gives him FREE attacks against someone he knocks back in a turn.

When you look at the protections these characters have and the reach that Stone Cold brings to the table (along with the control he can put out), you have a very strong melee figure that will be an incredible hassle to deal with. While his Keywords don’t lend themselves to too many broad teams within Heroclix, he should be an asset to any team he’s on.

Let’s look at one more character and see what else these wrestlers can do.

At the time of this writing, we only have one dial for a female wrestler, Asuka. I may not watch wrestling, but my friend who owns the store I run events at LOVES wrestling, so it’s often on when our games are running, so I’m familiar with who Asuka is. She tends to win a lot, so I would imagine she’s pretty popular.

Not the exact same as Stone Cold as Asuka has 8-clicks of health for 80 points, or 4 clicks for 40 points, but that’s still a massive bargain. Unlike Stone Cold, Asuka has Super Senses or Combat Reflexes on her entire dial making her more difficult to deal with rather than just soaking hits. Combat Reflexes is also a very strong power on the WWE figures as they have those ranged protections in place, basically raising their defense values by +2.

Asuka’s Signature Move is the Flying Hip Attack. This grants her Lightning Speed (POWER: Improved Movement: Characters. Move up to 3 squares, then make a close attack, then move up to 2 squares.) if she has 1 action token and when she uses it, if she chooses to move in a direct path and hits, she modifies damage +1 for each square she moves through, which gives her a massive 5-damage on her top click. Not the control of Stone Cold but very deadly once she closes the gap. Since Lighting Speed gives you improved movement: characters, she doesn’t have to worry about breaking away or characters getting in her way, so as long as her target is 3 squares away, BOOM, +3 damage.

Asuka has another trait, No One Is Ready For Asuka that works whenever she KO’s an opposing character, raising a combat value +1 permanently (only once for each value), and if she’s already chosen 4 to modify (don’t pick range), she heals a whopping 2 clicks instead. Asuka is ready to dash into the fight and start destroying opposing characters which will make her so much harder to deal with than she already is. I would instantly increase her defense +1 so that you’re working with a 19 up front and a 17 at her lowest.

The only special power on her dial doesn’t pop up until her third click, but then it sticks around until she’s out. Asuka Lock gives her Submission Hold, basically alternate Poison, but when she uses it, she gives her target an Asuka Lock token (Max 2), and further Submission Holds on that character increases the damage they take +1 for each Asuka Lock token on them. Of course, there’s a way to take these off of your character; just hit her. Each time you do, you’ll remove one. This is a great power that will help her bleed targets out so she can pick a new value to modify from her trait and is a great follow-up after using her Signature Move.

The rest of her dial is pretty standard, sans Nimble on clicks 2 through 4. Remember that Nimble is a somewhat better Sidestep for 1 square rather than 2, which she should be able to use very well in addition to her Signature Move to easily move through the enemy team and setup follow-up attacks. If all this wasn’t enough, the Close Combat Expert on the top of dial will make her non-Signature hits still hurt like hell.

Not quite the tank as Stone Cold, Asuka is more about getting into the game quickly (and I do mean quick with a possible 20-square movement on turn 1) and shredding anyone around her when she gets there. She also has two great Keywords to build around with Future and Martial Artist, and should find herself at home alongside characters like Daredevil and other street-level heroes.

UPDATE: A few hours after I posted this article, WizKids came out with an article of their own which you can see right here. Skimming through this makes me wonder if the multiverse rules are going to be vastly different. Whenever those are released, I’ll be sure to either update this post again with any changes, or re-write it as a 2.0 article.

I think we can agree that there should have been much more information about this leading up to the release and this is a prime example of the community trying to figure something out on their own without all the pieces provided to them.

The WWE figures might not entice you if you’re not a fan, but that doesn’t mean you should write them off. Many of them are very strong for their low points and unlike other bruisers in the game, they have so many built-in protections that will help to keep them alive and actually have a chance at dealing some damage. I’m not sure if we’ll see these figures bleed into the competitive circuit or not; that remains to be seen as we only know a handful of dials so far, but they’re certainly worth their points for their resilience alone, a sentiment I can get behind.

If nothing else, I would imagine that the starter set with the WWE ring will be a meta must-have as the Boxing Ring will rotate in 2020, and my gut tells me the rules will be very similar. Now if they would only make the turnbuckles a little easier to position around!

What are your thoughts on the WWE figures? Are you excited for them or could you care less? Did you find this article helpful and will you come back to it in the future? Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section below!

Thanks for joining me. I’m still hard at work on the X-Men Animated set review. At the time of this writing, we’re just a few dials away from the full set being spoiled, so I’m hoping to have that for you very soon. Article schedules might get bumped around, but it will for sure be posted right here on our blog.

Until next time, remember that the real fun beings when you’re Two Clicks From KO!