WWE Crash Cage playset review

Oct 24, 2016 - by Steve Gerweck

WWE Crash Cage Playset review
By Adam Stephen Kelly

UK RRP £34.99 | US RRP $34.99

We’ve seen a number of Mattel playsets in recent years that have taken WWE favourites such as Hell in a Cell and Money in the Bank Ladder matches and brought them to whole new levels; taking the hard-hitting action seen on television to places bound only by the limits of imagination. This is most definitely the case with the WWE Crash Cage playset, which literally takes a steel cage match to all new heights.

Featuring a crane that stands 24 inches high and can rotate a full 360 degrees, the idea behind this set is to attack the suspended cage – which would contain an action figure – by repeatedly launching other figures straight at it, hoping to hit the sweet spot so that it comes crashing down.

The launching action is provided by two ladder halves that securely clip on to any of the three ring posts (the fourth is taken up by the crane) and serve as elasticated launching pads for your figures. Simply place a figure on the pad, pull it down, and watch it zoom off towards the cage. These ladder halves can also be connected to form a single ladder, adding an extra dimension to play.

A crank on the side of the crane raises and lowers the cage via a string cable, and once it reaches the highest point, turning the crank further clips it into place. The cage itself, which comes in six parts (four sides, a base and a roof), has a door that opens and closes with ease, and contains plenty of room for figures to slide inside, although you’ll more than likely be limited to just one, as despite being able to fit two or three figures inside the cage, the crane/cable mechanism isn’t the most stable in the world – and to be fair it needs to be somewhat unstable for the “crash” action to work – so the added weight will increase the likelihood that the cage will fall on its own accord. As noted, the crane can rotate, so you can choose to suspend the cage either above or outside the ring, ensuring that figures will be travelling varying distances in an attempt to take the cage down.

As for the ring, it’s on the smaller side, not quite on par with the WWE scale rings. It’s also entirely plastic, with no fabric aprons, although there is a gap to allow weapons to be hidden underneath, plus a couple of stickers to dress the ring, although they’re just the Crash Cage logo itself unfortunately. The canvas, which has quite a bounce to it, is white with the WWE logo embossed in the centre, and has a textured look for realism. The downside of having a white mat, however, is that I imagine it attracts a fair amount of scuffed paint from the figures given how hard they land after being launched. The ropes are also white and are permanently connected to one of the ring posts, which is a great idea as it means the ropes won’t just ping off into the abyss after a particularly vicious Irish whip. Obviously this means that the ropes cannot be changed, but when you have a giant crane at your disposal and a cage suspended above the ring, changing the colour of the ropes probably isn’t that high on the agenda.

Figures can securely stand on each top turnbuckle pad via a plastic pin, in addition to the top rung of each ladder half, which both have two pins.

Overall, assembly is simple enough but will require adult assistance due to some of the parts requiring some force to put together, such as the crane and ring posts. This is also one of those sets that will have to stay up once it’s been assembled, as unless you have the strength of a WWE Superstar, disassembly is very difficult. Although no figures are included, this playset is excellent, especially for such a low price. It’s something that creative minds will really have a lot of fun with.

Curiously, the box states that you can ‘See the WWE Crash Cage come to life at NXT Takeover’.


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