I don't know but I'm one of the few people, I think, that really wants one

Pretty sure TWD sold out. Hot theme, good art package, and people genuinely like the game.

Wouldn't be surprised if WWE LE was less than 100. Pretty much a universal thumbs down on the design and code. Without Lyman coding, not many hardcore pinheads (purchasers of LE's) were going to take a chance on timely updates or code improving, especially since most hated the theme AND gameplay !

I would get the LE, but only if the game gets completed code.

With KISS and GOT, I don't think there will be a problem with those 2 games getting complete code.

Any WWE owners care to chime in on current code? Is there anything blatantly missing or buggy?

Mustang LE has not sold out.
WWE LE has not sold out, will probably not be produced in full allotment.
TWDLE is sold out to Distributors, a few still have inventory.
KISSLE is sold out to Distributors, a few still have inventory.

Is wrestling still big in the USA? I remember there was a couple years here when it was popular (I never liked it) but then it just vanished.

Don't quote me I thought I read somewhere or heard somewhere that there was going to be 400 made. Something about Hogan signing 400 of the plates for them.

WWELE is likely the the rarest LE out there. I have one. Stern is working on a major update. It's a welcome change !

Gotta remember they have minimum sized batches to make things realistic to start... They can't order parts in batches of 5-10.. or run 5-20 games at a time practically. They would spin up for a batch.. and then at the worst, let that sit and see if more demand materializes before the next batch. The money is already sunk into parts... they need to build the games to have any hope at all of recovering their parts investment.

I'd find it hard to believe they would build a batch smaller than 100 or even 200 as their initial run. They HAVE to build the games after they have parts... or roll those parts into spares inventory... which has zero chance of making any sales if they didn't sell the game in the first place.

I played the pro model at Modern Pinball.

It seemed buggy and incomplete. I would win the match, but when I got back into the ring, I was still in the match. Only 4 wrestlers were playable, unless I'm unaware that they must be unlocked.

With the Hogan problems now if it's really selling that poorly could they come up with new code and release a slightly different retheme? Maybe boxing/ali or something else that uses a ring.

Hopefully, Still some code to come.....

I understand that LE's may be mothballed, not even making the 400...but somewhere around 100 in total.

I cant depend on any of this information as written in stone.

I have one NIB for 6K delivered, but if code comes, and the LE is shorted,
Id likely keep it, and add Music videos to the screen...

Interesting on Mustang.
Two distributors told me they were sold out...as far as build out numbers I dont know.
I have also been told they are rerunning Pro.
Prem - no second run that I have heard of.

I think the ShopKissOnline KISS LE is the rarest LE. 2 have sold

I can see WWE being re themed as UFC...or even better make the ring the "thunder dome"...humm if I only owned that pinball company lol.

Anyone else remember there were going to be LOTR LE 500 from what I was told there were 250 made...thats it.

Out of all those, Mustang is by far the winner for me. I was surprised by this game when playing a couple nights at someone's home in our league. I think it has a surprising layout for a Stern, very refreshing.

I appreciate what Trudeau attempted to do with WWE and his design, but it's just not enough "pinball feel" in the upper, and the theme is a supreme stinker. I, at the very least, applaud Trudeau on always keeping it different. His designs over the years, likely many more than anyone in modern history, are sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always very different and innovative.

LOL. All LE's are announced with the limited number. WWE LE was to be a run of 400. That doesn't mean they made all 400.

I said don't quote me lol

But I never really followed the new games that were coming out till they announced WWE. Didn't know 400 didn't mean 400 lol

I would still take one one day.

I'd like to have an LE someday but I hope they don't remove hogan for the code. I might be out then. But as someone else said there are too many other games to get before this one including GOT.

Well, the marketing theory is we see "Only 400!" and we're supposed to go crazy and pre-order them all up...get it now before it's gone! Tron LE had 400 units and has doubled in value. AC/DC Back in Black had 300, Let There Be Rock had 200...they were gobbled up pretty quickly. Metallica's Master of Puppets LE (500) sold out in like 2 seconds. However, not every LE is a surefire hit...and some end up having so little demand that they don't even bother making the entire run.

Just curious , when we write a full paragraph about pinball why do we minimize the most important part of the story ??? The name of the game ??? . It isn't like we are cramped for space in this forum . So many characters allowed ? I need a cheat sheet for BSD , WWE , SS , TZ , TWD , GOT , MHH ( my head hurts . Lol ) etc. . Don't these great games a least deserve a proper name !

Just sayin , maybe worthy of consideration ....

abbrvs r crucl 2 pnbl frms

I was really hoping WWE was a success. I wanted the market flooded with them and then it be a theme that ultimately didn't connect, and they then flooded the secondary market so I could scoop up one on the cheap.

WWE LE would be amazing because of all the legends from my childhood. However I'm now in my early 30s with a child who is beginning to watch it, so I'm one of the few pinheads who would even appreciate a WWE Pro, despite the horrible lineup of wrestlers on the cabinet. I'm even actually watching Raw as I write this.

But between hogan, poor sales, lack of code, I fear that this is all but dead. It's too bad because it may be one of those oddball collector pins due to its rarity (only Pro I've seen used was just posted and it still was for $4k), and though that makes me want one more, I can't consider something with code that people say has glaring bugs.

Personally the wwe theme (the LE version with the classic superstars) is a much better theme than kiss, walking dead, or game of thrones imo. Loved wrestling when I was growing up! I'm not even really a casual fan these days but I love the stuff from when I was younger.

I remember when the game was first announced there was rumors of an attitude era premium edition. It's really a shame this never came true because my PM and BK would probably be gone and one of those would be in their place!

"17 Pinsiders have this game in their collections."

I was at pinball league when the theme was announced. Happen to know there were 52 players there that day. So decent selection of people are are serious enough about pinball to show up to play in a league every month. There was literally one person who was excited (he's a wresting fan). The general reaction was WTF? No one understood why Stern would make that game. Utterly unappealing theme, and the layout was a huge meh.

As much as I appreciate that Trudeau does original ideas, and doesn't just spit out a formula like some designers, I think he takes a lot more risks. And I just honestly don't tend to care for his games. This was worse than usual. The ring was just too much of a gimmick, and way too central to the design.

I can't stand Kiss, but at least it was a smart move from Stern. Good brand for pinball. WWE was just a swing and miss.

There are still TWD, WWE and Mustang LE's available from Stern's main Australian distributor.. http://www.amdcoinop.com/#!pinball-machines/c17eu

I was just thinking today at work that this is what they should have made. The LE has some classic wrestlers like Hogan and Austin but it also has wrestlers that are still wrestling like Taker and Rock. I wish they would have made a LE that represented an era and hadn't just thrown a bunch of wrestlers from different times. Since Royal Rumble already represents the 80s and early 90s, it would've been great to have something that had shown wrestlers and awesome moments from the attitude era.

Once again jayhawkai being a ass

Would that honestly have made any difference? I doubt it. Maybe one more sale or something. Probably not even that.

The theme is what it is. If it was a great game a lot of people (or at least some!) would look past that. Problem is it's just not.

Look at Mustang. Lot of people turned off by the theme. But there's at decent game under it. Not great maybe, but something fun to have for a while at least. I saw people warm up to it. Everyone I talk to about WWE has one word for it: terrible. It just didn't work out in the end. No actor/athlete/personality on the backglass is going to change that.

I "a" an abbreviation for "an"?

Yeah, I was talking from a fan perspective. It's the problem with a lot of Sterns and I've heard you say it before about the art. It just looks like they used photoshop to put a bunch of pics on the playfield and called it a day. If the art package would have been better coupled with some better gameplay, even people who weren't fans of wrestling would have enjoyed it.

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I don't know, perhaps not, but then again I could see it making a difference. The attitude era was by far the most popular and successful time in wrestling history. At the very least I could have seen it get a couple more orders from operators. Most of us who grew up with the attitude era are in our mid 20's and early 30's now and a lot of casual players I think would be tempted to plink quarters in.
I also think that many pinheads would be more attracted to the theme if there was an attitude edition. The pro model most of us could care less about, and you have to be kind of a hardcore fan to be into the LE version, but
There was just a lot more people who were into wrestling during that blip in time called the attitude era.

I don't know, I guess I could be wrong, I didn't know so many pin fans hated wrestling, but there's at least 2 of us on this thread that said we'd really like an attitude edition. I mean it just makes sense that if you're going to have a wrestling theme you should have it about the most popular and fondly remembered time in wrestling history. Just seems like a wasted opportunity to me. And that's the bottom line.... Cuz stone cold said so!

Australian pricing makes me sad if only they were still priced the way they were when I first got in to pinball and I'd have picked up a twd.

I don't know what the "Attitude Era" is ...to me, Wrestling is Hulk, Rowdy Roddy, Macho Man, Iron Sheik, etc. I still don't care enough about it to buy the pin....and if I did, I'd just get the DE WWF Royal Rumble. There was virtually no demand for this theme, and the shitty design, horrible art package and weak code made it worse.

Fair enough. I think those are all logical and fair assessments really.
You're older than me so by the time the attitude era came around you had moved on to bigger and better things. But the fact remains the attitude era was by far the most popular time in wrestling history, so more people will identify with the attitude era than with some of the older era guys. The percentage of pinheads who are both attitude era fans and are willing to shell out the kind of cash it takes to put one in their house, well yeah I guess that could be a different story, but I still think it would have been better than what they put out.

As for the gameplay, I really can't comment as I haven't played or even seen one in person. I think it looks pretty neat by the pictures but that only means so much and I realize that.

The code issue is a bummer too but its not a deal breaker as there's plenty of hope for updates on that.

I guess the whole point of my rambling is that an attitude era pinball would have made the best wrestling theme. If you don't like wrestling as a theme, that's fine, I get that. But I don't particularly like "the shadow" as a theme but its still a great game. Like I said I haven't played it, but I feel like it gets pooped on a little more than it deserves just because of the theme. If I ever see one out and I play it and hate it though, I promise I will find you and tell you that you were right the whole time!

Translation - Pinball, we don't like original material unless its been done before.

I have an LE. Love it. In fairness the theme connects with me and the designer is my favorite. I love that it's different from other pins. I think the main issue is the games code is currently too difficult to progress through. I'm guessing most people who make comments on the code don't actually have any idea on how the code for the game works. In reality it's a very difficult game if you are attempting to work your way to the wizard mode. Now if you just choose to hit the ball into the ring,and then play in the ring for no reason because either there is no match running or you have already won the U.S. Title and next need to activate tag team multiball to have a chance to earn a tag title, in order to advance, which doesn't involve the ring. The instruction card is bare bones telling me they really didn't know where the code was going from the start which is disheartening. However I think it's unique layout, rarity, and retro-appeal will make it a keeper for me, one day when I pull it off route it will sit next to my Royal Rumble and hopefully a Tag Team I acquire in the future. The reality is just like royal rumble it's simply a theme that won't connect with most pinball people for whatever reason. Nothing will change that. It's not greatest game ever but I really think a lot of you have written it off without really giving it a chance, or attempting to actually advance in the game. New code could certainly help but I still enjoy it said sits.

On the opposite end of spectrum game of thrones has no appeal to me as a theme nor do I typically care for Steve Ritchie games but.....I'll at least give it a fair chance unlike most of you have with WWE. I won't expect miracle completed code out of the box, I'll anticipate two ramps and an upper flipper shot of some sort, and I'll ready for the next debate of is this the greatest game ever just because it comes from Steve Ritchie. I'll play it and enjoy it, just not as much as some other games and I'll be in the non-vocal minority on Pinside about the title, but in the end I'm happy stern is making so many new titles to keep all of us pinheads happy even if within each game there are flaws and imperfections.

Long live Wrestlemania Pinball!
-Tommy

When it comes to Wrestling, everyone remembers the characters from when they were a kid....and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter - wrestling is wrestling, and it's a divisive theme. Very narrow focused demographic, but then as we see here, it's even segmented further within the fanbase.

I've brought this up 100 times, but I'll do it again. Would you pay $8k for a Shadow LE? Of course not. I have Shadow because it was $1800. I can get over the theme at that price. When it comes to NIB games, theme is KEY. It must hit you in the "OMG THAT'S F*CKING COOL!" zone to drop that kind of cash on it.

So if we don't agree with you, we have been unfair. Maybe you need to rethink that.

Well, that's a HUGE problem that the designer and the programmer should have figured out. That ring is dead center and each ramp shot brings you into it...and when you're in it, you can bat the ball around in there. Visually, the game says "GET THE BALL IN THE RING" ...but it's pointless unless you start a match? That's just terrible design/coding. Massively unintuitive. Hate to be a dick and call him out, but this sounds like Waison's MO. He's programming pinball like it's a video game. You need to to "get the key" in order to "get into that room". Unfortunately this game is designed as such so the "room" is never blocked off...so it was a fatal flaw to program the game rules this way. He did the same thing on X-Men. Originally you couldn't do ANYTHING in the game (the shots meant NOTHING) until you locked 3 Balls and played Magneto Multiball...THEN, the hero shots opened up. It was just horrific....so much so that the rules were re-written. I don't see WWE getting re-written at this point. Stick a fork in it.

Had a chance to finally play WWE today. Holy smokes. I like pretty much any game, but daaaamn! That game is terrible. I saw other people putting money in after I played. I wanted to jump in front of their dollar as if it were a bullet. I was worried those people were new to pinball, and that was the first game they'd play. Then they'd never come back! I commend Stern for attempting a play field design that was totally off the wall, but it's a big swing and a miss.

Oh you are welcome to disagree. I expected most people to not like it from the start. I'm saying that many of the people speaking poorly of the title simply have not played it much and/or don't know/understand the code.

Also agree, but Xmen turned out good. Star Trek was bad for a long while, turned out good. Walking dead was frowned upon from layout and code, turned out good. I think the easiest/biggest change is the slammers need to be shut off when not in a match so that players grasp you don't need to be in the ring. Code definitely needs improvements and changes, but I'm not holding my breath for it. I still enjoy the game as it sits and yes I hope for more as I think owners of all NIB games do nowadays, but I'm also realistic and recognize this wasn't a huge commercial success for Stern, and I don't think they needed it to be. WWE came to them from what I recall so my guess is didn't cost them much of anything. They said all art was done by WWE too. So you have your design team for layout/mechanics and then coders and assemblers. Basically a game they were able to make cheaper, still sell a few hundred of, and keep the lines running.

Yes, I will echo this. On Saturday I went out to a location with 10 pins, none of which I'd ever played (beyond virtual versions of some). Every machine I went back to for more... except WWE. That one got $0.75 and I had no desire to go back (tying to the topic, it was a Pro model rather than an LE; I have no idea what the game-play differences are between the two).

I think the other reason for the poor sales, is WWE has done a terrible job marketing the game. They had a short one-time special on their network and that was it.

They should have a few machines at every location they perform. Kind of like Ford with Mustang, every car show, they have Mustang pins.

And at Wrestlemania, why was the pin not advertised?

Put Lyman on the game and the game would be sold out.

I'm sure by the time GOT comes out the aussie dollar will be even deeper in the toilet and a pro will be 10k!

Eh, I don't think that's true. I'd say more like "different for the sake of different isn't enough". I'm open to many things. I like all kinds of eras of games. My collection I think shows that. But if you do something that hasn't been done before, but it's not fun, you don't get a gold star for effort.