Solving A Pre-Packaged Mystery

Buying a "mystery" is a big part of modern day collecting. Blind bag/box items are huge. In case you're late to the party, this is when you're trying to "Collect 'Em All," but instead of choosing which style you want at the store, you're purchasing a completely sealed box or bag with the contents inside sight unseen. Trading cards have always been this way, but how about a box of cards actually labeled as a "Wrestling Mystery Box?"

To be fair, a box full of resold wrestling trading card packs isn't exactly new, either. Various incarnations have popped up at retailers, most notably Wal Mart and Target, over the years with varying results. From my own experience, usually you're left feeling rather ripped off if you made the purchase yourself. This time, despite really scaling down my trading card purchasing aside from the WWE Heritage hobby boxes, I thought the plunge may be worth it.

Here we have the "Wrestling Mystery Box." It's sold by MJ Holdings (formerly Beckett) and retails for $20. I picked up my box at Wal Mart, although it would not be unheard of for these to show up at Target as well. The box advertises five factory sealed fat packs and four factory sealed regular packs per box. The former, also known as jumbo packs, usually retail for around $5 each. That right there brings you over the $20 price point. The other four packs seem to be remainder from blaster boxes and don't look to have a chance to include any "hits." The box DOES, however, advertise that 1:4 boxes will have hits seeded. Sounds good to me.

Upon opening the box, a "hit" is staring right at me. It's a Santino Marella WrestleMania mat relic from the 2012 Heritage set. While mat relics usually aren't too exciting to me, this one pleased me as the 2012 Heritage set has always been a personal favorite. In addition to this and the nine advertised packs, yet another silver pack, seemingly from a Then, Now, Forever blaster box, was also included. This promised one relic card and a Daniel Bryan tribute card. This relic ended up being a Sasha Banks shirt relic. Not my favorite individual in the business, but a hit is a hit.

Ultimately there were packs from Road to WrestleMania 2017 and 2018, Then, Now, Forever, Heritage 2017, and WWE 2017. A nice and rather current variety. Seeing as that I had approximately zero cards from at least one of these sets, many were brand new to me. Even with the Heritage cards, which are my yearly favorite sets, I rarely buy much beyond my traditional hobby box. Although I'd like to complete the sets, I simply don't have the time, patience, or will to do it anymore. Here I pulled some great subset cards that I previously did not have, as well as many with signing potential.

Am I glad that I took the risk? Absolutely. No one is trying to pull one over on anyone here. The jumbo packs make the price point worth it alone, and I pulled two relics when you're truly not even guaranteed one. Would I give it another try? I do believe that I might. It was fun and interesting to see exactly what I would pull as it's even more of a mystery than a hobby box. These also make great gifts. Hint, hint. Why not surprise your favorite blogger today?

The Vintage Cardboard of WWE Returns

 Before the month of August ends, we have to take a look at what has become an annual tradition in the past few years: the release of the new WWF Heritage trading cards from Topps. This has also become the only set that I actively purchase more than one or two packs of. I love the style, the time that they pay homage to, and the fact that these genuinely look like cards. They aren't overly-coated with gloss and feel thinner than a dime. These are CARDS.

This year Topps has chosen their 1989 baseball card design to transfer to WWE. I have fond memories of the former set, and I probably still have the entire run in storage. I actually even have the card of Pittsburgh Pirate Mike LaValliere autographed. It's a simple but classic and cool looking design. The packaging of both the box and the packs has changed little aside from color over the past four years or so. 

After a long tradition of every hobby box yielding a full base set, this sadly changed years back. I feel that you should always get the main 110 cards, but what do I know? Each hobby box does guarantee two "hits," including one autograph. Subsets include Big Legends, Rookies, Tag Teams & Stables, and Future Stars. There are also non-Heritage style inserts, depending on where you purchase your packs, dedicated to Ric Flair, Randy Savage, and Shawn Michaels. As usual, I don't cover these as I don't consider them part of the set though the Macho Man cards are vibrant.

As always, my mind goes to the legends. The "Big Legends" subset is based on the look of Topps 1989 "Big Baseball" design. Though the original cards were larger than the standard release baseball, these wrestling versions are not. There are two shots on each card, and I like that many showcase two different periods in the career of the legend. I enjoyed seeing Sid Vicious, Alundra Blayze, Larry Zbyszko, Brutus Beefcake, and others who aren't represented enough. Harley Race's card features both "King" and "before-the-crown" shots which is probably a card first. It's also nice to see our recently lost legends such as Bruno Sammartino, Nikolai Volkoff, and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.

Between Raw, Smackdown, and NXT, the roster is bloated but it certainly makes for a variety of names to be included. I'm sure that some of these stars will see their only trading card released here. What better way than in a Heritage set? It's fun to see names like Eric Young, Kassius Ohno, Velveteen Dream, Sarah Logan, and Kairi Sane represented on classic cardboard. And, as long as they've been with the company at this point, it's still great to have WWE merchandise for men like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Bobby Roode. It wasn't that many years ago that none of them were ever expected to show up in a WWE ring.

My pulls? An autographed Bobby Roode "Rookies" card and a Sasha Banks "Survivor Series" mat relic. For the autograph we have someone that I enjoy on a subset card with a silver colored border to boot. On the flip side we have one of my very least favorite current roster stars with a relic style that I am beyond tired of. I know that I can't be the only one. Even some of the "manufactured relics" like belt medallions are less stale than the mat pieces. At least it has a better design than those of a few years ago where the relics featured an oval-shaped photo surrounded by white.

It isn't my favorite Heritage set to date, but it isn't the worst. For me personally, any card in the retro style is going to trump the plastic-y feel of modern cards. One does wonder which style will be resurrected next. I wouldn't mind a trip back to the '60s and some of those designs. The 1990 Topps baseball style would be pretty cool, too. As long as they're classic, matte cardboard and retain the look and feel, I'm on board.

Trading cards are an often overlooked area of wrestling collecting, but they're a ton of fun. Speaking of fun, next week kicks off another "Mattel Month" here on the blog with four weeks of Mattel WWE figure reviews featuring 2018 releases. I "figure" it will be a blast...

Topps WWE 2017..."Something Different"

Everyone loves a surprise. When I initially saw the checklist for the Topps WWE 2017 trading cards, I was extremely surprised. Once I figured out that I wasn't reading some sort of joke, I was also very pleased. While I usually personally review two of the Topps WWE products per year, there's usually a lot of repetition. It's to be expected in trading card sets, especially annual ones. This year, we have something different. We have inclusions that I never would have imagined, for numerous reasons, but here they are. Let's take a closer look.

The 2017 WWE set from Topps, as usual, has a base set of 100 cards. There are several subsets, and many different variant and numbered cards. One of the biggest selling points were the inclusion of authentic autograph cards of both The Undertaker and Bill Goldberg. The prices seem to have gone up a bit, which some point to the addition of the aforementioned autograph cards, but they're still not "premium" priced like the WWE Undisputed sets. A hobby box can be had for an average of around $75 and contains 24 packs. The box style once again reminds me of a box of chocolates, being long and slim. It actually almost looks too nice to break open. For the record, AJ Styles, John Cena, and Sasha Banks are the faces on both the box and the packs.

Plastered right on the front of the hobby box is a guarantee of two "hits" per box, including at least one autograph. Since hits can be relics, belt/medallion cards, and autographs, I like the guarantee of at least one autograph. While many of the other hits can be very cool, it's still the autographs that I prefer. Relics are, in my opinion, a somewhat tired gimmick in the world of wrestling cards. Thankfully, occasionally we get something new to spice them up.

My hobby box did indeed yield two "hits." One was a Becky Lynch Women's Championship "medallion" card. I call these belt cards, since embedded in the card is a heavy, metallic representation of a championship. The other hit was a relic, with a twist. This relic, a SummerSlam 2016 mat card, is also signed by Seth Rollins and is numbered as one out of ten. If I have to pull a relic, it may as well include an autograph. An autograph of a top current talent is an added bonus.

The subsets this time around feature shots from three WWE programs: The Stone Cold Podcast, Breaking Ground, and Total Divas. This is another change-up that I appreciate. While I've never personally watched Total Divas, I like some of the shots used (Mandy Rose, I'm looking at you), and even Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart makes a cameo. While I don't think it was intentional, the design of these cards very much reminds me of the Topps Empire Strikes Back cards from way back in 1980. Not a direct replica, but there are similarities.

The base set is where we get really unusual and different. Highlighted are many first timers, including NXT stars (a few of which I couldn't even identify) and a passel full of referees. I'm guessing that this means that referees are once again allowed to have names and identities. The true gold here for me is the inclusion of three legendary ladies: Leilani Kai, Judy Martin, and Princess Victoria. While Kai made a return to WWE products after 30 years in the 2016 WWE Divas Revolution set, this is the first real WWE merchandise for Martin and Victoria. Considering both ladies are named in the WWE concussion lawsuit, this is extra surprising. As I've gotten to know all three of these women over the years, these three cards are the personal "hits" in the hobby box for me. It should be noted that other women from WWE's past such as Terri Runnels, Torrie Wilson, and Ivory are here as well.

The base card design is good, although it'd still be nice to see one set that featured all studio shots. As usual there are color variants (bronze, blue, silver, etc.) where really the only different is a swatch of color in the lower right corner. Some collectors thrive on these differences, but I haven't ever put too much stock into it. I will note that for the first time in year when breaking a Topps WWE hobby box, I did not receive the full 100-card base set. My box wasn't missing any particular biggie, and I probably won't put into effort into ever obtaining the card, but it was a bit of a surprise. For the record, the missing card was David Otunga.

There's a lot to like about this set. Topps took the "main" WWE card set of the year and really turned it upside down. There are no main cards for many weekly stars, yet we get announcers, referees, women's wrestling legends, and many rookies. Since Topps releases so much WWE product these days, this is something that can and should be done. I'm very excited to see what the Topps WWE Heritage 2017 set due in August will hold. There's also a WWE Legends set coming in September. Normally that would be right up my alley, but the cards do appear to be a "premium" release which my wallet just won't warm up to. That being said, Topps is still doing a great job. There's something for every type of collector. Now, even those of us who love the legendary ladies are getting some long overdue new product.