Wrestling MarketWatch: WWF Hall of Fame 2021

Along with the Royal Rumble match, the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is probably the last piece of fresh programming from the company that I truly enjoy. At this point even WrestleMania has completely lost my interest. For reasons that are no mystery to a single person on the planet, 2020 did not see a WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. While details are still sketchy, it appears that the 2020 class will finally get inducted alongside the class of 2021. Whether the class will be merged as one or if each will go down in history separately has yet to be seen. 

For 2020 we have the nWo (Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Syxx), John Bradshaw Layfield, Jushin Thunder Liger, "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, The Bella Twins and Batista. As of press time the sole 2021 inductee to be announced is Molly Holly. In this edition of MarketWatch we're going to look at the recent selling prices of memorabilia from several of these names. As always prices quoted are for non-autographed items.

*Starting with our first 2021 inductee announced we visit the sole action figure of Molly Holly. It's always been an underrated figure and is still a highlight of the Jakks "TitanTron Live" style. Molly is one of the best female grapplers of the past two decades and is more than deserving of her Hall of Fame induction. The support shown by fans as well as her peers has been something to see. This is not the first time that this figure has been here on the blog in a MarkerWatch feature. Around three and a half years ago the figure was selling for $20. Still undervalued, it's recently been selling for an average of $15. Whether or not her Hall of Fame induction will yield her a second figure has yet to be seen.

*Always controversial, John Bradshaw Layfield was one of those superstars who was able to reinvent himself several times during his career. The "JBL" character, WWE's answer to J.R. Ewing, was without a doubt his best incarnation. At WrestleMania 21 back in 2005, JBL made a grand entrance with money falling from the sky. Those "JBL Bills" were scooped up and have landed in the collections of many fans worldwide. One example recently sold for $18.

*Some may say that The Bella Twins are undeserving of a Hall of Fame entry. The WWE Hall of Fame is full of inductees that you may or may not agree with. I will say that the duo has brought many extra eyes to the business, both male and female. Even my girlfriend is a fan of the twins thanks to their "Total Bellas" program. From figures to teddy bears, the twins have also had their fair share of memorabilia. It's a proven fact that authentic autograph cards of female wrestlers sell for a bit more on the secondary market than the male wrestler cards. Perhaps there are a lot of "lonely hearts" collecting? Nonetheless, Brie Bella's Topps WWE Heritage 2016 authentic autograph card recently sold for $28.

*One of my favorite inductees this year is Jushin Thunder Liger. The puroresu star who retired in 2020 has always been fascinating to his legions of fans, myself included. He recently received several modern wrestling figures thanks to a company called Storm Collectibles. You can see the first of those by clicking Liger's "label" at the bottom of this entry which will lead to a review of that figure from last year. That being said his older figures from Japan, while less poseable, are still in high demand. This New Japan Pro Wrestling figure recently sold for $51.

*Shortly after the creation of the New World Order, those in charge at WCW realized that the nWo was the more popular brand. This led to their logo being slapped on nearly every piece of merchandise that passed through the Atlanta-based wrestling company. Did you own a Bash Brick? It's a somewhat hard foam brick that you can "safely" bash your friends (or enemies) with. It really doesn't have much of a connection to wrestling other then the logos, but who's counting? One recently sold for $25.

There are always at least a few speeches to watch out for at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Who those will be and just how the ceremony itself will take place are still mysteries. I can tell you that Batista's will be a great pee break for me, even if I'm not watching live.

Sorry, Big Dave.

Your Guide To An Evolution

Programs. A collectible that is produced less and less as the years go by, especially by WWE. Sure there are those produced for WrestleMania each year. There have been a few for SummerSlam in the past decade and even the 2011 Survivor Series had one. But in a world where pay-per-view lineups change continuously until the day of the event, the era of the program is largely done. However, out of nowhere, we have a new one. To coincide with the first WWE-branded all-women's pay-per-view event, we have a program for WWE Evolution.

The program itself is very much like the other ones that have come along in this era. It's oversized and glossy with thicker-stock pages than a magazine-style program would have. This design first appeared in the very early 2000's. It is also more of a roster guide for the women rather than displaying actual match-ups. Again the pay-per-view lineups change too much for them to be accurately printed too far in advance.

The first page is a shot of the folks who brought you this show, Triple H, Stephanie, and Vince McMahon. Let's all thank them. Then, of course, we get to Ronda Rousey. Obviously she will begin the program being the center of the women's division. So far, she seems to have dedicated herself to the business in a way that many of us wouldn't have imagined. She has largely been a plus for the product, or so it has seemed in the little that I follow the weekly product. All of the larger stars such as The Bella Twins, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch get their own pages, as well.

The interesting portions come later in the book. We get pages with a smattering of smaller pictures of NXT stars and even trainers Sara Del Rey and Serena Deeb! The Mae Young Classic tournament is also chronicled with results of both the 2017 edition as well as the 2018 version which saw its finals held at the Evolution show itself. And yes, "spoiler alert," winner Toni Storm is shown here in all of her British glory.

My favorite portion, of course, is the section featuring the legends. Not only do we get Wendi Richter, Mae Young, and my friend Leilani Kai, but also shown are Cyndi Lauper, Sapphire, Bull Nakano, Rockin' Robin, Mildred Burke, Bertha Faye and Velvet McIntyre just to name a few. The biggest shocker? An inclusion that shouldn't be shocking at all. In fact, she should be front and center. Yes, folks, The Fabulous Moolah is here. Did somebody call Snickers? I think we have a program to burn. Get Twitter on it...

A cool collectible for a first of it's (WWE) kind event that not only looks at the current stars but pays respect to the past as well. It's hard to say what value this will attain. Some of the larger programs such as this have held or risen in value while others just languish. To me, any event-specific program is welcome in a collection. While the live event programs are rather cookie cutter, these are at least specific to a show even if they don't necessarily reflect the matches. If you want one of your own, grab it while you can. There could be an Evolution in demand before you know it.

Sting, Hulk, & NXT Highlight Topps WWE 2015

 With each set that is released, I tell myself "no more." The cards are usually fairly nice, but do I really need another box of glossy WWE cards taking up space? If they were matte finished "retro" styled Heritage cards it would be a different story, but we haven't seen those since 2012. Topps seems to be following a pattern of two regular and one chrome set per year. I am able to resist the latter (the rehashed chrome sets do nothing for me) but I always end up with the other two sets in one form or another.

For WWE 2015 I opted to go with a blaster box. Those are the $20 boxes found in retail stores. Wal Mart is the place to pick these cards up. In each jumbo pack, there is a coupon for $3 off of a blaster box. Wal Mart's jumbo packs and blaster boxes also include exclusive Sting cards and a chance at Sting autograph cards. If you're a fan of "The Vigilante," it's the only way to go.

The base set is, as usual, very basic. This is not one of the years where the design particularly excites me. It isn't bad, but it just doesn't stick out very much either. You get your basic helping of WWE Superstars, Divas, and Legends as well as other on-air talent. Any time that Tony Chimel gets a card is a plus. I will say that it's cool that Topps takes their WWE product just as seriously as their main sports releases by releasing them in the same design as their baseball sets.

The main subset that you'll be seeing the most of in a pack or box is titled "Crowd Chants." There are seventy cards in this subset, with ten cards for each of seven different chants ranging from "One More Match" to "You Still Got It" and yes, the one that makes so many of us cringe, "This Is Awesome." It's a new and different idea that allows cards for a wide array of stars.

NXT is back once again with its own subset. You have to believe that the hottest "brand" in WWE will soon have its stars integrated into the main product. I'd like to see Topps take the risk and release an entirely separate NXT set, but who's to say if that will happen. I think it'd be a great seller, and if they're worried about not having "main roster" talent involved, just throw some NXT Alumni cards into the set. Sadly, this subset is limited to just ten cards, but includes the NXT rookie card of Hideo Itami, formerly known as KENTA.

As always there are relic, autograph, and even "Diva Kiss" subsets (the latter featuring the Topps returns of Lita and Trish Stratus), but the hardest subsets to complete without those "pull" extras are tribute sets for Sting and Hulk Hogan. Both sets feature great vintage photographs of the two legends, and the Sting cards are exclusive to Wal-Mart, as mentioned above. The Sting set is a whopping forty cards, while the Hogan set will ultimately be forty, but just ten are included in this particular set.

The Commemorative Championship Plate cards that debuted in 2014 are back this year. These cards are well-designed and honestly are a bit more attractive to me than most relic cards with a bland shirt or mat swatch. You can argue that Bruno Sammartino shouldn't be on a card with the current design WWE Championship and so on, but Topps simply isn't going to create plates for every design that each championship has gone through, not to mention rights issues in doing so. My blaster box pull was the Nikki Bella Divas Championship Plate card. I don't need to once again go through what a female "pull" means as far as being more desirable, so I'll leave that to you, eBay, and the creepy collectors. Nonetheless, I was satisfied with that, especially after using the $3 coupon for the box itself.

If the Topps WWE sets are your thing, you'll probably enjoy this set. If you're more of a pick-and-choose collector, I could see skipping this set. It might be more interesting to try and complete the Sting set, as so many of those images will never again see the light of day on a trading card. I think that many collectors will be disappointed in that NXT's established talent such as Sami Zayn, Charlotte, and Bayley are nowhere to be found. Maybe an individual set isn't out of the realm of possibility after all. With word of a "high-end" set titled "Undisputed" coming from Topps, the company may just be looking to step outside of the box with WWE. In any event, it's WrestleMania season (which you can read my thoughts on in the latest entry of my other blog, JoshCulture) and these cards will sell.

But if there's one card that we can all agree should be here, it's the gentleman who rounds out the base set with card #100. A legend in every sense of the word, it's hard to say which of his many personas should have been included. Soul Train Jones. Vincent. Shane. Curly Bill, perhaps? Regardless, he is here in all of his glory, and as much crap as he gets from fans, I'll always have a soft spot for the guy. If you do pick up some of these cards and luck upon pulling him from a pack, never leave home without it. You may be at a convention, home show, RV show, subway platform, public library or McDonalds, and there will be standing with a smile, the one and only Virgil...

You Can Look, But You Can't Touch...

Never before has a theme song matched the action figure so well.

I have nothing against the Bella Twins personally.  I'm sure they're very nice girls.  Lord only knows why they wouldn't milk a WWE deal for all it's worth, but that's for them to know and the dirt sheets to find out.  That said, they're almost the Kardashians of the wrestling world, albeit much better looking.  In essence, they're famous for nothing.  They can't wrestle.  They don't seem to be particularly talented at anything else that we've seen in the PG-rated WWE Universe.  When they had the position of escorting Raw guest hosts to the ring it seemed like their talents were being used to the fullest degree.  Nonetheless, the twins have decided that they've had enough of the WWE.

Maybe I'm the crazy one.  After all, not only did I just mention the scourge of pop culture, the Kardashians, TWICE in an entry, but the rest of the entry is devoted solely to the Bella Twins.  They do have merchandise though, and one of the hottest current pieces of merchandise to boot.

I've mentioned in previous reviews that Mattel just doesn't understand that female figures will sell.  They don't have to be packed in shipping cases less than the male wrestlers.  In fact, if Mattel were to ask anyone who's been in a WWE figure aisle over the past year they would instead hear desperate pleas for them to make and ship less Randy Orton figures.  Yet, more "Viper" figures are on their way, folks.

Keeping with their one-track-minded decree of producing/shipping less females, Mattel has done the same with their first two-female figure pack, the Bella Twins.  If you see the tons of John Cena/The Rock two-packs clogging shelves, you've already missed the Twins.  You've missed Sin Cara/Daniel Bryan as well, but not to fear, more Sin Cara figures are on their way.  As for the Twins?  Never again.

Even if they weren't gone, this would most likely be their only shot at plastic immortality.  That fact actually helps answer a question that I'm often asked by non-collectors:  Why figures of less talented or less popular superstars can attain such popularity and value.  Even if they were the worst figures ever made (and they aren't), the fact that they're limited in distribution and that figures of the girls will most likely never be produced again automatically brings up that price. 

Are the figures worthy of their current position atop of the wrestling figure heap?  Let's take a look...but we can't touch.

When these figures were in the planning stages, Mattel promised that we would be buying two distinctly individual figures as opposed to two of the same figure in one package.  While they succeeded, I wouldn't call it a rousing success.  A slightly different smirk and cock of an eyebrow are the extent of the facial differences.  Though one could argue as to just how different twins can look, it would help if they looked more like the girls themselves.  Here, Brie looks passable while Nikki greatly resembles actress Alyssa Milano.  The hair mold used for each girl is different which shows some commendable effort, although the real difference is behind them.  No, really.  It's on their behinds.  "B. B." and "N. B." monograms are included on their derrieres so that children across the world can tell the difference.

As opposed to other Mattel Diva figures, you feel like you're getting something tangible here.  Their leggings are fully molded and detailed, while their tops are actually separate pieces from the figures which are not removable.  I feel I should mention that since the Bella's wore a variety of colors, black should've been the last choice for the figures.  The nice colors did wonders for the recent Layla figure and could have been repeated here.  Also included is the first-ever figure-sized replica of the WWE Diva Championship belt.  This ultimately has to factor into the popularity of this set, although only a fool would believe that we won't see it released with future Diva figures down the line.  Hopefully Mattel will actually color it in a bit for those releases.

I wouldn't advise against buying it, as if you want it grab it whenever you see it.  What I will say is that as opposed to the LJN Ultimate Warrior, Remco Buddy Rose, or even any of the rarer Jakks Classic Superstars, it isn't really worth the inflated prices.  Are any figures?  Obviously it's up to personal taste, but I'd have felt slightly ripped off had I paid more than $18.96 for the set.

Don't blame me if you end up wishing that you'd taken heed of the theme song's advice, "You can look, but you can't touch."  Honestly, I think another group of female wrestling figures deliver a Knockout to these twins, but that's just my opinion...