Welcome back to Book to Last, a wrestling card podcast here on the Stacking Slabs Network. I'm Brett working behind the scenes and certainly enjoying all of the passionate conversation that is coming your way. Shout out Adam. Shout out Ryan for putting together an incredible episode one. There was so much conversation and dialogue about wrestling cards in the community after the fact, and it was a signal.

That signal was this is the goal. The goal is to build, develop, and continue to elevate the awesome wrestling card community, and I can't wait to see what's next with this show and where we're going. Episode two was an absolute blast. They get into the Drew McIntyre reign of it all and its impact on wrestling cards, some big sales, and a whole lot of other topics. Make sure you're showing your support, not only for the Stacking Slabs Network.

You already know how to do that. Hit the follow button and tell a damn friend, but make sure you go run on over to RBI Cruise seven, one of the biggest and best hobby shops in the land, the hobby shop that supports the wrestling card collectors and community, unlike any other, always breaking wax, always has the latest and greatest wrestling card product. Make sure you're supporting them. And Adam has the Main Event Wrestling Group. Link is in the show notes.

You need to go join it. He's delivering more content outside of this show there. But we appreciate you showing up day one, responding, being passionate. I'm fired up for this show. It feels like WrestleMania season is upon us.

Let's do this. Book to Last episode two coming your way now. Welcome to episode two of Book to Last, a wrestling card podcast for card collecting community that goes from the top rope to top loaders. We're your host Ryan Bannister of RBI cruise seven and Adam Gelman of main event wrestling cards here on the stacking slabs podcast network. Don't forget to like and subscribe here on stacking slabs, especially if this is your first time you're joining up.

You can find the Patreon at patreon.combackslashstackingslabs, and you can also follow Adam and I on social media at r b I crouse seven and w w gellman respectively. Let's ring that bell and get the slobber knocker on the way. Adam, how you doing, man? I'm I'm doing good, Ryan. How about you, man?

Like, it's it's been a busy week for both of us. You know, I I got to had some fun ripping some product and and getting some mail days in. How about you? Oh, I I didn't have the luck like you did in ripping product, and I I think you have to talk about that in a little bit. You got a great mail day today from yours truly right here.

Yeah. That was fun, man. Like, I so for for everybody who who doesn't follow us on Instagram, I I did post today. Ryan and I sorta hooked up, got, got a really awesome card in. Becky Lynch, super fractor out of top spinous.

Thanks for the thanks for the assist there. Always good to get, your friends involved on these these big deals. But, yeah, that was a good one, man. Like, I it's my fourth super factor from Finest Man. I love that set so much.

I'm I'm really excited to get that in. I know, G. Finest Finest exceeded everything. I don't think anybody thought Finest was gonna knock it out of the ballpark, but they changed all the configurations to it. In my opinion, it was one of the best releases of the year they did.

Obviously, there's not many they did. But, no, it worked out great. I was, like I said, I was at a friend's house hanging out playing poker with my wife, and he's Adam's calling me, and I'm like, something's up. Need to take this call. And sure enough, it worked out great.

I went on Commsi, hit the buy button, and had it shipped here with some other stuff and then shipped it directly to you. So I'm glad it's home where she belongs with your other ones, which is awesome. So which ones are you down to now? Do you have all the regular set done? I I have so I have the finest autograph, which is like the main autograph set because each wrestler's only one.

I have the insert, the the finisher's one, and then I have the the common and the uncommon. I'm literally just missing that rare, which is which is that was still on the. Hopefully, I can maybe locate it this weekend in Dallas. Maybe it's sitting there at a booth or whatever. So No.

I know I know you we're as we're recording, you're you're gonna be heading to Dallas. I if you guys that's a big show, man. Like, it's gotta be exciting heading out there every year. Man, it is it's an animal. I I do Chicago.

I've done Chicago for, jeez, forever, and we sat there in March and November. And, obviously, the national where the national is the same place as the Chicago Sports Spectacular. But, man, Dallas is just it's there's nothing else like it. I mean, it's every two months, and it's insane. The January one's the only one I can never make.

I look forward to it. I used to be only get one night there, and somehow I stretch the second night. I kinda just told my wife I had to stretch the second night. So but I'm excited just to see everybody, but I always come back with some cool stuff. So maybe I can come across some stuff for Gelman or other wrestling people that we know in this Yeah.

Yeah. That's always fun. I I wish I could go to more of those big shows. Work life, kid life, it it never really plays to that. I will be in Chicago for the national this summer.

I'm excited about that. But, yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be fun to to hear about Dallas. I know a lot of people are going. I know all of our friends are are probably gonna end up there and stuff. So, hopefully, when by the time this airs, you'll already be back.

Everybody will be good. I'm interested to hear how it goes. So let's let's jump into it for this week. And, you know, just like last week, we're gonna we're gonna have a a couple of segments here that we'll run through, as the as we talk about wrestling cards. We're gonna start with the opening pyro.

And just like last week, every every wrestling show starts off with the big pyro display. Really, really big week for for wrestling cards overall. But I think let's let's just start off by saying a a humongous thank you to everybody who did all the resharing. I know baby Frace Briggs did an awesome reel for us. I know Brett did a lot of publicity for us.

I got so much feedback. I got so much awesome sort of response from the community. Like, we appreciate it. You know, Brett always says, tell a damn friend, brother. Like, this is this was it.

Like, this is what was it what we were expecting to for for our own edification, but to see the community also hop on the the bandwagon and and help us there, just absolutely awesome. I I know you've gotten a ton of feedback as well. I have. And, I'm with Adam, man. Thank you everybody for the just the response, the reaching out, saying you enjoyed it, just to listen more than anything.

You know, we're excited about this. This is isn't four months. This is gonna be a lifelong journey. We feel like this is just something we're both passionate about and the wrestling card community needs, in my opinion, to really establish something like this. So I'm hoping that you all continue to listen, you continue to enjoy.

Give us feedback. You know, we're all about listening to feedback, everything like that. And we've got a lot of things planned for the future of the show. We're just getting started. Last week was just really the introductions of us and just getting kind of the footwork, the network of it going.

But, again, thank you everybody for the overwhelming support. It was amazing, and we're we're happy to be here. Again, thank you to Brett and the team at Second Class, more importantly, for the opportunity for both Adam and I. Yeah. It was a truly awesome experience to see sort of it populate through social media.

Like, we've I I saw people sharing it, the stories on Instagram, Twitter, everything. Got some great messages just from the community. So, yeah, as Ryan was saying. Into sort of, like, the actual wrestling news, we we understand, like, when when we're recording, it's gonna be a little delayed. So last week, we were still kinda getting used to sort of the the the understanding of how to, you know, talk about timing and everything in this podcast.

But I think just from the perspective of overall big news in wrestling, there is a new WWE champion that happened on SmackDown coming out of last week. And, man, I like, Drew McIntyre beats Cody Rhodes three stages of hell. The first time that that match has happened in a very long time. And, you know, I've been waiting for Drew McIntyre to get his run here for a long time. He he obviously, last year, got to be a champion for, like, five minutes before Damian Priest cashed cashed in his money in the bank.

So now, hopefully, he'll get more of an extended run. There there's a Topps Now release that they did for for this with an autograph. The photo looks just absolutely amazing on the card. Really excited for to see what they have planned for Drew McIntyre coming into the Royal Rumble, coming into WrestleMania season. I think this opens the door a lot for for options that they have with Cody Rhodes.

I know we talked last podcast about the trilogy that they wanna do with him and Roman Reigns. Maybe that happens without the title now. I'm curious, like, it seems like for me, like, the the the hobby has has really never gotten on board with Drew McIntyre. His first few title runs I mean, his first title run where he was coming off of that immense high from the Royal Rumble when he eliminates Brock Lesnar after he Brock goes and eliminates 15 people. COVID literally hits, like, the next month.

This was a while ago where Drew sort of lamented himself, and he suffered as a result of that. No crowds, no interaction, really in the Thunderdome. Like, now he gay he he's had a couple of times since then, but it's never really equaled that. Now he's a heel. He's running here.

Like, what what do you think is gonna be sort of the the story of this run here? No. I I mean, he's rebranded himself tremendously. Obviously, he was way over as a face in 2020 when that happened. I'll never forget that rubble.

That was Edge's return, which was the most Yeah. Craziest return. I mean, Cena coming back that one year, but Edge returning was massive. So just to watch that and then for him to eliminate Lesnar, you knew at that point, like, the crowd was just all over for him. And, obviously, we have a different Drew McIntyre now.

Here we are five, six years later. Six years later. Wow. It's crazy. Yeah.

Six years now. You know? So he deserves it. Again, last year, he beat my boy Seth in media, and then Punk, you know, screwed him over. You know?

And Damian got his moments. You know? I think Drew is more deserving. And, again, the character he's made himself into now is not only a BA, but he is just he's hilarious. He's great on the mic.

He can hold his own in the ring. Again, I I see the storyline building up to to Mania. I think it was time for Cody to take a backseat. I don't think I think he's submitted himself at this point that he doesn't need the belt on him to carry this company. You're you're at that point where you've got the belt.

You've got a couple times now. Now it's Drew's time to get what he should've got six years ago. Complete different type of character, but but love what they've done with him. Love the way he's rebranded himself. So, it's exciting.

Again, you know, a guy like you said, no hobby love. It's it's funny you say that Parker likes Drew McIntyre. He liked him a long time ago. Do. Yeah.

I remember when he him and Les were on the Rumble, what was it, a few years later when it was down to them too. We it was in Saint Louis, the one we were at. And Parker was like, when whenever Lesnar had drew up, you know, to to eliminate, Parker's like, no. No. No.

No. And, obviously, they went back in the ring. At that point, Parker almost started collecting Drew McIntyre. Thank god he didn't. That'd be another wrestler we'd have to be buying.

But, yes, I I don't get how his cards don't sell for what they should for how beast of a wrestler he is and for how incredible he is, not only in the mic, but just what he does in the ring and how he holds himself on social media as well. I feel like he should be worth more than what he is. You see his one on ones go fairly reasonable. Maybe now we see a different a push in his market because we're gonna see hopefully a long title reign, a longer longest he's ever potentially got. Again, his first time was it with NY fans.

It was Tampa Bay, but it was inside the doors against Lesnar. Just you feel for him that at that time. You know? Now it's Yeah. You get his moment, and I'm hoping this translates into his cards being more valuable and more collectible by just everybody.

I I feel like he's gonna get a bump. I I've just, like, been monitoring the market. He's he's up a little bit. He may up maybe 10%. Just because anytime you win a title, man, like, in in WWE, winning a title in is always a big deal, and, like, it's it's something where, you know, he beat the guy of, like, the face of the company.

Right? Like Yep. This era is built around Cody Rhodes. His cards have been just ever since Cody beat Roman at WrestleMania forty, like, Cody's cards have been so much higher than they were even coming into that. And then it's sort of like people are are getting, like, okay.

This QB one thing, like, I don't know. Like, I never I've never really been a big Cody fan. Like, I've just it's he doesn't resonate with me. I love the storyline that he had coming in to to WrestleMania forty. I thought that was really cool with what they did with him dethroning Roman Reigns, was the face of the previous era.

But now I think, like, he needs a change. Like, he needs something a little bit different. I think his cards may take a little bit of a dip, but, I mean, like, he's the guy I mean, like, he's not gonna go anywhere. I mean, they're not gonna move on from Cody Rhodes as a main event star. He's gonna be hanging around the title picture.

He's gonna probably get some other opportunities, stuff like that. So I I would expect, like, yeah, there's there's gonna be maybe a slight adjustment, but maybe not in the areas like we would see if, you know, an an NFL team that you're behind or an NBA team loses in the Western Conference finals like we did with the Timberwolves last year and Anthony Edwards' cards. Like, you know, those types of things, I don't think are gonna happen the same way as they do in in NFL and NBA. I think they'll they'll still Cody's cards will still be relatively expensive. A lot of people love what he does.

A lot of he's he's the guy that goes and visits the kids in the hospital, and, like, he's taken that that title over from Roman really well. So I I I think, you know, Drew getting to be the the face for a little bit with the face that runs the place, you know, then that's that's awesome. I love what he does on social media. Love what he does in the ring. His his promos are awesome, so I'm really excited for him.

One other thing that we've seen over the last couple of weeks is sort of, like, they've they've made a commitment now to to call up probably four or five different NXT superstars. So we were talking about prospecting in the last week's episode here. There's there's five that I've I've flagged here. And so what I wanna do is let's take a page from from wrestling, you know, sort of Internet lore here and give some star ratings to the collectability and the in ring potential for these names. I'm gonna name them off, and we'll go kinda rapid fire here.

I'll I'll name the name you give your star rating. I'll give mine and maybe why you're thinking that way. And then, we'll see kind of how this is gonna relate as we go into the Royal Rumble because I would guess these are gonna be some names that'll factor into probably some of the final remaining people in the ring once this, this new sort of era comes up and it becomes a part of the main roster. So let's start with the former NXT champion, Obafemi, vacated the title. Only two people have done that in the run of NXT.

The first one, Asuka, has had an like, an amazing career, probably one of the top women in terms of accomplishments and and everything through the course of her run. She vacated it. She came up to the main roster. They gave Obafemi the same sort of run here. What's your star rating on Obafemi?

Alright. So we're going to one to five. Is that what we're doing here? One to five. It's One to five.

Just like Dave Meltzer here, our fire my I love it. Yes. Favorite person in the world. Right? Good old Dave Meltzer.

Yes. I'm busted open. Yes. So I'm gonna go Obafemi. I'm gonna give him a four.

And I I I give a four, nine out five just because he is a bigger body, and I don't know what direction they're gonna go with him. Right now, he's, correct me if wrong, still a face kinda coming off that NXT and run there where he used to be heel forever and was so dominant, but he's so big. I just don't know how it's harder for these bigger guys to resonate in in the main roster, and sometimes they get kinda thrown under the rug. I think he's more talented than that. So I just don't think he's gonna get the right off the bat great push, but I think he's gotta prove himself up there.

So I'm gonna give him a four out of five in my opinion just because of his size and everything like that, how he holds himself in the mic, but I do see the potential of him being a five star down the road. Yeah. I'm gonna go four star as well. Oba, only for a couple of reasons. Number one, he's very sort of new to this.

Like, he doesn't have, like, the background. Like, he was kinda like Bron Breakker was coming out of you know, he I think it was college football very similarly. Mhmm. And I think, like, Oba has huge potential. Obviously, looks like a monster.

Looks like a million bucks. Like, he could potentially be a top heel if they really wanna push him that direction like they did in NXT. Collectibility wise, like, people don't really respond very well to, like, the bigger guys. Like, they're they they they kinda just the the the it's either, like, you gotta have the established championship pedigree before people will start throwing money your way unless you're, like, some giant signing or whatever. The women have a little bit easier because of a lot of different reasons.

But I think from a collectibility perspective, I think he's gonna struggle a little bit to maintain that that hype. But, man, I think if if if they book him correctly and they present him like a monster Yeah. Easy five stars down the road. Let's move on to Jordan Grace, former TNA knockout who has come over to WWE recently as part of the partnership that they've had with Total Nonstop Action. And I'm curious, like, she's she's a little bit more seasoned, a little bit more of an experience going around on The Indies and everything like that.

What's your opinion on what's your star rating for for Jordan Brace here? So as much as I wanna give Jordan the guys a five star because of what she did in Impact and Indies and how she's retransformed her body, she's an absolute freaking agent, and she's incredible. I was disappointed in the NXT run that they did not give her. I felt like she never got her opportunity to to get that part. I thought when she came over, she was gonna just run the show, and she didn't.

Now we see her already getting a big push with the champ already coming in this past week. We saw that how they're gonna build a storyline on this. Unfortunately, I just don't see that happening yet. I don't see Jay Cargill dropping the belt anytime soon. So I feel like it's like, oh, Jordan, we're gonna give you the run.

I feel like she's gonna get brushed under, but she's talented. She's gonna eventually be there. I still think she's a four right now with that potential to be a five as well, and she's highly collectible. I think anybody that followed her Impact Wrestling in The Indies and watch what she did, she was beating the piss out of guys. I mean, was having guy and girl matches.

She is a athlete. She is strong. I think she's gonna be everything they need. I just don't like that they're already gonna put her up against Jade Cargill, which it appears to be after we saw this past weekend, but that's where I stand on. Yeah.

I man, we're gonna agree on a lot of these. I have a feeling I have her at four as well. And here's and and, like, listen. The the women's roster right now is absolutely stacked. Now there's people who are injured.

There's things moving around. Like, I I think, like, there's potential for her to have some incredible rivalries. I mean, I can like, you imagine, like, her versus Rhea Ripley and her versus Bianca Belair. Like, the like, they have, like, the athleticism that she has. Mhmm.

And and she she looks the part. She looks like, you know, she's she's built. She's, like, really incredible in that respect. But I think, like, she's just got a ceiling above her that's just ten, fifteen people thick, and, like, I I think that's gonna be hard to break through for newer people. I think long term, she probably has the the most potential out of all five of these people.

I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm not a huge fan because I am. Like, she's absolutely awesome. But I just think that there's a lot of people ahead of her in line. So the only reason I'm giving her a force because it's gonna take some time for her to get established. They have the booking has to be right.

Everything has to be right. And because of so many of these great women's wrestlers that are ahead of her, But I think she'll be a a dominating force in the Royal Rumble. I'm gonna guess she'll likely have the most eliminations out of everybody, and I I just hope she gets new theme music. Like, her theme music has it all. You know, when it comes against her in the NXT, sorry to stop you there Yeah.

Was she kinda came in the same time as Vikir and as Yeah. Julia. I mean, the you know, what how do you compare to that? I mean, Vikir definitely number one, but her and Julia kinda, you know, I thought Julie was gonna take the throw. I did too.

You know? And I think a lot of people thought that. So I think coming over the same time, like you said, stack roster. I mean, these women are the the best in the world, and I think that goes up against her a lot. But, again, I I think they have big plans for her.

She's proven it. Huge plans. So I again, I love to give her a five, but, again, I'm I'm we're we're gonna agree on this one that one for sure. Alright. Next in line, the bouncy OG, Javon Evans.

What's your take there? So I'm gonna do a Billy Bob. I give a 10, an f a 10. No. I I I am big on this kid.

He is a five star right now in my eyes. I don't know where he's gonna get this push, but, man, they are so big on him. I've been buying some Javon Evans cards. The kid is gifted. I feel like he is the future in the type of wrestling that he does.

His matches are unbelievable. Still a little rusty on the mic. He's getting a little bit better, but I they all the the best love him. They absolutely love him. They love what this kid brings to the table.

He's young. What is he? 21, 22? He's really young. He's really young, and he's so gifted.

You don't see that there's only so many wrestlers you could think of. Randy Orton being one of them. I'm gonna do a shameless plug, my boy, Randy. But, you know, when he was that age so I I I'm big on him. I'm giving him a five right now even though I don't think the plans are for him in the now, but I think he's the next big type of superstar.

I don't know. It's gonna be a while for you to see him carry maybe get to that big belt, but he is just that talented, that gifted. I'm excited this kid's up on the main roster. I hope they don't bury him. I don't think they will.

I just hope they use him right, and they help to build a great storyline with him down the road. Yeah. I we're gonna disagree on this one. I've let me start by saying I think he's one of the most talented, like, sort of guys that have caught on so quickly. I love what he does in the ring, but I'm I think he's a three.

And it's and I I'm putting him at a three. I'm gonna get a ton of I'm gonna get a ton of heat for this. Yeah. It's opinion. So here here's the thing.

I'll let's stop you real quick. Is, you know, people I love about this is the people can agree to disagree with us. We're we're not you know, we're just two guys that love I know. Love cards. So it's our opinions and take it for you one.

Everybody's got opinion. I love it. I love the the feedback we received, some positive, some negative. So bring it on. We love it.

I'm I'm gonna disagree with Adam, but, again, I wanna hear Adam's points. I just need to put it out. So I I mean, here's the reason why. So, obviously, young, talented, has the look, all those other things. I think his mic skills are are really not good.

Yeah. And I think he's got a long way to go there. I think he's got the charisma to go really far. But because he's kinda like this high flyer, like, it takes so much for WWE to go and really put the the hype train behind a guy that works the way that he does no matter how good the the the vets love him and all this other stuff. I think, listen, all these people, we're we're really just sort of rubbing crystal balls together here and and hoping that we we we hit the right take here.

But I will say, like, I I see a lot of people ahead of him. I see even some of the other people on this list. Obafemi, Trick Williams, all these guys, I think, will be ahead of him in line. I think they've got some other young guys that are probably gonna be ahead of him in line. They have another guy like Montez Ford who works very similarly to him, And I I'm not comparing them because because of the way they look or anything like that.

Just let me get that out there. They just they're very similar type of wrestlers, and WWE thinks like that. And it's really unfortunate that that's the case, that they will probably stash him somewhere where he's gonna have to develop, he's gonna have to do the types of things that will, you know, sort of stall his career at least upfront until he proves that he can really carry a promo, carry the mic, carry everything. And I think that that's what that's why I have him at a three. That's why I think he's he's gonna it's gonna take a little bit longer for him to get there.

And I really wish that he wasn't like that because you saw him work on these different SmackDown appearances that he's had prior to being signed, like signed. I use that in quotation marks, air quote, because they're they're all on the roster. But you know what I mean? Yeah. But, like, the the storyline of him being signed, like, he has worked some incredible matches.

Love what he's done in the first two appearances he's had on SmackDown. And, again, he will coming up this week. And next week, I'm sure he's gonna get a huge feature coming into the Royal Rumble. I I just it's hard for me to see WWE really putting the marketing train behind him as much as I think he deserves. Okay.

Alright. Last one, and then we'll move on. Lola Vice. This is a rumor. So what we're gonna star this one a little bit, but Lola Vice has been rumored to be among this group, so I put her on here.

She's she's had some success in NXT. I'm curious kinda what your thoughts are on Lola. Again, stacked women's roster, so I'm curious what your rating is here. I'm only, like, three on Lola. I mean, I think she's got the look, but, I mean, I think she's had her up and down.

She's had her moments. You know, I I'm not as high on her. I know she's got collectability. Most women do in this industry. You know?

But, again, I think she's had her opportunities. I don't know if she's ever gonna get that big opportunity, but I know she she holds herself really well in, like, tag team matches. And I think that goes against her for that. One I don't know if you skipped because the timer is some general trick Williams. Oh, shit.

Yes. We'll get you. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanna make sure, you know, my cohost saw that because I'm like, you just pick us.

Yeah. I totally I totally You're good, No. No. I think she's a three. I think she's on the lower end of the three if you had to be, like, you know, school grading.

Again, I think she just had those opportunities and just squandered them in my opinion. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm I'm gonna go a little bit lower. I'm gonna go two star on Lola Weiss.

I think because she never really won much while she was in AXD, like, she didn't come out like, all these other guys, Trick Williams, Obafemi, Devon Evans, all held multiple titles. I think Lola Weiss may have been North American champion. They only had that introduced recently, so I don't like, there hasn't been as much opportunity for her. But, like, again, WWE tends to, like, profile people and put them in places that they feel will fit with the cultural aspect of who they are, which I cannot stand, but it is the way it is. I mean, that's why, you know, they stash Ios, Kai, and and Asuka and Kairi Sane altogether.

It's really unfortunate that this happens, but I I can see that happening for her. Her her kind of MMA type approach and her character there, really cool. Like, she does great stuff in the ring. I I think she has she's better on the mic than a lot of the women coming up through the ranks. She's got a great presentation.

I I like I would I very much like to see it, but I think she's gonna be way back in the line if they put her up right now. I think she needs a little bit more time in NXT. But I I think, you know, giving her an opportunity to build a resume there would would push her from, like, a two to a four, because it gives the fans a little bit more of an introduction. Just in the interest of time, let's get to Trick Williams, and sort of what your thoughts are there. Last call up of this group that I saw, there might be others happening over the course of next few weeks as we head into the Royal Rumble.

There probably will be NXT people in the Rumba Rumba Rumble. Rumble. Rumba. So, you know, I think we're gonna we're gonna get additional people to this list before long. But what's your thoughts on Trick William?

So Trick William is kind of a weird one for me to rank. I think he's a three. I think he's on a higher end of three, but I think he has the most upside of buying potential. If you look at some of his flawless stuff, he is grossly undervalued. He is a star.

He is athletic. But, again, I like I would rank Carmelo Hayes higher than him. I know we're not reigning, you know, that, but, I mean, Carmelo Hayes obviously was his guy. You know, they were Yeah. They were they were together.

Yeah. They were together, and then, obviously, Carmelo turned the heel. And so I could trick is better as a face. I think we saw that in NXT, how the crowd got behind his thing and everything like that. I think it's gonna take a while for him to get there, but I think he has all the the gifts, everything like that.

He had a great, you know, kinda good promo the other night with Randy Orton, which is awesome. That shows respect if you're getting Randy Orton to go out there to do that, and that was funny. Did you see how the mic hit a a fan apparently? Did you see all those clips? Oh, and then it's like, oh, I'm up here now.

Look what I just did. You know? So but yeah. So, no, I I I like him, but I think out of all these names, far as where you could buy them at right now, his upside is tremendous. And, again, buying the flawless stuff, I could not believe how cheap trick William stuff was, but I put some back because I'm like, I just don't like selling it because of the talent that he has.

Yeah. And I I'm I'm gonna put him in a five. Like, I think I absolutely love Trick Williams. And the reason and here's why. He has kind of a Jey Uso entrance.

Everybody chants along with it. Like, if he and, like, presentation is such a huge deal in WWE. Like, I think, like, the only reason that Jey Uso got to where he is is because he's an entrance merchant. Like and, like, again, I'm gonna catch heat for people who think he's awesome. But, like, I I think his entrance for Jay Uso makes him the wrestler that he is.

And that's not a slight on Jay Uso. That's just the way it is in WWE. I think Trick Williams can be one of those guys. And one of those guys that the crowd gets hype when he comes out, and it will translate into his matches and his work, which he is absolutely insane. And, like, he does incredible stuff in the ring.

He knows how to work. He's been around for a few years now, so he's got that seasoning. I I I I think the sky is the limit for for Trick Williams, and I think he looks like a million bucks too. Like, he's really cool and and sort of, like, the younger crowd, a young guy again. They'll probably stash him in a feud with Carmelo Hayes, but I think it's gonna be really tough as long as he's a face as long as he's a face.

He he has to be a baby face or all of my ratings will change because as a heel, it just I don't think it works. And I'm rating them based on the persona. They've got them coming up right now, and I I love this. We agree to disagree on these things. We start off in the green, and then it's it completely shifted.

I love it. So Alright. So let's move into the high spots here for the card market. Again, we're gonna cover this weekly where we talk about some of the the card things that are happening in wrestling cards in the wrestling card market. A lot to talk about this week.

We're gonna sort of rehash a little bit of what we talked about last week with Topps Universe. We'll get into some big sales, some some Topps Now stuff that I think turned out really cool, and then we'll move on to sort of our title match topic, which may take us a little bit longer. So I thank you to Topps. First of all, they provided me with a little bit of an exclusive. They they took some of the top content creators in wrestling.

They sent over some images for us to look at and use on our social media from Topps Universe. They include completed cards, which I I gotta say these are so cool looking. And, you know, that Randy Orton, I'm sure you were salivating at just the the Apex Predator inscription. I know a lot of you might be following along in YouTube. We can see the screenshots I'm putting up on the screen here.

But if you're not, like, we'll try our best to describe what they look like. But we got cards for John Cena. We got cards for Centimeters Punk, Randy Orton, Trish Stratus. Like, these cards look really well done. They're all relatively rare with the inscriptions.

But I wanna just at least talk about this Ethan Page card because I think it's absolutely hilarious. That's correct. His inscription says, leave me alone at the airport. You now have this one of one card. And I think it's so funny.

Like, he's a heel. This is a top heel move. Like, I like, you are you more excited for Universe now that you've seen some of these examples here? You can find them on my social media at Essie Uncensored on Twitter if you wanna look at them. I will put the link here in the show notes, but I'm curious, like, what's your what's your take coming into Universe seeing these these preview images?

Yeah. It it shifted so much. I remember when we first started seeing this product solicited, you were messaging me saying, I'm not a fan of this. I don't think Right. This is long.

Like, I remember a long time ago. Yeah. While it was a mini mini mini mini mini moons close. So so yeah. No.

I mean, this is okay. The biggest thing that I love to collect are, you know, on card, but inscriptions, and then you throw relics that are actually worn in matches. I mean, that's just like all three things into one. I mean, this product is just incredible. Last time is now inscribed by John Cena.

I you're not gonna see that all the time. Yeah. Sure. Centimeters Punk will inscribe best in the world. I've got Randy Orton all the inscribes Apex predator.

What does Trish say here? Can't see behind him. Stratispacting, but I figured that what do I yeah. Stratispined. Yeah.

But, I mean, some of these that Ethan Page is is truly a one on one inscription. He's probably never gonna describe that again. Like, Kevin Owens doing all these funny inscriptions. This is knocked out of the ballpark. Getting these athletes, not only getting on card, which is what collectors truly want, but adding that extra element, that extra time that the wrestler puts in.

I'm a fan. I love it. I I think these I I the pictures look great. I'm curious how the stock's gonna look when we get it, obviously. But from the images we're seeing blown away, this is just a I'm sure a fraction of what is gonna be in this product as far as inscription.

Yeah. And I I've been told that there's gonna be more inscriptions in this similar to what we saw in Chrome. They spent a lot of time working with the wrestlers trying to get this done. The relics, the gear, everything is gonna be top notch. So I I again, I April, seeing this on the table is being signed at WrestleMania, like, okay.

It's kinda like crazy stock patterns similar to Revolution, but now it's like, oh, now now it's real. And, like, I think that's where Topps usually excels as they kinda, like, wet your appetite a little bit with letting it drip out slowly, and then they sort of start dropping the heat right before this goes live. And I I think they did a really good job sort of sending it. I know nature loves you. Got a bunch of them.

I got a bunch of them. Go check them out on social media. I put them up on Twitter. It's also up on Instagram and stuff like that. So you can find them.

They're all over the place now because they you know, it goes up on Reddit and everything like that too. So take a look. Find the find the images if you need us. Just don't don't hesitate to message us for for the links there. It's they're they're worth the time to go and see.

They're really cool cards, that Xena is is awesome where it says last time is now awesome. On to sort of some news coming out of the stranger things edition of raw that we covered last episode. Tops now released stranger thing parallel cards. I think these are some of the coolest looking Tops now cards that they've done. I I I will confess.

I bought a significant number of the Becky Lynch ones just to ensure that I have a good shot at ending up with one of these. Usually, her her print runs tend to be in the 1,000 mark. I I'm probably gonna own about a tenth of the print run. So I really, really want this stranger things card. It looks so awesome with, like, the upside down sort of graphic interpretation that they put on it.

They also have regular versions. There are autographs for Rhea Ripley and E. O. Skye together, but I I think this is a hallmark. Yeah.

No. I'm with Adam on this. Obviously, this will be a one time deal that they did. So I think when these cards when you see these cards years down the road, know all the tops now are, like, a, you know, one time thing or that thing, but this is stranger things. You'll remember a time when stranger things was at the peak of peak and combined with the with raw, these cards look incredible as Adams alluded to that the background's awesome.

I hope you pull a crazy Becky. Do you know if she signed any, or do we not know? She did not. No. I don't they're they're really hesitant with her because I know she still has some redemptions outstanding, and I know she doesn't do a lot of, like, big stuff for them quite yet.

So I'm hoping in the future we get an auto well, actually, I don't hope because then I'll have to go chase. But, like Edgar Wallach doesn't hope. Yeah. So I I wanna I wanna keep it I wanna get some of the nice parallels here. What so what's your strategy?

Like, just for for, you know, hits and giggles here, what is your strategy with buying Tops Now? Do you how do you usually purchase your your your configuration, if you will? This is a hot topic on wrestling card social media. Yeah. So my my luck with TopStyle has been obviously terrible.

But, again, you know, I bought the bought a ton of LeBron, Curry, KD, USA, which everybody and their mother did. So Yeah. You know, the thing with TopStyle card is, like, you just next thing you know, you have hundreds or whatever of the same card. I I think it really comes down to, you know, really the moment and what that moment means to you as the collector and that particular athlete or wrestler. I think it comes down to more of the collecting financial standpoint.

We're like, hey. You want that moment in time. Again, ruin Gelman's gonna look at this Becky Lichter like, yeah. That was the time Ryan ruined it for me. That bet you put it felt, and I wasn't watching.

But he'll remember that when he looks at the card is how Ryan ruined him because he was twenty minutes behind. But again, it's a moment in time. It it means something to the collector for that actual, like you said, athlete or the wrestler. I I'm not big on them, but I love how there's some great inscriptions in there. I I got Neil Peek into the window like a creepy guy.

It's like the podcast with so I I love how they do unique inscriptions, which I've tried to track down some of the sets that he did, some of the other wrestlers. So for me, I'm more of, like, my luck stinks with him. I'd rather just go out and buy that actual one zero one or that card. And I do own a few one o ones from TopsNow because there are many out there, but I think it comes down to you as the collector in that moment in time and what that means to you. I one card I have, and it's not a tops now, and it's here in my heart, and it'll be dear to Adam's heart is Benini Instant did the dual autograph.

They only did five of the Minneapolis Miracle with case Oh, yeah. And I own one. Now back then, you didn't have you could have bought the base card or number. I had the option to buy the autograph. Still in my collection.

So that is kind of a a tops now type ish. But, again, moment in time, legendary moment. I'll never forget where I was watching that in the moment. You won't forget that. But to me, I I just can't I don't care if Case Gidham's nothing anymore.

I don't care if Diggs is a Viking. I don't wanna sell that car because of what it means to me. Yeah. That's a really good point. And I so, like, I tend to buy in bulk, and I know there's people out there that are, like, saying, buy one at a time.

Buy five at a time. Like, no. Get your max discount. Yeah. Buy 20 at a time and get your max discount.

There's this is all random. Like, nothing is gonna change buying one or the other except for you're spending more money to do it that way. You get discounts buying in bulk. I buy a ton of the ones that I want. I buy none of the ones I don't want.

To Ryan's point, it has to mean something to me. Like, some of the premier ones from Netflix last year, I bought a few of those just because I thought the cards looked awesome. But, yeah, I mean, like, they grade really well usually. So, like, if you wanna take this and and grade the cards, spend the $20 or whatever to get them graded, then maybe sell them $50.60 bucks a piece. Maybe you can make $10, $15 a card.

There's people that will wholesale out on eBay that the different stuff that they do. But, I mean, I've gotten really lucky because I target cards with very low print runs. And, like, because it's a lottery and they have, you know, 50 cards for gold and 25 for orange and 10 for black and stuff, the I've walked away with, like, one of each parallel save, the one on ones. I have yet to pull one on one. I have not pulled any of the autographs.

So I I think that's that's what tops now is all about. It's all about the moment. But, you know, in wrestling, other than you know, like, because in in baseball, it's, like, every day. Yeah. Like, NBA, it's, like, every day.

Like, wrestling, you get it, like, once a month, so they're more special. And that's why I think the wrestling ones are more successful is because they really focus on big moments like that Drew McIntyre I was showing earlier in the in the show here. So I think, like, for collectors out there, like, are these gonna be the most expensive examples for any of these wrestlers? They're The John Cena where he got a piece of his sock and maybe has a cool inscription, like, those are gonna be huge carbs. The dual autograph with Roman Reigns and The Rock, huge car.

The triple autograph, huge car. But the individual stuff where it's just kind of the parallels, maybe you get lucky, you get a $100 back on a $100 order, but then you get to remember kind of what those moments are all about. And for me as a collector similar to Ryan, I I tie these to moments in my life and the nostalgia behind them, and I think that's a really good representation. Yeah. I wanna give a quick shout out before you jump on this.

The Bill Goldberg collector was awesome. Yeah. Him by that and pull that one zero one on people. Was insane. That was a moment there that we all got to share with him as a collector.

Just awesome to see, and that's what these can be. He got it signed too. Like, he I know. Had Goldberg sign it, which was absolutely awesome. Funny.

We're about to talk about something next about that. Yeah. Exactly. So let's get into some more stuff. We're gonna get to the the signed cards here in a minute.

But our our friends at Card Shop Live, Brando, pulled the one zero one black. Monster. One zero one black Liv Morgan from 2022 Prism. I'm gonna be completely honest and say I was not aware this card had not been pulled. It is an absolute monster card.

And I think there's some that are still left in the product, but, like, to think that Liv Morgan was still sitting in boxes after four years is ridiculous. And congrats to the to the guy who pulled it. Congrats to Brando and Card Shop Live. This is probably $10,000 card minimum. Minimum.

Yeah. I I know you you is that your prediction on value too? You think it's gonna be around the Yeah. Do That was the initial first thing that came to my head. I really wonder I don't know if you did your homework on what her highest selling cards ever, but, I mean, minimum 10 k just because I know what some of the other ones went for could be up to 20 depending on the the collector.

You know? I mean, her she's getting normal popular avid. I mean, she was popular in 2012, but, man, like, where she's at right now, what a perfect time to pull this card, and collectors are gonna come out of the woodwork for this one. Absolutely. If the let's just put it this way.

If the a Liv Morgan collector has both of the other blacks in '23 and '24, gotta pay a hefty premium to get this to complete the trilogy, in my opinion. I did the same with the Randy Orton had surfaced from 2012, which was, like, my dream car. Oh, '22. Jeez. Sorry.

Draw my head heads I got 2012 on my mind because we set our fourteen year anniversary as we open. So so, yeah, I again, I I think this is a minimum 10 k card depending on the grade. I don't think the grade matters to me when it comes to these cards. Again, other people could value differently, but a little more in collector, they may wanna pay more for the grade. I'm more of buy the card, not the grade.

So I think it doesn't matter. These are these are tough to grade too. There's a lot of issues in 2022, that 2012. So, again, I think we're on agreement minimum 10 up to $20.25 depending on the potential buyer. Yeah.

I mean, when you saw her her some of her cards have have gone for more than that. I think her flawless gem just stole recently. It was out of the case because someone tried to grade it, didn't hit mid grade or something like that. What a stupid play. We'll get that.

Let's let's not talk about that right now. But Tip by herself. Yeah. Exactly. So I think, like, the the flawless card sold recently, that was the one zero one logo gem.

That sold for huge money. The past and present sold for 12 k. I think that was probably her top sale. But if, you know, some of these super factor autographs and stuff like that, Prism Black autographs, I know if they resold today would probably beat the sales that they had back in '23 and '24, even the '25. She's got up 20 to 30%.

I was looking on card letter before her her stuff is just going off the wall right now. But this is just a huge pull. Again, congrats to my my buddies at Card Shop Live. But, yeah, I the he has a ton of collectors. I think so many of them are gonna be hunting this card.

I can think of a number of them off the top of my head. So we'll have I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hurt their their potential to get this any further. We'll move on a little bit just to save them some money, maybe be in the hype for this card. We also have one more Prism Black story that I wanna cover, and then we'll get on some big sales here. The Tiffany Stratton 2023, speaking of big Prism Black one o ones, listed on eBay, no signature, completely completely clean.

And I posted it on Twitter saying, oh, wow. This is a big card. I was reminded by, Steve Palmieri here that, this card was previously signed. Someone had taken it to a signing with Tiffany Stratton, and in black Sharpie across the front, she signed her name, full signature, completely covering the bottom of the card. It's been wiped and relisted on Comsie for some reason.

I don't that's sort of a choice. But, you know, what was like, are you if you were a Tiffany threatened collector and you saw autograph 101, I know how you're gonna feel about that. But how would you feel now that the card is clean and wiped? Are you concerned at all of condition, altered, whatever? Like, how what's your take here?

I mean, the card, no question's altered. I mean, there's been some chemical base to this card. So in in my opinion, when it comes to that, I feel like that's messing with, like, a painting or whatever. I think you're you're tarnishing, you know, a true, you know, one zero one piece at my point. I I'm 50 I'm indifferent on the getting it signed.

I'm okay with it from the standpoint. If you're gonna get signed and keep in your collection like the Goldberg Collector did, we know it's that's fine. I don't I don't care. But whoever did this, again, cool to see she signed her full name versus, you know, the Tiffany Tiffany she signs out. But, you know, you ruined the card, didn't ruin the card.

If you kept the card, fine. Now the card's really ruined because, obviously, it's been wiped over. It's there's some type of base to it, which I I'm not all about that type of stuff. I'm not all into, you know, people trimming cards, people putting a chemical on a card. I think you're tarnishing a card.

I think you're you're damaging it. Other people think it differently. It adds value, blah blah blah. But, again, this situation that we know, this was signed. This there's no other one.

This is it. You know? So I'm not a fan of that. I don't I believe if enough awareness is out there, it will hurt the value of this card selling. But, again, you know, if you're gonna get signed, keep understandable.

This is the second one we're seeing. We saw the John Cena one, the the flawless. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I know you were oh, yeah.

I know. Again, you know, and, again, you're gonna keep it fine, whatever. But if you're gonna try to sell it, I don't think you're helping it. I think a collector is gonna be like, that wasn't signed. That was never signed.

You know? You're better off taking, like you know? Not even at the of the case. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. I know we're get we're getting that we're we're touching buttons with Adam here. Oh my god. So I have the the Becky Lynch flawless gem one of one. Somebody took it out of the case and graded it with CGC.

Nothing against CGC. Very much against the person who decided that this was the card that they wanted to grade out of the encased holder. Same thing with the John Stena. You just don't remove the cards, the flawless cards from the encased holder. It's just it's not worth it, especially in wrestling where grading really isn't as big of a deal.

But the and there's photo evidence here for the Tiffany Stratton. We're not just making this up. You if you're on YouTube with us, you can see the photo evidence. It was signed. It's not anymore.

This is not something that we're alleging or anything like that. This is photo evidence. And I listen. I I wrestlers have hundreds of cards to sign. I love getting cards signed.

When I met Becky, she I had her signed cards, expensive one, but they weren't they weren't one o. And I think the reason is I have the one o ones for her to sign. She has hundreds of other cards that I can deface and keep for my personal collection that if I ever die or whatever my kids, like, they're not it's not gonna be scrawled across the front. Like, that's a huge, huge problem for for a lot of people. And I I think for us, as collectors, if you wanna keep it in your own collection, you own the card.

It's your thing. Do what you want. But if you're expecting to get higher resale value, I just I just don't see it. But, yeah, I think this card's altered. I think it's gonna have a an negative impact on value.

It was altered to begin with being signed, but taking the signature off You're better off keeping the signature on at that point. You bet. At that point, it's done. Wait. You you you could've left it.

You could've got it slabbed authentic with auto, and then I think that would actually help. In this point, anybody who's fully aware that this was signed and wiped, it it needs to be public knowledge. Whoever buys this does need a graded I'm hoping the person who buys it is a tiffy collector that is going to keep it, and then they're okay with it. And that's fine. I'm I get that.

And and, again, you know, it just Yeah. I talked to my buddy Nathan who owns the one of one from 2022, the biggest Tiffany's brand there is. Hands down. And he want he was interested, but he's afraid. Like, I I I don't know if I'm sharing something that not supposed to, but he is definitely nervous that it's gonna get an altered grade.

Alright. Let's move on to some big sales. Let's start with one that literally put me through my chair here. A rock kaboom, and I'm showing the card ladder results here. A rock kaboom from twenty twenty three revolution recently sold $4,400 in a PSA 10 holder.

I am blown away. I these cards have been creeping up and creeping up and creeping up. And if you missed your opportunity, that opportunity is now gone. But $4,400, Ryan. Well, you know what's great about this is I actually picked up one of these as a PSA 10 at the national with the Roman Reigns nine and other ones and just threw them in a box in my in my wrestling non PC, but I just I missed the boat to begin with, and I screwed up.

And I I'm not I'm not I'm one that's like, I'm not gonna get down to downtown, the coon, the color blast. These are rare. These were one, a 16 box master case, and it's a pretty extensive checklist too, and it was a one time deal. I wish they would have done golds and greens. They didn't.

Yeah. But what's crazy about this is, yes, that's a great number. But when these first came out, when the product released, these were still doing three to four to five grand raw at the time things corrected themselves as they should have, but these are trying up. Kabooms, they only did one year of kabooms. Again, one year downtowns.

We could get a different story about the downtowns. These kabooms are amazing. They're incredible. I'm a fan of them. I've got few wardens.

My kids got some brays. I've started putting them back, but just see that this is me seeing it for the first time when Adam put that up there. So I'm like, fist pumping if you're watching other thing. If you're just listening, I'm like, yes. I made a good buy by buying that.

So days are not done going up. These are gonna continue to go up as the years go down. Yeah. One time deal. Again, there's no golds of 10.

There's no green one on ones. These were just it. And they're not fixed stock. They're a thin stock type card too. So love these.

Whenever they did this rock hard, I was pumped. I wanted one, got one, waited. Think I got it at the right time. But, again, if you're on the verge of thinking about getting a kaboom, get it soon because Adam's putting it out there. This stuff is gonna keep going up.

Yeah. I just wrote an article today on Main Event Wrestling Cards, talking about sort of the repack buyers and some of the inventory hunters that had already by the way, Adam. Yeah. They are targeting these cards. And they're targeting these cards that are highly desirable.

They have accessibility with other sports. Collectors across the spectrum want them. Huge names, Cena, Roman, Rock, Austin, Undertaker, Hogan, like, all these guys, and there's only one. Did you show us the only one that I picked up? Yes.

I did. The the signed one? Yes. Oh, man. That that, I don't wanna get rid of.

That's unique to me. That's so cool. Yeah. Oh, gosh. So, no, great cards.

So, like, you could yep. Yeah. So I think, like, if you're looking to get pick up the kabooms, like, the I I call them Highlander cards, cards that are there can be only one. And that's I love that. You're showing our age here, Adam.

I know. Yeah. He said He probably know, like, what is what is hitter. What is literally get back to the eighties. Go educate yourself, people.

Go as a king yourself. Be be cinephile. Anyways, so, yeah, I think these are gonna be really cool. And, yeah, I've never been a fan of Kabooms, but I own the Becky. I would I there's no way I'm ever selling it.

Like, these cards are are you know, they're they're pieces of history in that respect. And as as I think Brett was talking about or maybe it was on one of his carb the podcast he does with one of his guests, he was talking about, like, you know, these are things that are going to stand the test of time, and I think they could end up they're not gonna be PMGs, but they're gonna be something that's, like, similar in that respect, especially for wrestling when there's only one version. No golds. No greens. Can you imagine what a green kaboom of the rock would do?

I mean, that's probably a $100,000 card at this point. Yeah. But, anyways, nether sale, huge number. This is the the I'm gonna try and say the name, Apurachka of Kairi Sane autograph with some awesome inscriptions sold recently best offer on eBay for $3,200. This might be Kairi Sane's top sale.

I know she has a lot of collectors and a lot of rabid collectors that love her one on one stuff. She loves to do inscriptions like this. She has the kanji on there. That's awesome. And this card is is absolutely gorgeous.

And, you know, the pink works for the for for the wrestlers. They call it the the paparachka or the papa because it's the sapphire. That's the top sapphire that you can get, and this is from top sapphire. I don't know how many people in wrestling are aware of why they're pink, but that's why. And I think there's a really cool card.

I'm shocked it's sold for this high, but, I mean, the tops one on ones with the inscriptions, man, these are these are a desirable card. Yeah. No. Actually, I call him mister Papa Giorgio. Just text Jordan.

That's what I call him. Mister Papa Giorgio. That's why I'm like, I'm not gonna try to pronounce the mister Papa Giorgio. How do say it? Like, I don't mind knowing how to say it.

Yeah. Mister Papa Giorgio. That's what I call it. So, yeah, we actually had in our shop. We had the Jade Cargo one zero one redemption get pulled.

And, actually, no, it wasn't for our shop. It was holding us. We got a break. Jerry works for me, sold it to, I believe, Kevin New York Roach ended up buying it, I believe. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. He does. So great.

No. I they did a good job of these this inscription, again, for the the listeners out there, unbelievable with the Kanji on there, Ahoy, does it say private Pirate princess. Pirate princess. I mean, this is time put in. These are my favorite types of cards, not just being the parallel, but the amount of time they put in to do all these inscriptions is what it's about, and that's what brings the collectors even closer to the actual card in the moment the wrestlers sign that.

It's nothing like anything else. Like, he's doing Highlander. They could be only one. Yeah. And I think, your Kofi Kingston still is the best of the best.

But And then my kids pull that, and I never thought in my life and I I have Kofi's been around a long time. I was like, I'll never need a Kofi in my collection. Man, that is awesome car to me. Other people were indifferent about it because it kinda went viral Like, gripping me on the coach. Yeah.

And I'm like, dude, this is unique. The the time that he put into this, this had to take a minimum five minutes to do this, which is awesome. And and again, not one I'll ever sell because moment in time, old with my kids, Kofi Kingston, only Kofi I need in my collection don't ever need another one. He actually reached out to me about that card and said, like, yeah. He he sent me a message on Twitter.

I think I posted it back in '22 or '23, whatever it was posted, because I I shared your photo. You you gave me permission to do that. And he reached out and said, oh, man. I had so much fun doing that card. I think I even shared the picture that was taken of him doing the inscription, which was cool.

So another big sale here. This is from the the tops bathing ape set that was released a few months ago or a month ago at this point. Liv Morgan, one of one foil fractor, $3,000. So we were just talking about the the Prism Black being a huge card. This is the sticker autograph, one of one foil fractor, $3,000 on eBay best offer.

This is not a shock. This I I I think is is probably right where I had it. I think Rhea Ripley where Steve got his, was around 5,500. So this might even be a little low, but it's it's a huge price. You know, it's from an affordable product.

Think one of these still turning at under $200 a box. Yeah. You know, just a kind of a a sticker push type product, but it kind of fills the void for a rust and collector at the price point where it's gonna happen. So for this to do this number from a what we like call an affordable rusting type product not being on card, not being inscription, great number for this card. And, again, perfect opportune time for Liv.

I'm glad I got some nice Wood Morgans upstashing for the national right now. Again, I I just she could stay healthy, man. Skye's she's already been there multiple times, but she's just only gonna continue to rise in this industry. Yep. Agreed.

Last one we'll cover here. I'm only bringing this one up because of who it is. So Vince McMahon signed for two sets for tops. One of them was 20 the the trans Trans senate. He did two or three years of trans Three years of that.

Yeah. So he did three years, 2019, 2020, and 2021. There weren't many cards. I think, like, 55 of each. He has a super fractor autograph.

I know Drake Magruder owned that for a while. He also signed for tops fully loaded. This is one of the fully loaded signatures. It's a mid nine and a PSA holder sold via auction, and I did verify this wasn't shield by the the person who tends to to go after auctions like that. And it is $2,259 it's sold for.

Considering all the controversy, considering all the stuff that's flying around Vince McMahon at this point, deserved controversy in a lot of ways. He's still selling for massive money. Yeah. It's funny. You must have known what I picked up at the national because I picked up one of these cards identical raw on my end, and, I've got several Vince McMahon's in my collection I put back regardless of what he did, which is obviously, I'm not gonna go into it.

But at the end of the day, when he is gone, he's always gonna remember for what he built and what he brought to the wrestling community, the wrestling era, who he was as as a kind of a boss of wrestler, not for who he was behind closed doors, I guess you could say. So I feel like I feel like even though his autograph were is signs of Fernand Morenci, the V check back in back in the day football, if anybody can remember that, the V check. You know, his autograph isn't the best, let's be honest, but I still think it's crazy to say that. Still I think it's such grossly undervalued for his rare. You'll never get another I don't think we've ever seen another Never.

In Sankard. And I think that his stuff is still affordable if you're willing to put behind put past the stuff that he is did as a human being and brought what he did and brought an empire through the wrestling world and and took down his biggest competitor. You know, it's still think if you see it from that standpoint, you need to get one, and there's only what are we talking? Less than 300 total bits of man on a I there's 40 of these, and then there's maybe 55 per year for for Transcendent or something, 25, 10. I don't even know.

But, anyways, like, there's not many. And tops really had it. When these came out, those before all the controversy really had taken a hold, and these were ginormous cards. Like, we were like, the buzz was palpable. The buzz was was very big.

I'm not gonna try and say the word again. And, like, the people collectors were like, we finally have a chance to get a Vince McMahon wrestling card signature. I don't even think he's had that many wrestling cards, let alone signature cards. Topps did a huge, huge job of of bringing this to the collector. To your point, people still collect Chris Benoit stuff.

So, I mean, they're gonna collect Vince McMahon. Yep. And I think, like, it's important. His his role in wrestling history will never be forgotten, and he's I I would expect like, he's in his eighties right now, I think, from what I I mean, like, he doesn't have much time left as much as that, you know, is a kind of a trigger for a lot of people. But I think, like, the these are very rare signatures.

They will never be again. The WWE has completely severed ties. This doesn't happen. Yeah. And, again, I think the thing goes you know, I think the biggest phrase that goes in, you live long enough to become the the The villain.

The villain. And I think that goes hand in hand with him. I think if he would've gone, we never would've found out, but you never know. So, yeah, what's crazy about Fully Loaded back in the day in 2020 this product was fifty forty to sixty hours a box then. It was and it was loaded.

Like, was Loaded. Yes. Got it. It was affordable to rip. It was it was at a price point.

I mean, it was hard to pull something like this, obviously, being only 40 of this one, but it was affordability. You got one card, and it would be either on, like, a mat or, like, piece of whatever. I mean, I'm I've looked enough fully loaded in my title. It's a lot of fun product for in fact, it was great. Bang for your buck.

Yeah. Alright. Let's we got about ten minutes left here. Let's talk about our title match topic for the week. This is gonna be something that Ryan and I will both weigh in on.

So this came sort of out of the we we posted a lot of content around book to last last week. We had a lot of feedback from the community, including some, you know, some interesting takes. So here's the topic that I wanna cover. Over the last five years, collecting wrestling cards has changed dramatic thanks to an expanding collector base, growth and value, popularity of the niche area. What are the good and bad things in your opinion, Ryan, that come with this new world order of wrestling cards, brother?

Oh, man. Could go on days about this. So yeah. Basically, I mean, I think the good thing is the I get you know, the content, the social media, everything like that, the wrestlers getting involved. I think it's bringing more awareness to, hey.

There's wrestling cards. I think, you know, they've taken wrestling cards to the next level. I think Benini really took that reins and really set the standard for what a collector wants that Topps has it back, and now they're gonna be like, okay. What are the things they did? Let's take it.

I think that's good because the the awareness is out there now. The more people are vocal with it. Wrestling cards used to not be, oh, you collect wrestling. You watch wrestling. Cards are, in my opinion, kinda cool.

You know, watching wrestling is kinda cool. It's so easy to watch it now with the Netflix deal too has brought so much awareness with them traveling the world. I think it's just put more eyes on it, more collectors, more people transitioning going, oh, why like this in football and basketball? But I watch wrestling every Monday. Why am I not collecting wrestling cards?

But I think that's good. However, the bad things is you can't buy things like you used to for the affordability of the price. I think the price has shifted not just in the wax, but as far as what wrestling cards bring. You know, wrestling cards, three to five years ago used to bring you know, one on ones used to bring them, I would say, somewhat of a fraction of what they bring now. We weren't seeing these type of record breaking numbers.

That brings more people in. Are those people coming into this landscape now? Are they in it for the collecting? Are they in it from the monetary standpoint of, I'm gonna buy this and gouge that wrestling collector? And I do think we see a lot of that, which is unfortunate.

It happens all over the other sports. It just does. And wrestling has started seeing some of that. What the one thing, again, I'll get back to, and I stand by this, is the wrestling card community. There's no other one like it.

It's the best card community there is out there. Too many people look out for so many other people, and it's getting those cards in the right hands before it gets in the wrong hands that gets into the right hands. And then that person has to pay a premium. So I think I I see good and bad. And, again, I could go on this forever, but that's my standpoint.

Just a brief summary. Yeah. It was mean of me to put this with so little time to talk about it because this is really a whole podcast in itself. But, yeah, I mean, like, I've talked about this on my site a lot. Like, I think in order for a company like Topps or Panini or Upper Deck or whoever Leaf, whoever is making the wrestling cards to want to invest, They have to see growth.

They have to see the community being invested. They have to see the popularity grow on social media. They wanna see the things that I think a lot of people who don't like the growth because things get more expensive root against it. Like, that's really where I think a lot of this the card market has to sustain that growth in order to get better checklist, better technology in the cards, on card versus sticker. Like, those all take effort and time that a card company is not going to invest unless they see that the that's worth their while.

And I think, like, they we've we've talked about, like, WWE world, you and I of, like, hey. It's a loss leader right now, but it's eventually gonna be, like, the fanatics best loss leader right now, but it's gonna be huge down the road to build that awareness, build that sort of market for the cards. And I think in order to show that, you have to bring more people in. And I think that there's gonna be some dissension among people who you know, collectors exist in this paradox. We all want the value of our collections to go up.

We all want to make our PCs more valuable because it validates the money that we're putting into it and the time that we're spending, but we also wanna get cards at the cheapest possible price. So it's like, you can't have both. And so I think, like, that's where like, one of the negatives is, like, it's it's gonna be tougher for people to get what they want. Like, there's gonna be more demand. The basic economics of this are not gonna work out for people who wanna rip wax.

That was one of the biggest reactions I think I got on social media to our first episode is I can't find any WWE wax. I know you, yourself, as a shop have struggled with that as well. I know other people, breakers that I've talked to struggle to get product. I mean, like, there's there's a double edged sword here in a lot of ways. But I in the bottom part of this, I I and, like, how we should approach the people who are kinda rooting against this success.

Like, I wanna specifically tell those individuals, I remember what it was like when things were down. I lived through the mid 2 thousands in this card market when there was only 1,200 shops nationwide. I know what that narrative sound like. It is abysmal. It is doom and gloom.

Prices are cheaper, but no one is having a good time. And it's just like no one should ever root against the success of this hobby unless there is something that is actively preventing you from having fun. Like, I get, like, if you're not a gambler, if you're not this, you're not that, those things may not speak to you. Luckily, there's so many outlets to participate in this hobby. There's so many places you can go to get your fix, and it doesn't have to be digital repacks.

It doesn't have to be breaking online. It can be just buying singles on eBay. It can be trading with your friends, going to events. Like, all of these things have access points and will continue to have access points. I think it's really important to understand things are not gonna go back to 2010 when wrestling cards were $20 a box.

They're not gonna go back to 2017 when it was $60 a box. I don't even think they're gonna go back to 2022 when it was $200 a box, but that's okay. Like, I think there's there's ways for us to be successful as collectors even if we're not necessarily engaging in a hobby the same way we were in all of those three gates I just No. Spot on. I I mean, I'm basically agree with you almost everything you said.

You said it well, my friend. I mean, I know this is, again, a great opportunity for you to to really speak your mind, not just through into text or anything, but I I spot on. And the biggest thing is why I jumped big into wrestling is because fun. I have fun ripping it, enjoying it, collecting it, watching with my family. That is why I left basically collecting LeBron James cards late because I just wasn't having fun anymore.

You know? Obviously, these cards kept getting higher. We're seeing that with wrestling. And, to your point, yes, you want your collection to go up, but you're collecting and me collecting. And why I used to collect LeBron was because I wanted to collect because it was fun.

That's who I the athlete that or that wrestler who I wanna collect. And if they go up and they become worth more money, that's great. But that means if I wanna continue to collect those, I gotta pay more money in order to do so. So it's a catch 22 in that sense. But, no, everything you spot on, man, again, it's gotta be more readily accessible for collectors to get.

That is key. How are we gonna get people into wrestling cards if they can't buy even a blaster box Agree. For $20.30, $40? We've got you know, you do that with the other sports. We've gotta get that.

I know they have more constraints. Obviously, baseball's been on forever, everything, but I hope to see that continued growth. Let's the biggest thing I'm hoping for right now is that there's no more delays in universe. It needs to come out for the wrestling and the wrestling collectors the week of mania or sorry, Rumble, which is perfect opportune time for a product like that. Let's hope that it happens again this year.

I hope there's no delays. Yeah. I think I think that's a really good way of putting it. Like, there there has to be product. I I don't want box I don't want box of the finest to be at $500.

Like No. That's not what I'm rooting for. What I'm rooting for is more people coming in, more to share this community with. I've always said that that's my goal in writing main event wrestling cards. That's always why we did the party at the national.

Like, that's why we do these things because we want more fellow like minded individuals to to do, to to do stuff like this, to have this podcast and have it listened to by a lot of people. And I I like like, that's why I've always like, the Card Foundation guys have been doing this forever. Like, they've been doing these these podcasts. There there's so many different podcasts out there covering wrestling cards. We're literally the newest to the party, but we have those opportunities because the community continues to to to be supportive.

And I do have a run-in topic for really quick because Brett brought this up, and I think it's a it's a key point to cover. There is gonna be a run-in here on our bonus topic. And we posted the Brett posted the reel of, of us talking about some of the things comparing football and wrestling. There was a very heavy contingent of respondents that said, you cannot compare wrestling cards and football cards just because of scale and size. I vehemently disagree with that.

I'm curious to see what you think because this is something that it was a lot of fun to respond and have the debates sort of in the comments, but I'm curious what your thoughts are. Yeah. No. I think it was taken out of context. Obviously, it's just a short clip and everything like that.

There was obviously more we discussed about it, But I did like the fact it was engaging and people were agreeing and disagreeing, and I thought that was you know what? Hey. Bad publicity is good publicity. I think it was just more people defending it and not really understanding where we were going with the segment because it was just a short clip from the first podcast. But, again, I I think we were comparing it to kind of like, hey.

To the football collector listener to get to understand where we're trying to come from or the standpoint, it was nothing like, you know, we're not comparing WWE cards to football cards. We're not even remotely there. But are we seeing a growth pattern? For sure. I mean, football cards, now we're doing crazy numbers where outside the quarterback, nobody really cares.

But, again, I think that's the biggest thing as I don't think we we got the right I don't think it was kind of the right length to really get around the point you were going with. No. No. It's fine. And and I think, like, we were comparing, like, you know, John Cena, you know, his run and stuff and what it means to be, you know, a a goat in this hobby and whatever.

And we were talking about Bron Breakker and Josh Allen and stuff like that, but also that Prism in football behaves a certain way and has a lot more longevity. Wrestling is growing because I think there's such a small usage of of that license because they were prevented from going further. I think when I came into wrestling cards, I came from sports, same with you. And, like, I collected football cards. I collected baseball cards.

I'm very knowledge. I stay up to date on all the sports card content. I listen to all the people that make sports card content. I love talking with Chris Hoge on card ladder about his takes on things. Like, I'm very much involved in the sports hobby even though I don't collect those cards.

And my website has been around since, like, 2006, 2007. So I've always had sort of my hand in the sports industry, and I use that knowledge to basically paint a a picture and a road forward in wrestling cards because, you know, history tends to repeat itself in that respect. And I think those parallels and accessibility that you can draw between football, basketball, and the way that those things perform and how they're contingent on specific areas of their own markets, The ecosystem in wrestling are contingent on very similar aspects of that market. Buying the GOATs in wrestling started to go up the same time that really it started taking off in in the mainstream sports. The the Prism, Golds and the Prism Blacks and all those other things, those don't come from nowhere.

Like, there's established value patterns that a lot of that come from, and we can use our knowledge from sports, especially you being a shop owner and a dealer that can easily draw those parallels. I think it's a really key focus for wrestling collectors to have that education, have that accessibility. Because without it, you're you're kind of fumbling around in the dark a little bit. And I think to the people that are saying, well, wrestling cards are just gonna snap back to where they were, you know, five years ago. There's no way this can like, do you not understand that five years is a pattern of success?

Like, this has been going a specific direction for half a decade. Like, at this point, like, you you have to understand there the new floor has been established. It may there may be a correction period just like there was in football, just like there was in basketball in 2023 and 2024, but that doesn't mean that it's not gonna happen the exact same way here in wrestling. But I think the the trajectory man, I cannot talk today. The trajectory of this industry has has shown us that wrestling cards are here to stay.

We are booked to last. This is really something that I think is gonna drive an immense popularity for a long time, mainly because you have a machine like fanatics behind. Yeah. Yeah. With the relationship that they have with WWE.

And, again, you're seeing these inscriptions, these match more routes. We're seeing things that Panini didn't have the relationship to do that stuff. And I think it's gonna continue to grow. These cards, the the the WrestleMania patches are gonna bring record breaking numbers for every wrestler thinking outside the box, taking the element of, oh, baseball does this with the rookie debut patches. Let's do a WrestleMania patch.

Now we see the LeBron patch. Again, these things go hand in hand. If you're in this into other sports and everything like that, you know, you're gonna see some trends. You are. Again, we're talking a fraction.

If that was a Tom Brady black, what would it be worth? Astronomically crazy. But if you believe John Cena is the greatest of all time, which he has the most titles ever, arguably, he's the greatest of all time. You compare that to a Brady Black, it's gonna bring astronomical. And there's how many years of Brady Blacks?

I mean, it started, you know, back in, what, 2012, you know, to '20 this is the last year we're getting it. We only got three years wrestling. I think at the end of the day, again, I believe so much in the prism run and the black that, you know, I believed enough to bid up to what I bid on the rock 22 black, and I've been vocal about that because I that was years ago when I was bidding, and I believed what this market was gonna do, what this wrestling was gonna do. And people are like, whoever paid this is a crazy guy. Well, I didn't pay it, but I was the second guy, and I'm not crazy.

I believe in this industry. I believe in the hobby with wrestling cards. I believe there's gonna be continued growth. We're seeing the trends up. You show me the Kaboom PSA 10.

We're seeing all these record breaking numbers, and I think we're gonna continue to see it as it continues to grow. You gotta remember, we haven't even started the road to WrestleMania where the wrestling cards are the hottest Right. The end of this month through April, even through, you know, the national and up until SummerSlam. And then I think then you hit the cold. We're still in the we're heating up.

And, again, wrestling cards are always bringing peak numbers outside of cards that are rare they don't service during that from Royal Rumble up until SummerSlam because the storyline, everybody's more engaged. We've got product coming out. You know, we're about to embark on this and see. I'm curious what we're gonna see in two months from now, three months from now, what numbers we're looking at because of where we're at in the hype of what WrestleMania does. Yeah.

And and I you set up at The National every year. Most of your table is a combination of sports and wrestling. I think you sold through your wrestling so fast last year that you couldn't even, like that spot of your table was empty for most of the show, unfortunately. I'm I'm so sad of the things I stole that I wish I still had, but, you know, I'm I'm rebuilding. You know, I've got a lot of stuff from you, Adam, recently.

And and everybody's like, are you know, I wanna do something like, guys, I've gotta hoard. It's so hard to build this up. I don't have not I don't have a lot of flawless I can just rip anymore. I only have two cases that I told myself I cannot rip, but, you know, it's so hard to rebuild. There's just not enough out there, obviously, when you get a handcuff of so many releases in a year.

To do what we wanna do next year at national to build that atmosphere, that wrestling setup. It is it's a year in the making. I I was buying cards at the national to hold for a year. I'm buying anytime we get a wrestling card, I I still wanna get wrestling cards out, but they gotta pick and choose my battles where where when I'm gonna sell this. And, I'll probably put some out in Chicago next month in March because, obviously, we're leading up to Mania.

But what's gonna happen is these cards are just they just go so fast. They're so liquid right now. And, again, I think we we need to touch at some point about the repacking of cards. Hold on. Over account.

Again, that's something we need to be discussed machine. Because you and I are are big on those. AR does. A lot. And that's something for another time.

But, again, I I just you just you I see basketball, football, baseball walk in every day, and hockey, I just you don't see enough wrestling walk in and on a monthly basis. So when we see it, we get excited. Yeah. Shout out to the Blez brothers in their slot machine. God, that's so addicting.

We'll talk about that next week. Yeah. Stay tuned. We're we've got a lot more to come in the run of this show just the next couple of weeks. Very excited.

Thank you for sticking around. We ran a little over, but it's so where you can tell how passionate we are about this. You can tell how much we we care about this community and why we did this podcast. And and so I think you'll you'll you'll hear that over the course next week. Again, you can find me.

My name is Adam Gellman. You can find me at Main Event Wrestling Cards, www.patreon.com/ Main Event Wrestling Cards on Instagram at WWE Gellman. He is Ryan Bannister of RBI Crew seven, RBI Crew seven dot com in O'Fallon, Missouri, celebrating fourteen years. Congratulations, Adam. You.

Fourteen years yesterday, and we forgot to post about it. Good job, Daniel. Fourteen years now. Alright. Well, it's been fun this week.

We'll be back next week. Don't forget to subscribe to Stacking Slabs Patreon, www.patreon.com/stackingslabs. Thank you for sponsoring the show, Ryan, and and we'll see you guys next week. Always come off top rope. We'll be back.

Thank you. See you next week. Really enjoying the dialogue. I know I am learning a thing or two about how I'm thinking about wrestling cards in my approach since this show has launched. Make sure you go support RBI Cruise seven, the biggest and best hobby shop for wrestling card collectors in the land.

Appreciate your support. Make sure you hit the follow button for more Book to Last and other content properties that are being shared here on the Stacking Slabs Network. Thank you so much. Take care. We'll talk to you soon.