Welcome to episode three of Booked to Last, a wrestling card podcast for the card collecting community that goes from the top rope to top loaders. We are your hosts, Ryan Bannister of RBA crew seven, Adam Gellman of main event wrestling cards here on the stacking slash 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 could find the Patreon at patreon.com/stackingslabs, and you can also follow Adam and I on social media at r b I crew seven and at w w gellman, respectively. Let's ring that bell and get this slobber doctor on the way.

Hi, Adam. Hey. How's it going, man? Are you having a good week? I am.

I I was a little worried. I didn't have a voice for these podcasts. I was kinda freaking out come Saturday morning. I really couldn't talk because I lost it in Dallas. It was like a mini national, but don't worry.

Voice is back. We're good. Okay. So the the pipes are golden for right now at least. They're golden for now.

It's kind of weird. Like, I used to lose my voice at the national as the days go on. Now I lose it early, and it gets better by the end of the week. It's weird. My my voice is just it's just different.

So And you you had a pretty eventful sort of time in Dallas, didn't you? I mean, like, I I was watching it sort of unfold as you're, like, texting and everything and as you're posting on Instagram. Like, that show looked like it was absolutely nuts. Man, like I said, it best. It is a mini national.

It was a forty eight hour round trip. We flew out at, like, noon here on Thursday, and I was back on a plane noon on Saturday. It was literally a forty eight hour round trip, but I made the most of it. I I'd got to do two dinners with, two groups of friends. One I haven't seen in a long time, so it was awesome.

The other one I talked to frequently, so that was great. And then just the networking is amazing. Like like I said, I lost my voice because I just love to see everybody. It's good to see. But the cards, that was a bonus.

And I went there with somewhat of a game plan, but that game plan went out the window for many reasons. If you saw what I picked up on social media, some of that was predetermined, but most of it was not. I knew what I was gonna do with, Matt Kennedy, the Griffey guy, and I knew that THC Bryant was gonna set up and then Kevin from roadshow would be there. Those, kinda had things I was gonna do outside of that. It was just whatever happened happened, and it is unbelievable the cards in that room.

It is you could see one limited logos Jordan in a case and then walk through room and find four more. It's just insane. Wow. Just Yeah. I saw I saw some of the stuff.

I was talking with a few of the guys over there, THC, and I had a back and forth, both from the downtowns and issues there and a few other few other good sort of reports that, like, hey. It's hopping, man. It's hopping. And we'll get to some of the market performance here later on in the podcast because I I know we wanna talk through some numbers. But, yeah, man, like, I I've heard nothing but great things about Dallas.

It's always good when things are up. Right? It really is. And you could see it, and I had flew out early Saturday morning. So I heard Saturday was the craziest, busiest day at all.

I was watching social media content, heading home, and I just couldn't believe it. Like, it was just a sea of people. You couldn't move it. It it definitely had that national feel when I was there, but it sounds like it two x ed it after I left. So I'm kinda glad I left when I left so I could actually pay it to, you know, see everything.

So That's that's really cool, man. And I I'm glad that that you were able to to have a good time. I know you really had a busy couple of months with holiday mania and everything at the shop. So getting out and getting to hang out with your friends is always fun. Alright.

Let's, let's get into the podcast for this week. We've got a few things on the on the hook. We'll start with the opening pyro and sort of some, some things we're seeing on TV. We'll get into some markets, high spots, and then we'll we'll close out with our title match topic as usual. Lots to talk about, of course, across all of wrestling as always.

It's never never ends. We have you know, Saturday night's main event is shaping up, coming up here. I believe it's soon, maybe this Saturday before Royal Rumble, or is it after? I can't even remember at this point. There's so many shows week to week.

But I think with we talked last week about Drew McIntyre and his new title reign. Got to see him, perform in front of the European crowd. I think they're gonna be back in The United States now. So, really, what they're setting up here is the the landscape leading into the Royal Rumble, leading into elimination chamber, and eventually WrestleMania. We wanted to start this podcast on the road to WrestleMania for that very reason.

But let's let's look at the four competitors that are scheduled to be potentially Drew McIntyre's next opponent. We'll look at how that might impact their card values if they were to be the one. We have Randy Orton, Trick Williams, Damian Priest, and Sami Zayn all won their qualifying matches on SmackDown. They are gonna be facing off probably in the main event in Saturday night, and it's named main of Saturday night's main event. They are the show.

We talked a little bit about sort of the call ups, Trick Williams being one of those we talked about last week. What are your takes? Leave Randy Orton out of this. I know that there's I know that there's gonna be some some some homorism there, but what are you thinking about, like, these four guys? Which one do you think stands out to you as a potential opponent for Drew McIntyre here?

Well, you you did you said it before I could. I actually was not gonna predict Orton to win this match because I want him in the rumble to where it has more down the road type thing. So I honestly, my favorite in this one because of where he's playing at is Sami Zayn at this point. I think that would be a great match. I think because we're in Saudi.

I Trick Williams is really the only, kinda heel on this one. I think it's too early for him to get that opportunity even though, again, I I know you're big on him, and and he does deserve it. He's gonna get his roses, I say, at some point. But I I don't think Damian Priest I think Damian Priest is taking a pin in this match. I don't think you pinned Rick Williams.

I don't think Randy Orton could take the pin, but I also don't wanna make him look weed at this point. I think Priest is in this match probably to take the pinfall for Sami Zayn to win. That's my predict is is Sami Zayn wins this because of where it's at. The pop he's gonna get, you need a really big over face for this match, and I think Sami Zayn makes the most perfect sense for where it's going. Yeah.

And so I think you've got two faces in Sami Zane and Randy Orton. You've got two heel well, I mean, Damian Priest is kind of face at this point too. Kind of. Yeah. I mean, like, Drew McIntyre is a heel, so you need somebody to go up to him as a face.

I think Randy Orton is a likely sort of opponent for McIntyre down the road. I think they've worked well together. Yeah. So I I don't see that happening at Royal Rumble. I think it's probably gonna end up being Sami Zayn.

Now if say if they decide, hey. Sami needs to win the Rumble or whatever, then maybe that changes. But, you know, I think I think overall, like, this is is probably a a little bit of a toss-up. I don't see Trick or Damian really being in a point where they need to be in a title match against Drew McIntyre to show like the Royal Rumble, but it's kind of up in the air either way. I think from a card perspective, though, like, putting Sami Zayn, like, in this match like, Sami has a good following of collectors.

Like, there are people who really like what he's about and and especially I mean, the story they told with the bloodline is still one of the best stories that WWE has done in decades. And I he's still riding that high even years later. And, like, I think he he just he's one of those really likable guys. He just does have he he does not have a single bit of value in this hobby. He has yet to win a world championship.

I think that's likely not gonna even matter if he does. I think at this point in his career, he's a crowd favorite. He's kind of like I'm trying to, like, think of, like, an equivalent of, like, that that that wide receiver or that that guy who bats, you know, eighth or ninth in the lineup, but, man, you love watching them play. I don't know if you have somebody like that that you can like, like, that's gonna be that guy that you just cheer for. Sami's that guy.

I would love to see him get a shot at the Royal Rumble. Do we compare him I'll do a little Vikings. I'll compare him, like, an Adam Thielen, you know, hometown. Yeah. Exactly.

You know, it was was I mean, he was a great was never, like, the true you know, he was kind of a number one for a little bit. I think it just took him to be I'd go I'd go ahead and feel it would be in comparison in the right right receiver standpoint. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, like, he's he's kind of like that Horace Grant even type of thing on the Bulls.

Like, everybody loves, like, the goggles and whatever, but they they have that gimmick, and and Sammy is one of those guys. And I think, obviously, putting him in the main event with Kevin Owens, winning the titles, beating the Usos a couple years back, huge moment for him. He got to have his main event. But, I mean, like, I've never seen him as really a world championship guy. He's kind of always been that supporting character except for that one story with a bloodline.

And I think, like, everybody really wanted to see him win. I think there's been a lot of calls online for him to win the Royal Rumble. I just I it's not something I see. I don't see him really filling that role the same way. Not because I don't like him.

I just think he I love what he does. It's just he doesn't seem like that kind of guy. And the hobby sort of agrees. Like, I don't see any value in his cards. But, you know, Trick Williams, I think you were talking about last week.

I think his cards are undervalued too. He's so much younger. Damian Priest and Sami Zayn and Randy Orton probably closer to the tail ends of their careers than the beginning of their especially Randy Orton. I think we know that. Yeah.

But Trick Williams is still very young. So this he doesn't need this. Like, Trick just being in the match is enough for Trick Williams. Yeah. I think he'll get a For not to interrupt you.

It's I mean, it's his first big main roster match. I mean, what I mean, look at the cast in there. I mean, everybody's holding the world title except Sami Zayn, but Sami Zayn accomplished so much. I mean, there's gonna be a lot of eyes on him. I think he's gotta be the, kind of the the best one in this match.

I think you're gonna see some stuff out of him that you're gonna go, wow. And I think this is where a great opportunity because people are gonna wanna watch this match because the names are in it and the implications behind it. So what better point to put him out there with this crew right here who's done it for so long? Yeah. Exactly.

And I I think it'll be great. This I I I I can't wanna think like this is before the Royal Rumble, though, isn't it? Like, is it this Saturday? This is As we so it's as we're recording, it's Tuesday. I believe is.

So I think it's coming up this weekend. Yeah. Saturday the twenty fourth. Yeah. Twenty fourth is is down there in the corner.

So I I thought it was a Saturday. My my days and weeks are all messed up right now. I know. It's so hard. With with there and then football and everything else going on.

So, yes, it is this Saturday. I I'll be watching this one for sure. I think this is gonna be a great match. We also have the Cody and Fatu match going on. So That'll be great.

Yeah. It's gotta be some good, main event to watch this weekend. Yeah. So this will air on Saturday. So Brett publishes these podcasts.

So by the time you're listening to this, it's likely that we have an outcome for this match, you can see how off on our takes we are. But, given that we, at the time of recording of of this, we are a couple of weeks away. By the time you listen to this on Saturday, we'll be a week out from the Royal Rumble. Nice. My favorite event of the year, I it's it's behind WrestleMania.

It's so much fun. So next week, we'll do two weeks in a row here where we're gonna do sort of like, okay. We're gonna predict the final four for men and women today. And then next week, as the rumble is happening, because it's in Saudi Arabia, it'll happen during the afternoon. You can listen to our picks and then judge us in in lie in real time here.

So let's start with the men. Who do you have for your final four in the ring at the end of the Royal Rumble for the men here to this week? I will be a little biased. I got my boy Orton into the final four. I think he comes out later anyway.

I think Cody Rhodes goes into the final four. I think Roman Reigns goes in the final four, and then I'm gonna take Braun Breaker in the final four. I feel like it's gonna come down. Again, I think Breaker's moment could be in there. I think this could set up, maybe, like, last year how we had the Seth Rollins, Centimeters Punk, Roman Reigns and stuff.

I think this is the final of the Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns match that has no time about applications behind it at Mania, which will be an amazing match. So think something could happen to that conflict where he's gonna cost Cody or vice versa is my guess. And then I wanna I wanna say my boy Orton wins to get, number three if I'm correct. And but, I mean, Breaker's got such a a bright future. I'm gonna leave it up to I'm gonna decide next week who I think wins between Breaker and Orton.

That's me being a little biased, but also kind of that young blood in there, that next big superstar has gotta get in there. I almost went like a Logan Paul Breaker combo, but I I just I don't know. I I feel like breaker's gonna be in that moment. Yeah. I I think that there is there's a lot to be said there.

I think our final fours are probably gonna look pretty similar in that respect. I I'm I'm thinking that of of the people that need to be involved in WrestleMania, we know Cody Rhodes. We know Roman Reigns is likely coming back from Mania. They're not gonna let him sit out. I think Bron Breakker is gonna be involved in Mania.

So then it's kind of like, who's that real fourth person? Is it gonna be somebody like Randy Orton, or could it be somebody a little bit up and coming? Do we see, like, somebody playing like the iron man and making it to the final four? I know that there was an injury scare with Javon Inge Javon Evans. Maybe he gets that role.

I I think they're gonna reserve that last spot for somebody. So I think Cody, Braun, and Roman are are three of the four for sure. I would say maybe they they they take that final four spot. I I would expect coming into elimination chamber that Cody and Roman are gonna find themselves on opposite sides of the ring, and they're gonna need to figure out how to make one of them the heel who works the match as a heel even though they may not necessarily end up being one long term. So maybe it starts with Royal Rumble like it did with Centimeters Punk and Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns last year, which led to an absolutely awesome story.

So Yeah. I I'm I'm really hoping that this this comes into fruition that way. So on the women's side, what's your what's your pick for the women then? I want you to go first in this one. I'll give you kinda my thoughts.

Yeah. So I think so a lot of this depends on whether or not Bianca Belair is able to return from her injury. So she was injured in the fatal or the three way at WrestleMania last year and has not wrestled for almost a year. She had that hand injury. There was surgery on the table, a bunch of other stuff.

If she comes back, I think she's one of them. I think Liv Morgan, obviously, is the other favorite, so they'll probably put the two of them in there. I would guess that we're gonna get something like Roxanne Perez and Liv Morgan either sort of going into an elimination, which puts them on a collision course. And then you have somebody, again, up and coming, I would say, likely, maybe a Julia or something like that where they wanna elevate somebody and and put them into the final four, or it's gonna be somebody like Alexa Bliss as well who has that star power. So those that that would be my direction there that they're going.

Yeah. They're my I'm similar with you, Liv Morgan, for sure. I think it could either be a Roxanne Perez or Raquel Rodriguez. Obviously, Raquel for the strength. Roxanne or her, obviously, in her I think Raquel might be in the title match, though.

So I if they do a Vecare Yeah. Yeah. If they do a Vecare versus Raquel Rodriguez, don't think it's gonna work. Then, obviously, Roxanne's in that situation. And then I'm gonna go Ria down the stretch over Bianca, and then I'm gonna go Soruka.

I'm gonna go the young Soruka. I like that one. I like showcasing her. I think she's got a bright future ahead. That was one we actually Gelman texted me last week.

He's like, how do we leave Soluka off this list talking about, you know, I think she, actually, one of the cards I bought from Brian THC was her prism nine gold, PSA nine rookie number to 10. I I just think it's just so undervalued. I think her stuff has such upside, so especially some of that caliber of the card. Yeah. I can't disagree with Soluka.

I mean, I would love to see her get more focused. I thought there was something with an injury there too. I'm not sure. Again, who knows? But It's it's all up in the air.

I think there's gonna be a lot of returns. I think we see oh, the other another name is, like, Tiffany Stratton too. Correct. Tiffany's been obviously, we missed it. Her.

So I think, like, there's gonna be a lot of returns. There's gonna be Bianca, Tiffany. If maybe they save one. I don't I mean, like, there's a lot of reason why they go the directions they do. I think it all comes down to who the matches are gonna be because if they're planning Bianca Belair versus Jade Cargill, does that happen at elimination chamber, or does that happen here and give Liv Morgan her moment?

I I don't know if they're ready to crown a two time women's Royal Rumble winner yet. So the final four is gonna give us a lot of indications on which direction they head. My girl, I don't think is gonna be even close. I think AJ Lee is gonna take her out. Yep.

So I think I think that well, ahead of this match, she's also the intercontinental champion, so they're not pushing towards her in likely one of the championship matches. So I think, like, there's probably some storyline they're building with AJ Lee and Becky Lynch, but you never know. Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, all of them are gonna be in there. I mean, they can even go somewhere with, like, Lyra Volkuria. Who knows?

But from a hobby perspective so let's take our winners out of it. Let's see who we're gonna win. Who is the best winner to have the most impact in the WWE card market? So if you think about the people that have the most to gain or the most to sort of, establish themselves, with a win at the Royal Rumble, who do you think from the men's and women's side is the best winner for that impact? I think for the men's is Bron Breakker.

I just feel like that his his cards are obviously up from where they were. They were super up his rookie year, and then they kinda went down a little bit even because he was just down in NXT doing different things. So I think Breaker has the most upside for men. And the women, obviously, I wanna say Soluka. I'm just trying to think of, like, Julia, I think she just doesn't have a lot, so that's why I think her cards are much higher.

But I feel like if they're more affordable, she'd have upside because she just hasn't had that big impact yet, I feel like. So it's it's harder to say for the women. I I like Soruko a lot. I think her upside is is massive even though she does she does have a good following. Her cards do sell fairly well.

I'm trying to think of somebody that would be in a lower tier, more affordable that like, look let's look at Uso last year. Let's look at Jay Uso. His cards exploded. I mean, his autograph cards exploded. Yeah.

Used to be $15.20 bucks all day. And then when I went to Chicago in March, the seventh of the show, I brought 15 Jay Usos autos, and the cheapest you got back then was, like, $60 a piece for a sticker auto. So Jay Usos, nobody saw that coming. That was a great oh my gosh. We thought John Cena's winning this.

No way Jay Jay Usos is coming down the stretch. His cards had so much effect from that win. So it'd be great to see somebody who is kind of a sleeper that's sitting in people's boxes that you just don't know about. Like an Austin Theory. Look how cheap his stuff is.

Yeah. Very affordable Austin Theory has so much upside. If he ever gets to that moment, his cards could just explode because they're so affordable. Yeah. I I agree with you on Broadbreaker.

I I mean, there's no other name that's gonna gain as much as he would from a Royal Rumble win. I think he ends up in the match somehow, someway with Centimeters Punk at WrestleMania. I hope he does at least. Or it's formation champion. No.

Yeah. I I think he's the best choice for it. And then that sets him on his collision course for Seth Rollins when he eventually returns from the shoulder. So I I would like to see Braun Breaker exit WrestleMania the champion. How they get there, I'm not sure.

But, I think he's definitely, from a men's perspective, the most of that can gain from this. From the women's side, I mean, like, again, I don't think they're gonna put this on anybody's shoulders, but after after everything that she's gone through, I would love to see Chelsea Green win the Royal Rumble. That'd be that'd be awesome. Chelsea Green has a huge fan base. She's great in any role they play her in.

And even if they, like, do it some our truth type of way where she fumbles her way into a Royal Rumble win. Like, I think Chelsea Green has humongous upside. I really wish they would give her more of a role and then give her more of a chance. I love what she does. I know that she just took an l on, like, a recent episode to somebody I wouldn't have had her lose to.

But, you know, maybe this is like, she she lost the, US title again to Julia. Yep. So, I mean, like, Julia needs that title more than Chelsea Green does. Like, they need to put Chelsea Green into a main event role sooner rather than later. I would love to see her.

So, Ruka, obviously, we've already, you know, sung her praises. I think Roxanne Perez, again, sort of coming back to our final four. Like, her cards we'll get to the generate data here later on in the show, but, like, her cards have really jumped this year for a lot of reasons because she's such a good wrestler, and she's got the personality to sort of carry a a feud. So that that would be great. Even somebody like Oscar or whatever still needs a a legacy where she wins a title at WrestleMania or something.

I don't know. But, there's a lot to say here, and I think we've we've sort of covered the the top contenders here. Next week, we'll pick our winners. We'll really put our name to the fire here and then see who's who's coming out on top. Let's let's transition a little bit.

Let's get into the card market high spots here, and I think we're gonna start here. It's not good news, unfortunately. Tops Universe delayed again. So it was gonna come out on January 30. We now found out that it's gonna come out on February 27, I think, is what it says on the website.

So first off, reactions there, anything that you wanna sort of add in just before we get into the details? Yeah. I was planning a rip in several cases while watching, Royal Rumble this year, so I guess I'll have to go on my stash to do that. So, yeah, it's unfortunate. I think the most unfortunate part is just people can't go to Walmart or Target's whatever to find blasters the week of, you know, kinda wanna get some product to rip at while watching Rumble.

You know? And that's that's key. I mean, last year, like I said, I was in Indy for rumble. Tops Chrome came out. Obviously, this is in Saudi, a little different.

I doubt they're gonna have much more of a presence, stuff like that. But I feel like, you know, there's just not enough access point for people to get product even at an affordable price point. This was gonna come out with blasters, and I think that's just huge to have a release coming out the week of Rumble that starts the road of WrestleMania. There's other constraints that are out of people's control. We've talked about that.

We know Tops is doing the best they can, and they really are. There's other issues that are outlying. Again, it comes down to do you want on card or do you want sticker? And I know Adam will be the same as me. I want on card.

I want these inscriptions. But it gets to the point where we have not had a release since finest besides the the vape. When was finest again? I can't remember. Was that October.

I mean, so I know it's out of Topps' hands, and I know people there are working hard to get this stuff. But from a collector standpoint, it's a bummer. You know? It's, you know, the week of wrestler though sorry. The week of rumble, we thought we'd be joining breaks buying our spots.

We thought we'd be ripping this product, and we get another month. And to be honest with you, I I I mean, at this point, I wouldn't even put my money behind $2.27. I think there could be more delays. And I think it's more of this type of product, maybe printing issues we don't know about that are causing this. So who really knows?

But as soon as we can find out more information, we'll provide that. Yeah. I, I think everybody right now has got pitchforks and, torches out for tops here delaying this product again. I mean, no one at tops wants to delay a product. Like, they're it's not like they're in a conference room.

It's like, hey. How can we piss people off today? Like, they're they they want this product on the market. Obviously, there's some delay here. What that is, whether it's autographs or printing or this or that pack out, who knows?

But, man, this is disappointing. As a collector, like, you know, you wanna take advantage of a big event. And the Royal Rumble is is, like I said, sets the tone for the year last week. I think it's it's so it's like the NFL draft I compared it to on a previous podcast. Like, you wanna have product there to support the biggest moments in the sports that you have licenses for.

Man, this is just such a bummer. And, I think everybody is at their wit's end. Like, it gets to a point where it has impact on the market, right, where you just can't go out and buy the cards you want. You can't get into it with, hey. This person just won the Royal Rumble.

Now there's 80 break spots I can go by to to make sure that I get my fix. Right? So, yeah, huge bummer. What do you think the impact is to the rest of the calendar for the year? We're still expecting Exalted and Royalty to come eventually as well.

Yeah. I think well, we first off have to get Tops Chrome to come out before media because they'll have the buyback program. So I feel like that one has to release, especially being in Vegas. I could feel like I'm assuming that's gonna come out around that time or a little bit before. I don't know.

With with these type of other products, I I think their printing is already done. I feel like they're just done differently. Already. And you gotta remember this, this product here, Universe, is is different type of material, a little bit different. So I'm gonna go with my gut says it's more of a printing issue.

So the other ones may happen beforehand, and this might get pushed back again. I don't know for a fact. But just looking at these type of cards, the type of stock, that could be a lot to do with it. But I I mean, I don't know. Because you gotta remember this is base card heavy.

This product has base cards, and that could be more of the holdup than anything. So I don't know where we're at. I know there could be a point where we get a slew on we go from, like, getting none to maybe enough spam. We might get two to three. I don't know.

It's disappointing from the collector standpoint, like you said, and I get it. And you're right. You know, they they wanna get these products out. They their their deadlines to meet, and it's just out of the hands. And we're we're all itching for something.

You know? Vape is only as successful in my opinion because there hasn't been something for a sticker heavy product. Again, cool cards, but I wasn't jumping on board with it. I've been waiting for this one. At the time, we thought this was coming out in December, and we didn't get it.

So, again, unfortunate. Just makes us want a more. I just hope it doesn't affect the value because we could be going up against, like you said, Exalted Royalty or Tops Chrome. Yeah. I think the the worst thing that can happen for a product is to get mixed in, like, week after week with other products that that all have major major followings or major ex expectations within the group to be able to support everything.

So I think overall, like, having this done the way that it is makes this a a big problem for Exalted and Royalty, especially in those those new brands and stuff like that. So, yeah, overall, like, this isn't good. It's just not good overall. Let's just I wanna move on a little bit rather than harp on on the delays here. So Fanatics Fest, is coming July 16, July 19 at the at the Davitt center Davitt Center, in New York again as the third third year.

Is it third year? Third year. Correct. Third year. Yes.

And, we've got an initial lineup already announced. Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Randy Orton, Liv Morgan, Stephanie Vacair, Tiffany Stratton, Rhea Ripley, Cody Rhodes, you name it. Do you think that this is has become because of the wrestling fans showing up and showing out? Is this the preeminent WWE event, or is it something like WWE World that happens at WrestleMania still for a collector, not necessarily for people who are just going to see WrestleMania? Is this the preeminent WWE collector event?

I I really feel like it is. I mean, it's got dealers. I think the you know, every dealer that I know that sets up says, man, I really I need wrestling cards for this event. Like, you could sell every single wrestling card here because you're grabbing people that are true collectors. This is kind of the their foot in the door to get into the hobby.

So I I know several people are like, that's just not wrestling cards, terrible, like, cheaper Aaron Judge cards. Kevin from Rocha was telling me. He's like, I had a thousand if I had a thousand Judge cards, I could sell it out here. But point example, I mean, one opportunity to sell wrestling. I mean, people are gonna look and see a Sami Zayn order for $15.20 bucks.

It look like that's a steal that don't know this industry. Like, oh, you gotta pay so much. So I really think fail and by me for not being able to make the first two, and, unfortunately, I'm not gonna be able to swing this one as well. I'm hoping they do this next year when there isn't a World Cup to go up against and everything else. I wish it Right.

Wasn't so close to the national because I am really into getting ready up for the national at this point. This is my time of year to be prepped for that. So I hope that one day I can go, not just me. I wanna take my family and really experience this because this is a, you know, an experience. It really is.

They don't it's just not a show. It's an experience that I I've just envious every year I watch this. I'm watching all the social media content, everything. I'm like, why am I not there? Why am I not there?

What am I doing here? I need to get there. So amazing job by Fanax the way they put this on. Yeah. And I I I have to agree.

I I think WWE World, you know, I've been to those. Like, it's it's basically a store. Like, you're you're literally but now now with the content and everything that they do around it, it's not just a superstore anymore. It's like a whole convention. I think the Hobby Rip Night is turning into a WWE thing as well.

Like, they bring wrestlers to the stores and stuff like that. Let's hope you get Randy Orton in St. Louis. That'd be awesome. But, you know, I think, like, when you see the list of stars here, not just for wrestling, but for everything.

Like, if you want to go meet your favorite person, they're there. And, like, anybody who means anything to WWE is at this event, and they sign, they do pictures, they do everything. Like, it's it's unmatched. So I I have to believe this is like, again, I think we've we've talked about this, you and I, a number of times, like, how much it's important. I know Jameson goes every year.

I know, like, everybody, roadshow, you name it. Like, I think they wanna be there. Like, the problem is we are geared as a hobby to prioritize the national and to prioritize being around Chicago or wherever it is every single year. Like, it just becomes like this summer party for cards that I I don't ever think will will be overtaken unless there is undue influence that undoes it. Right?

So, like, there can be a reason why tops just completely pulls out and does fanatics best, and that's it. And I think that could sync things. Like, if the corporate area challenges the ability for The National to be successful because the corporate sponsors all switch over to this, it could happen. We're not saying it's gonna happen, but I think that's a possibility in the near future. Fanatics doesn't do things to be second place, and I don't think they've ever really said we're competing with The National.

But, I mean, does anybody really believe that? Like, I mean, like, they're they're they're definitely offering very similar things, autographs and cards, both shows. Fanatics tends to be more of a brand activation brand activation with the the way that it's set up, but there's a card show there. It's not as big as the national. There's a lot of autograph guests.

They're probably more preeminent autograph guests given who they are and what they represent. Plus you have the celebrity influence. I I I really wanna go. Like, I I think this is becoming one of those events you can't miss. Unfortunately, right in the middle of baseball season for my my son and I, you know, maybe as he graduates high school in a couple of years and, you know, we open up those time frames, sure.

But, yeah, I'm I'm gonna try and make it to Chicago. I've got my hotel booked. I've got everything booked. That's the priority for me still at this point just given the relationships that I have. So if you had now here's the question.

If you had a front of the line ticket, anyone besides Randy Orton and Seth Rollins, who are you going and to to to meet and who what are you gonna get signed? I'm gonna go Stephanie Vakira, and here's why. Not only am I a fan of her, I was there for Rumble when she came out, and I was there on Wrestle Palooza when she won her first championship. So I've got to experience her first Rumble, her first championship, and I was there. What a match she put on there.

I was excited when she came out to Rumble. Was like, oh my god. Like, freaking out of chance. Like, who is this? I'm like, that's Stephanie.

She's gonna be champ literally within a year, and I was right. So for me, I would probably get something signed from her, a photo from when she won her first match, obviously, being there, a memory that I have with with both well, two of my children. Actually, all three of my children were there, I think, if I'm correct. So I went with our neighbor friends, stuff like that. So just a memory that I have with my family, but just to be able to see that I saw her first avoid, I think, is gonna be many title runs with that.

No question. I saw this even outside of this, I saw this. I was like, Vakira was the first thing that popped in my head. Yeah. I so for me, I I don't know if he's that he I don't think he was there last year, but I would love to meet Roman Reigns.

Like, I I have a personalized card that I got as part of a signing he did a a while ago, but I've never met him. He's one of the only wrestlers that that I've never had the chance to meet. But given who's on the lineup and who I know will be there, I I'm choosing Tiffany Stratton. So the reason that I'm choosing Tiffany Stratton is the Minnesota connection, born and raised here. She was literally right down the street.

She's she has a lot of Minnesota ties, and I have that photo of her when she was at the Vikings game in, like, full Vikings gear. Like, I think that would be really cool. So Tiffany Stratton would be my choice. She'll be around forever. So and, you know, she goes to everything.

She was at the the the industry conference last year. Yep. Got to meet her. Yep. Yeah.

So, I mean, like, I I do wanna get something signed from her. I have a lot of her cards. I I bought one from you. So, like, you know, it's it's really cool to see that she's made it as far as she has as sort of this Minnesota representative alongside Chad Gable, alongside a lot of the other wrestlers. So try to have as many of those in my collection as I can.

I wanna talk quickly about some market trends here. I'm just presenting this, as a prelude to our review of the GemRay data, which came out last week. So let's take a look here. I'm showing, if you're on Patreon with us, I'm showing the card ladder index page lots of green. So there's a lot of the index see any red here except for you highlighting in red.

Everything's call one out that's really close to our hearts here. The card ladder 50, which is the 50 most, important cards in the minds of card ladder to represent market health, up 14% in the last three months. Modern's up 8%. Like, everything is up. Like, we are definitely in a bull market, but wrestling, unfortunately, is down 20%.

Wow. So I think it's really important to explain why that is the case. To me, this is a false indicator. And the reason being is I've had a conversation with Chris Hoge who runs CarLadder's research department. He's one of the co owners of the of the application.

There's only 215 wrestling cards on this index, and none of them are newer than 2020. So, there's not a lot here that has happened, to be added from the Panini era. There's not a lot that's been added from the secondary tops era. We have limited availability from cards from all the way back in the seventies through up to up to 2020. So not as many wrestling cards are being tracked by CardLadder.

Chris is is taking a list from me. We're we're gonna try and get more cards added. Many thanks to him for even putting in that effort. I appreciate it. But I think it's important to recognize that even though wrestling is down 20%, it's likely a representation of the cards that are being shown there, mostly vintage, mostly Hulk Hogan, mostly related to his death brought the cards up so high.

And then, you know, once that wears off, the the whole index sort of collapses. So I think, like, that's an indicator. Any just general feedback on what you've seen as a dealer from a market perspective, I would expect you're seeing a lot of what we're representing here. Yeah. Absolutely.

I mean, cards are singles are just insane right now all the way from shop to shows to whatnot everywhere. I think singles are just changing. Also, I think a lot of it is when it comes to wrestling, and I'll say this, and I've been saying this, best community there is as far as card collecting, I think a lot of this stuff is being sold not on platforms, not out there with data. I think a lot of it is being sold to true collectors versus, like, if you go to sell a Tom Brady card, how many people wanna buy a Tom Brady card? Best place to do is put it out there.

I I think that has a lot to go with it as well. But, I mean, cards in general, I mean, craziest one is is Star Wars up a 132%. Wow. That's that's In three months. Wow.

I mean, star wars I mean, I love star wars, but, I mean, like you said, there's not been a movie out for a while. It's just wild to see that, but I think, Chrome Galaxy, other things considering what's driving those up is releases. So and, again, we're not getting wrestling releases too. I mean, we haven't had a release technically since October. So Yep.

Yeah. I think I think that makes complete sense, like you said, with the with the false indication on this one as well. And I I also believe, like, yeah, Star Wars is up a 100 and plus percent. One piece is up a million percent. Pokemon's up a million percent.

Like, everything is is up. And I've again, I wanna work with the Card Ladder team. I love their platform. I use it exclusively. Yep.

It's absolutely incredible. If you haven't signed up, they are an official sponsor of Stacking Slabs. We're not just saying that, but we this is an absolutely awesome platform to use for data gathering and stuff like that, research, everything. And I use it as a lot of the basis for my content on made event wrestling cards. So I I it's really important to educate yourself in the data, but sometimes the data doesn't always tell the story that you're expecting it to tell.

So that's why I kinda wanted to get into the generate data here. So last week, if you're not familiar with gemrate.com, they track grading. They track number of submissions, tens, nines, everything. Like, you can look and see all of the statistics that they track across every different sport. I love their website.

Little bit sort of like, hey. Here's the data. Do with it what you want. Lets you export stuff and stuff like that. But their December sales data came out.

I have on the screen if you're following along on Patreon. They they've given us a lot of information that tells us exactly the opposite of what card ladder is showing, which is wrestling cards are pretty much on the up and up. What do you think? Yeah. I mean, I I was well, first thing, I had no idea that you were gonna show me that it was down 20%, but I did you did show me the CRD, and, obviously, Hulk Hogan makes complete sense, obviously, what had happened.

And that obviously didn't happen until, what, August? So July. I think he passed away in July. So think of how much it's gone up since July at this point. No.

I mean, looking at this, knowing the wrestlers' names, trying to just under you know, break it down. I mean, we're talking the hottest of the hottest collected wrestlers, the one that are gonna bring the premium money. Obviously, Becky's probably up there because you, Randy's probably up there because of me, and Becky up prey up there because of my son. So, you know, no. I mean, this is showing.

I mean, Ray Mysterio on there, that's that's a great one to see. I mean, I know Nathan would love to see it. So just looking at this list, Hogan makes the most complete sense. Cena would have been number one if it wasn't for the unpack you know, the you know, passing of Hulk Hogan. But, just looking at this right here, it just it really makes sense from a wrestling standpoint.

So the top five, Hulk Hogan number one, year to date, 2,700,000 in in tracked sales, up 23% even more for December. Most now, again, the when we look at the card ladder data, a lot of that isn't showing what has happened in the last six years. So maybe there's some movement in Prism stuff. There's movement in Tops Chrome and other things, maybe cards that aren't tracked. But John Cena up a 105% finishing the year, $904,000 in total sales, up $61,000 month over month.

That last match went viral. No shock there. But look at even look at, like, number eight, Liv Morgan, ahead of number nine, Tiffany Stratton, both clearing 500 k for the year. Cody Rhodes, Centimeters Punk, Shawn Michaels. The biggest surprise for me, number 15 is Stephanie Becare.

We've already talked about her a little bit. She has, like, 10 cards in the market. She's number one. Still cleared, like, 245 k worth of sales, in 2025. I I mean, that's just insane.

And I think, like, even and her her cards are down a little bit, like, in terms of the volume month over month. But, again, she doesn't have any cards. So once you have them, you've got them. You're not going out and, like, buying doubles most of the time. But I think that's a huge surprise to see her at number 15 ahead of Randy Orton, ahead of h h h.

You know, even, like you know, there's there's a lot of stuff here that that jumped out at me, but that one definitely jumped out at me. But it it's really cool to see that, like, hey. This is gonna be a a mix of the legends that have driven the market for since 2022, since Panini took took over. And you have Stone Cold Steve Hausen at number seven. You have The Rock at number three.

Like, all of these things, but mixed in, you've got these younger people, Tiffany Stratton, Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley at number four. Like, all of these people have major major followings and collecting points here that we can say their the future is really bright for them. Yeah. You know the one name I'm just shocked to see as far as legend, like Bret Hart not being on this list just shocks me. I know he's got a pretty strong following.

You know, his stuff sells fairly well. I mean, Shawn Michaels being 13, but Bret Hart not even being on there. Not I mean, I'm a big Shawn Michaels guy, but if you put their autographs, just a basic sticker on, they're about the same value. You know? So Yeah.

Just to see Michael's so high up of Bret Hart not even make this top 25 is the biggest shock to me. I blame Bill Goldberg. But, anyways A lot of people do. Another question that came up when I posted this on main event was where's Bron Breakker? He's actually number 27.

He I I when we look at how this list is gonna change for 2026, I expect Bron Breakker to be much higher. I expect a lot of the newer names, whether that's Giulio or Stephanie Vecare getting more cards like you mentioned, and neither of them have very much. Jacob Fatu, maybe that all of that other stuff. Like, there's gonna be a lot of movement here. I I think there are some names on here that I was like, okay.

Great. Like, I like, Jay Uso obviously had a huge start to the year. That's huge. And I think that's one of the main reasons why he's number 19. Io Sky deserves to be a lot higher.

You know, all of those people that are really driving the narrative on TV, I think, will will see higher performance. I think Hulk Hogan is likely gonna end 2026 atop the list again. And, you know, he has many more years worth of cards than anybody else. And I think that the that vintage market is gonna drive a lot of what he's talking what what drives his value. But I think John Cino will be up there.

I think Rhea Ripley. I mean, like, a lot of the top people are gonna stay the same. Yeah. I I think you see one name I just dawned on my head and why I didn't bring up Seth Rollins. I mean, jeez.

I mean, thank god he needs to stay off this list. It makes it cheaper for me. But Alright. But yeah. No.

I mean, it's just looking at this list. Think of the names. I I think Jay Youssef falls out. I think AJ Styles, if this is his last year coming up, will will jump up this year and people will realize how much of a great he really is. I mean, you know, it's just it's crazy to see this and how I wanna look at this a year from now and go, wow.

That has changed. And we kinda could see the projections knowing it and all based on the storyline. It's based on, obviously, they could stay healthy, all those things. I mean, Jay used to being in this list. I don't think anybody would have saw a year ago.

Yeah. Agreed. And one thing that isn't on this that I do a lot of tracking on is is card volumes and average sale volumes. Both are down, month over month, but that's more an indication of lack of product than anything. So I think, like, if tops was hitting the schedules and hitting their marks, like, it would the indicators would be completely different.

I'm not relying a lot on on average volume or or average sales and and average volume for each month because coming into the the last year, all of those things were up triple digits. The only thing that's holding them back is just there's nothing to buy. So let's get into some big sales here. This was one of the biggest sales, that I was expecting out of Finest. So seeing it achieve the number it did, Stephanie McMahon had, I think, two cards in the entire set.

Both were one of ones. Both were super factors. One was the masters, and I think one was the finest. And her the finest, I hate saying it because they Finest. Title of a set that's weird to say.

Her superfractor inscribed queen of queens, $7,500 sold via eBay best offer on January 12. Massive sale. Stephanie McMahon hasn't had a card even come close to this. Like, I don't I don't even know if she's had a card sell over $2,000 before this, let alone 7,500. Just absolutely enormous, but I I still think not only is the photo great on this car because it's vintage Stephanie McMahon, but it is the finest continues to be my favorite set in all of 2025 top's finest.

I just really wish they would have called it something different because the design is awesome, and they are the finest stars in this set. Like, it is the names the h h h and Stephanie together both signed some awesome cards for this set. We saw the h h h sell a couple of months ago. Now we see Stephanie McMahon sell. What is your reaction to seeing this number here?

To me, makes complete sense. Was this on, best offer or auction? Best offer. Best offer. Yeah.

I mean, I believe this to a tee. Like you said, her stuff's rare. She has not signed since 2022, and back then, she only had stickers. If I'm correct, it was just revolution. She did.

I was informed back then that she was done signing. Obviously, that's when it was Panini. Now we're into tops, and she's gonna be a very limited sign continuously to make her stuff more rare, more valuable. Her cards were grossly undervalued for as many as that weren't out there. Her biggest one probably ever was probably the transcendent super auto, and I'm sure that probably did.

I mean, I don't know when that sold. You know, that was years ago, but she did have that. I don't even think it was public. So And there there and was no inscriptions. They weren't big on getting there was really no inscriptions.

This is changing the game. I mean, just the add the queen of queens inscription on this card adds several thousands of dollars in value. Yeah. I think this card, if it doesn't have any inscription, is a four to five thousand hour card tops. The inscription's there.

To me, I've always taken it. I learned a long time ago. The the president of Tristar said buy the best. This is, to me, is one of the best Stephanie McMahon cards that I've seen thus far. I think Tops is knocking on the ballpark by doing these on card, very limited with inscriptions.

Kudos. Great job. Why this card brought it? Just looking at this makes me to go back there and rip a case of finest after this. It's just beautifully done.

It's, like you said, the vintage Stephanie Man from twenty seven years ago. I absolutely love this card. Yeah. It's great. Next one, The Rock, had a a big sale.

I did verify it does look legit from an auction standpoint on eBay. $6,600 for a black refractor autograph, the final boss set, which I like, Topps Chrome was hit and miss to me in a lot of different ways. There is nothing better than this subset in Topps Chrome. It has his the final boss logo in the back with the Bravo bowl. Amazing photo from him at WrestleMania.

Just so awesome. This is the one where I think his his one zero one super fracture had the final boss inscription on it, went for a 100 k to one of the card foundation guys, pulled it and sold it to to another person. So I think, like, there's there's a huge, huge premium for his cards. I was happy to get his one from the finest set. But, you know, this one, 6620 $13,254, huge sale.

The largest sale for the rock that we've seen in a while. His stuff was hovering around 3,504,000. You know, it give it goes up and down, but seeing this go at a PSA eight with a 10 autograph, that's a big sale. Yeah. It is.

And I think it's because, obviously, the card, like you said, you you hit everything spot on about, but this is a onetime card. They're not gonna make a card like this ever again on the rock. This is the final boss. Is the final boss coming back, or is the rock coming back? We don't know.

Is this a onetime thing? But they really knocked out the ballpark with this one. In fact, they threw it in tops chrome, made it even better. Extra chase card. I I'm behind this sale.

I get this sale. You know, you're paying up for this card. Plus, rock has a lot of streak in his autographs to get a 10 autograph is very hard to do as well even though all he has to do is sign Rock, but that the way he loops the r, a lot of streaking into that. My Rock Stone Cold two auto, I have I wanted to grade the auto, but I knew it just wouldn't be better than a nine, and that would irk me seeing an eight with a nine auto or whatever I graded. So, yeah, I I get behind this.

I have other rock autos that are half this price, but rightfully so, they're gonna continue to make those. This is a onetime deal. If you love the final boss character, this is a one time card. If I'm correct, you never know. But I gotta assume this will not be replicated.

It's not it it can't be. Like, now kudos to whoever designed this card. I know you did. Okay. Flip let's just keep that.

So I think, like, kudos to whoever designed this card. Very simple, great photo choice. I think that was one of the the misses that Tops sort of struggled with in Chrome was some of the photos were were kind of all over the place, really old or really new or whatever. There's just no real rhyme or reason. This photo was perfect.

Now this is the same photo they used for the Prism card. So that was my only sort of sticking point, but it's a tiny nitpicky thing. Awesome sales, $6,600. Can't beat that. A little bit of a I'm gonna highlight two one two cards here.

I put a little cry face emoji on it because there there are two big PCs. There are a lot of Kaboom sales, a lot of downtown sales, so I'm not gonna rehash that. But we did have the Becky Lynch one of one super factor of the women's division sell for $12.50. And then one of my absolute favorite sets from twenty twenty three immaculate, which was the Seth Rollins championship reign with a title belt and the acetate, one of one sold for $12.43. $7 apart.

Both of our PCs here. I know you wanted to get this card at some point, and it just never worked out in the original auctions that it ran, but curious what your reactions are here. I'm glad you know, for you for that being a PSA 10 on that for $12.50, I know it was a no brainer for you on that one. I love it. Buy it.

No. That's not mine. No. I'll tell you why in a second. I did not buy this by the way.

I I mean okay. So the the Rollins card for anybody that's familiar card if you're not familiar, this card ran on auction forever. Actually, this card was offered to me about a year ago whenever it surfaced. And at the time, I think the person won it, like, $1,800. And I was like, I'm good.

Then it moved some hands. Then that person reached out, wanted, like, a 3 or $4,000 price sticker. I was like, not a chance. Well, then it gets to run with, I believe, PC sports cards, and that was run the national. Continue to run.

Continue to run. Got showbited up every time. What was up to $66,500 at one point? It sounds ridiculous. Ridiculous.

So I am in Dallas, and somebody I can't remember. On top of my head, it might have been Nathan or somebody messaged me the link. I can't remember who it was. I wanna give a shout out, but I'm not allowed to have my phone anywhere near this because it'll chime the whole time. Sent you the link.

I'm literally sitting there in Dallas. See it. Are you kidding me? Is this real? The guy's a legit seller.

Boom. Bye bye. Didn't even think twice to get this at this price. I I would've I would've paid more at this point to get it. I just assumed it was gone.

It was never gonna get available. And I wonder how long it sat before I clicked it. It should ship today, I hope. I gotta go through the eBay authentication. But with you, the imaging, everything behind it, done correctly, the acetate, the card pops.

I just need it to show up, and I'll call it a victory. There you go. Glad you got your card. I did not buy this Becky Lynch. I'm highlighting it because I've I was tagged a number of times on it.

This this is my least favorite set that Topps has ever done. And I'm I'm I hate that they named it women's division. I I think, like, it calls attention to the fact that they need a separation again between the females and the and the male wrestlers. I think the photo's great. I think the overall design is kinda meh with the tie dye weirdness.

But seeing that it's sold for $12.50, big price. I was not even close to that. I think my offer was somewhere in the $7.50 to $8.50 range back when it was not graded. And so I think, like, seeing it in a PSA 10, somebody got a really good deal on this. If they like that that car design, great to see Becky getting some good sales in.

I'm calling attention to this not as a not as a homer here, but, I think, like, just when you're seeing insert sets from Tops Chrome, no autograph, PSA 10 going for this amount of money, I think that's a good indicator for wrestling cards overall. Not a good indicator necessarily for Becky Lynch cards. Listen. I I've already paid more for other ones since then, but, like, it's something that I think is a good indicator when Topps Chrome inserts can sell for this much. So great great sale there.

Well, at least they don't call it divas anymore. I you know, I I I talked to Topps about that back a while ago, and I was like, listen, guys. Like, you're gonna present this, like, where the like, the like, it's $19.98 in in WWF. Like, this isn't gonna work. Like, I I don't collect Becky because she's, you know, because she's good looking or because she's this or that or the other thing.

I collect her because at the time I started my collection, she was the female stone cold Steve Austin, and that's who what my favorite wrestler was. So, like, when, when you see, like, tops leaning into, like, they are women's division. I I hate the title of the women's division. Like, why not just call it something else? Like, call it something that's not so generic and stupid.

But, you know, this set's just not my thing. I own literally every other super factor. So, clearly, it's not that I hate tops and what they've done for Chrome. It's I just don't like this particular And I and I get that as a collector because there's times I don't buy something because I just don't like it. I mean, it's and if I'm willing to spend the money, I wanna actually enjoy it.

I mean, we're talking mean, it's still $1,250 you gotta spend to buy the card. You gotta wanna want it. You know? So and then people are like, at the end the day, it's like, yes. You are a big Becky collector, but you don't have to have it all.

And if you're not a fan, just don't spend your money. Put it elsewhere. Yeah. And, you know, like, I'm a firm believer. Like, hey.

If other people get these Becky cards, then great. Like, that's that's not what I'm about. Like, I'm not about I I hoard. Like, don't get me wrong. You can see behind me if you're on Patreon.

The hoards. I I am a hoarder. But if somebody else beats me to the punch or whatever, like, more power to them, especially if they wanna spend more money. There was a an immaculate card that sold for, I think, like, $22,500 or $3,000. I've been looking for that card for a while, sold without you know, I put in an offer, sold higher.

Great. Even better. Move on. Makes my whole collection more valuable. Let's get into the title match topic.

Great sales overall. We'll continue to cover that week after week. And this week's title match topic, something that I think again, we are gonna end these shows. Everybody waits for the championship match. Let's put a topic out there that we can sink our teeth into.

We've got about a few minutes left here. What advice and speaking of what we were just talking about, what advice do you have for a new collector coming into WWE for the first time? If you could go back and adjust your own path into the way that you came into wrestling cards, is there anything you would do differently? Like, what what do you feel about that? Yeah.

I mean, it's a great topic. I love this. Yeah. For first off, the biggest advice to give to anybody is buy the card not to grade. You don't you know, just get the card if you want it.

You don't have to buy it. It doesn't have to be a PSA 10. Build your collection on what you how you wanna collect, why you wanna collect. If it's a certain wrestler, a group type of card, I mean, you know, I feel like you need to pick that niche. It's comfort two guys to just buy everything, so take this device or don't take this But, you know, for me, it's you know, to me, I always tell people, you always wanna buy the card, not the grade, especially starting off.

And then why you collected? You like, you just touched on it. You collected Becky, not because you were attracted, not because of this, because you got back into this space, and it's because she was the modern day stone cold that is your favorite wrestler. Love that. That is why you're here today.

That's why you're Becky Lynch collector. Mine has been obviously St. Louis born and raised Randy Orton. To me, why I got into collecting him. The RKO to me is one of my favorite moves I've ever seen done, and that's why I like Solruco.

I think that's even crazier. Take it to next so awesome. Take it to the next level. Those are reasons why you collect, and don't just collect to because you see somebody else collecting. Don't invest because somebody tells you to go invest.

This is about collecting. This is not about investing. I I don't know if I'll ever see my monetary value out of these cards that we buy. Same goes as you. I never Absolutely not.

When I used to collect LeBron, it wasn't about monetary value. It turned into be that, and then my my thing shifts. So, again, when when you're getting into it, if I could do it differently, probably wish I would have kept some of the early work and stuff I pulled that I got rid of back then before I really started collecting. I enjoyed ripping it. I collect collect it, but then I sold it.

I think that I I would have kept more. I enjoy personally pulling stuff for my PC or my kids' PC. That to me is more fun is that that moment that card means more to us because we pulled it ourselves. So we wanna keep that versus touching something else's hands or moving around the the whole sphere. So I I I think there's so many ways to go into this.

This could take a whole hour to talk about. I know they do. I know they do, but that's just kinda my quick summary is buy the card, not to gray buy the card, not to grade, the moment, and just collect what what makes you happy as far as the space goes. Yeah. I I can't disagree with any of that.

I don't grade cards, so it's out of the window for me. But the, for me, it's it's kind of like everybody always says, like, collect what you love, and I I cannot stand when people use that as a way to get out of arguments in trading cards because collecting what you love can be easily influenced by a number of things, and people just tend to like what other people like. I I think my advice is collect what fits what you actually have available. So if there's like, if you come into wrestling, good luck trying to find the best of the best. Like, it's all locked away in PCs like Ryan and mine.

Like, there's very few cards that come up to sale like we cover every week. Like, those are generally newer cards. They're generally ones that, you know, are one off types of things where somebody had an opportunity to hit smash a bin or whatever, and they do because they know once these cards go into PCs, they don't come out. So collect what's available to you and what really reflects your your likes on TV. You have to watch the product usually to to find your favorite wrestler.

You have to know what drives you as a viewer. I think translating that to your collection really will help you survive the grind. And I hate using the word grinding when it comes to collecting because it just it's always supposed to be fun. It's not supposed to be a grind. But in wrestling, when you're trying to hunt down the best of the best, and it never comes up.

And you have to go through Facebook pages and eBay auctions and this, that, and the the show bidding, everything. Like, it it becomes a little bit of a grind. And if you don't really have an interest or an investment beyond just the the cards themselves and you really like the person that you're collecting, I think that that drives a lot of what what can build a a world class PC. Maybe you don't even wanna build a world class PC. And if I had to do anything different, I came in, 2017, and like I like I've done in so many other areas, I just bought and bought and bought.

I just bought everything. Bought Austin, Rock, you know, whatever, all the guys I loved in the attitude era. And I quickly realized that, you know, those aren't gonna sustain my interest long term because it's really hard for me to draw a connection from a collection that's just everything. I have to have a focus. Money is not unlimited, first of all.

And secondly, it gives you an ability to create guardrails. Right? So I think for me, if I had done things differently, I would have just skipped over all of that, found something like collecting Becky Lynch that really drove me as a collector. Maybe it's a set type. Maybe it's a card type.

Maybe it's an era. Maybe you wanna get an autograph of every one of the in the WWE Hall of Fame, or maybe you like indie wrestlers and you wanna go collect all the indie cards. Like, all of those things drive people to have love for the game, and I think, like, that's really what I would have done differently is I wouldn't have done all the just the buy buy buy of random crap. I would have I really would have focused in really easily. So now the last part of this is, do you does your advice change if somebody's just trying to start a new PC?

Like, maybe they already have a Randy Orton or a Becky Lynch PC and they wanna branch off into somebody else. Like, do you have any different advice for those type of people? Well, I mean, I I wish my kid would just stay with Bray Wyatt. Now he's under the Wyatt six. So, I mean, financially, it's you know, we you don't have to collect like you put a best.

Well said by you all the way around. You don't have to collect the best of the best. I've got nephews. I have kids that come in here. They love digging in our bargain wrestling boxes.

They're excited just to be able to to look at me. I got $10, and I could buy five to 10 cards of the guys that I like or the girls that I wanna collect. That's kind of the point behind it. It's you you don't have to go buy all these one on ones, these top notch cards. You know?

It's it's about collecting, and I think that's why we Neil keeps looking through the glass window here. He's just it's just weird when somebody's standing there. Sorry. We have the podcast breaking room right here, and people can just look in. That's kind of the whole concept.

But when Neil's been sitting there for thirty seconds, I'm like, what's going on? So sorry. But, yeah, mean yeah. Hey. Hi, Neil.

Yeah. You know, but it's I think a lot of it comes down to your what you're willing to spend. And I think you should budget yourself, and that's easier said than done. But I think if you're really getting in the space, take a $100, $200, $300, 4 and 5. You know?

Obviously, it's not gonna go as far as ripping wax, but maybe take that $500. And when you spend it, don't spend more and then go, okay. I'm ready to move out of this, but I wanna upgrade. I wanna move this. Maybe make moves that way to continue to build your collection that fits you the best.

So I I agree with you a 100%. Budget is so important here. I would say so we've just come through the end of, like really, the the coaching carousel is starting to move in the NFL, and we had some long term coaches leave leave their their seats. Bills fired Sean McDermott. Jim Harbaugh gets fired.

Mike Tomlin steps down. Like, everybody who's like, there's, like, 10 or 15 guys that got fired. Some of them just got fired because they wanted a change in direction or a new face to to a new throat to choke. Right? I would say if you're going to start a new PC, don't get addicted to starting a new PC.

Like, it is really easy to get really fired up and say, just wanna change. I wanna try I wanna try something different. And, like, I think if you're getting addicted to trying new PCs and then a month later, you're moving all of those cards to start a new one, Like, reevaluate really why you're starting that new PC budget is hugely important. But to Ryan's point, like, you don't have to go for the Rolls Royce right away. You can buy you can buy a Kia Rio.

You can buy a Ford Fiesta and work your way up. And in wrestling, that's almost required. So that would be my advice in that space. But, yeah, this is a really good conversation. Like, I think as maybe as this podcast evolves and as we get further into some of these things, we can talk about some more of these trends Because we get to the end of these podcasts where we've been yapping for an hour, and it's hard to, like, you know, wind down and sort of get people ready for next week, and we've got a lot going on.

So I did add a section here, like, what we'll try to cover next week. I mentioned earlier in the show, we're gonna do some twenty twenty six Royal Rumble predictions. We'll cover the the news and info. WW Unreal is back. I I'm excited to watch that.

Neil's been watching the office today. I haven't watched He's been watching it all day. It's one of my favorite show. I love drive to survive, the the f one documentary. So I'm I'm addicted to that type of show.

We'll also cover WWE World, maybe some of what to expect if you're going to Vegas because those tickets are going on sale very shortly. And then I think from a title match perspective, maybe we get into sales channels and, like, how do you navigate, you know, building your collection. We talked about being degens and going on the digital repacks, what that type of stuff means. I was gonna cover that this week, but there were some other topics that we wanted to get to. Ryan, any plans for this coming week?

Are you excited here to to get back to the store after your trip to Dallas? Yeah. No. It was a nice little break for me, man. I've got we, just did in mid twenty in the warehouse.

We're gonna make some shifts out there. I've got I've got some catch up to do. I get a six day week here. I'm working through Saturday this week. Little disappointed that Josh and the Bills are gone.

Unfortunately, I I'm a Vikings fan, and I root for the Bills. It's, like, the worst two teams you could root for. As a fan base, it's it's brutal. But, no, I'm looking forward to the week. We got some cold weather coming.

I gotta get a shout out to my really good friend, Denny Deneen, having his fortieth on Saturday. So weather permitting, we'll be there. But yeah. No. I mean, it's just it's good to be back.

It's finally can focus on things that we're in 2026. I need to start executing a lot of things that I've got planned to do in q one here at the shop. So the biggest thing we're gonna do is we're gonna start announce the the Hobby Rip Night soon, and then we're gonna announce the next car show in the car shop in March. So, like, you know, we're we're almost through January, man. It it went quick, but, Rumble's here next Saturday.

I'm already that's why I'm working six days this week. I'm not working next Saturday so I could be home watching the Rumble and having a little mini party that day. Nice. Yeah. About you and your big plans?

It's so cold here. It's supposed to be negative 10 on Friday. Oh. So we will by the time this airs, we're we're gonna be well into this cold snap. I'm not looking forward to that.

My my son's baseball is starting to ramp up, so everything is getting ready to sort of transition into spring already even though it's still the frozen tundra here in Minnesota. But, yeah, I'm excited. I I hope you guys have had a good time listening. Again, for episode three, we'll be back next week on Saturday. Make sure to follow, us on Twitter and on Instagram.

I am w w e Gellman, our Ryan's RBI crew seven at everything. You can follow my content at Main Event Wrestling Cards, which is patreon.com/maineventwrestlingcards. Sign up for Brett's Brett's Patreon group as well for stacking slab. It is www.patreon.com/stackingslabs. We mentioned at the top.

Thanks to Brett as always for giving us this platform. We hope you guys enjoyed it, and we will see you next week. Take care.