Alright. It is episode 44 of book to last. I... Freebird rule is in effect, and, Ryan Bannister is on vacation. I expect him back next week.

He will be missed as always, but I can't, I can't say that our our team gets any lesser because Ryan is gone because we've got Brett McGrath with us, with us this week. How are you doing, Brett? I'm well. I might not have the inventory that Ryan has, but I think I share a similar passion for wrestling cards. So always excited to be here.

I have no idea what we're talking about, but I like to be, ready for whatever. So you will guide us to whatever conversation we're gonna have here, but I'm sure it's gonna be fun. You you already sound like Ryan. Ryan comes into this blind every week and finds a way to make it awesome. So do you have a good Halloween at least?

Get this... Go trick or treating with the girls? Yeah. You know, I, you know, aspirations, like, I I wanna dress up and scare my kids and be Penta for Halloween or something like that. But, you know, too many things going on.

So, we had a blast. You know, you've been there with your children. We're we're, you know, five and three in almost a year or so. It... It's like it's like Christmas on Halloween.

It was great. And now I'm sitting here eating all the candy, which is bad as someone who walks in Rome. Yes. Yes. We had to hide it because we came down, like, the morning after Halloween, and there was a pile of wrappers on the counter.

And we were just like, guys, this ain't gonna happen. This isn't gonna continue to happen. Nope. We're not doing this anymore. So we had to hide it.

Alright. Let's, let's get into the opening pyro here. You know, I I gotta say, like, there's, like, a tale of two shows always with SmackDown and Raw. I think both shows had their moments. So there were a lot of...

There's a lot of stuff to talk about from both. We'll try and get through this quickly, but I wanted to to at least call out the Danhausen connection on SmackDown because, obviously, Halloween and Danhausen go hand in hand, and WWE made their best effort, to to tie the two together in in rightfully so. But we had this creation that he's been working on for a number of weeks, maybe months, finally show up to be the demon, which going back to my original sort of comeback to WWE, one of the characters I liked seeing the most was the demon. And then he kinda, like, shelved it. And he's brought it back periodically over the last couple of years, but, like, it's always fun when the demon comes around.

Right? I would say this was one of my, favorite smackdown moments recently. I'm just... I've always been a fan of Finn Balor, and this goes back to me waiting outside in the freezing cold for an NXT live show in Chicago. And they...

The heat wasn't working, and they was... Weren't letting us in. And Finn, he was champion at the time. It was during the Balor Club reign. And he he came out, and he shook hands with everyone in the line.

And I was like, what a stud. So he's... I've always been endeared to Finn Balor, and I've always been rooting for him and, was interested... I've been interested in this, Goonther Balor program, and it's been interesting. I've been...

Why is Danhausen in the middle of this, and now it all made sense. But, I mean, if you didn't get goosebumps when he came off the, the, table or whatever he... Yeah. The ladder... It was awesome, man.

So excited that he's back in demon form doing meaningful things, and I'm interested. Like, I'm interested. I'm sure other individuals who collect in this space had a similar feeling, and we know Finn's market hasn't necessarily been the strongest market. But I'm interested, like, does does the demon being back in 2026 going into 2027 do anything for his cards? I just wanna see the match, dude.

I wanna see the Balor and Goonther match. The... Both those guys can work their tails off, and it's gonna be fun. Yeah. Like, they've had a lot of history because they're both the kinda UK guys and and whatever.

And, I say UK, NXT UK type of thing. They've both had stints sort of wrestling around there. And Balor in Ireland and Gunther in, sort of Eastern Europe, Western Europe. I think, like, for this, anytime they put the demon on a card, it's automatically worth 15 to 20% more than a normal Finn Balor card. So I really hope this gives Topps a license to make more demon cards because Finn Balor's market absolutely needs it.

But I thought the whole segment was really good, the mini housings and everything. And there's this this this meme that's going around where one of them, like, does this, like, springboard and Gunther literally just, like, picks him out of the air and throws him on the mat. And it's just like, there's so many good reactions. Go find that meme and see people's captions for it because I've I've never laughed so hard in a good couple of weeks, which is great. So, yeah, I mean, like, I I don't know if they're doing the match at Crown Jewel.

I think they're supposed to, but I don't... I'm sure we'll find out on SmackDown once they... Because they've already taped SmackDown for this week. So the spoilers are up, but I haven't gotten a chance to read it. I'm sure they're gonna do this match.

They've been sort of pimping it all around Riyadh. So, but anyways, like, that wasn't even, like, the main event segment, which is kinda crazy, I don't think, because they had a trick and, and Sami Zayn have their match, which was great. I mean, we knew Trick wasn't gonna win. He's already a champion, so they rarely put two belts on somebody, especially in a random smackdown on Halloween night. So, like, you know, it was a great match.

Trick finally gets a chance to shine on sort of this big, big stage. And Sammy, as much as I don't like him as champion, he is a great, great worker, and he's great at everything he does. And I think this match was really well done all around and, you know, just didn't really have to amount to anything, but they still made it fun to watch. I, agreed. And I will say this to you, Adam, and to the loyal audience here.

And it's a little left of center on Sammy as champion, but I can't tell you a run that I've had in recent memory with the title at the top that I have enjoyed as much as Sammy and his honesty and impassion promos and going at Roman. It just feels like, you know, we can all... We all know Sammy can deliver a promo. We all know Sammy can work in the ring, but I'm not sure anything that Sammy has really said has been not true or a lie. Absolutely.

Yeah. It's... He's great. Yeah. It's been great.

Yeah. So I'm excited about him as champion right now, actually. And we know it's not gonna last forever, but I'm excited to see where it goes. Yeah. It's...

He... It's like he's... It feels as a fan watching the programming that he as a human being and he as in Sammy as a character has been waiting for this moment forever. And I feel like he's he's seizing the moment. I find it interesting.

Yeah. No. I agree with you a 100%. And, like, the segments he's done with Roman, all the promos he does does are great. Here is the the question though for you.

If it was Kevin Owens in the spot instead of Sami Zayn, who does as good a promo and, and he's just as good a worker, would there be any more of a drop off? And I think that's where that's where I wanted to see Kevin Owens much more get another run more than Sammy. And I know you're a Sammy fan. I am a Sammy fan when he's not the champion because I think he can solidify a mid card under... Unlike any other wrestler on the roster.

And from all intents and purposes, the rumors have said he's satisfied just about everybody backstage who had question marks about him as champion. I'm just... I'm a huge KO fan right now because I think what he's doing is amazing too. And I didn't think Sammy needed another run before KO got one in the first first one in, like, ten years for him. So that's just my take on it.

Yeah. It's... I'm... I've I've always liked them both. I've always liked the storyline.

So it's hard for me to say it would be better with KO. I know it would be good. I feel like this is fun because it feels like Sammy's being validated. So... But, yeah, you you know their their paths are gonna cross again, and we'll see if they can.

They always do. They always do. It's like death taxes and KO and Sammy having a hockey fight in a match. Alright. So one other thing that I did wanna call out on SmackDown quickly is they ran another trick cash in, which...

Not trick Williams. I'm saying the trick cash ins are not a treat if you see my play on words here. Like, I am so over this, and I'm just like, they are... I I can't tell if they're doing it on purpose so that when Tiffany Stratton eventually turns heel and cashes in on Chelsea Green, people will hate it because they already hate it because it's just getting repetitive and stupid. But I'm just like...

I... Like, I saw this again. I'm like, guys, this is four times in three shows. Like, this this can't continue. It can't continue.

It's boring. It makes it makes the briefcase lose its luster. And I I feel like no matter how great creative was going into this money in the bank, it was it was all set up for failure based on the Rollins cash in and the expectations. So the key the cash in, Seth Rollins. So we're...

The bar is so high with him. It's, like, almost like they're doing this to be like, alright. Let's let's just get this out of the way so that then we can build a serious cash in in the future. So I'm I'm I'm worn out by it all, man. I am worn out.

So I asked Ryan this question last week, and he said no. I say yes. You can be the deciding vote here. Which which is it? Is the money in the bank briefcase played out to a point where they need to give up on it?

I'm not quite there that they need to give up on it, but I think this creative and it's it's losing all of the luster because it's all about the surprise. And it's like we show up to Raw and SmackDown each and every week expecting this funny business, and it diminishes the the prop altogether. So I don't think I'm quite there, get rid of it. But if we're doing this again this time next year, I'm... I could be on camp.

Like, see you later. Alright. I I agree with that a 100%. I I... This is tiresome and cumbersome.

You have to book around two of them on the same show now because they're tying the shows together with Crown Jewel, which brings me to Raw. This is my take, and you can... I'll give you a chance to react on it. Crown Jewel feels like a show in a box. And it's like everything in this box has to exist in this alternate reality that doesn't align to the normal storylines that go on in Raw and SmackDown.

Because they have these imaginary championships, the crown jewel championships. And it's like they have to book around these matches, which they themselves put the stipulation in of doing champion versus champion because they don't have it at survivor series anymore, which is a similarly tired gimmick now with war games as we're finding out with the women and some of the... Which I'll get to here in a second. But crown jewel is like this... You know, it's like, you watch peacemaker and they open the door, and it's like this big expansive world, and it's this pocket dimension.

That's what Crown Jewel is, and it feels like booking around is like jamming a wrench into your own bicycle spokes and just falling flat on your face. Like, do you agree, like, this this does not feel like real WWE wrestling right now because they they have to, like, book this show in this alternate portal. And I'm really scared about WrestleMania having to exist in the same portal. All your thoughts and feelings are valid. I think the Saudi universe always feels weird.

It always feels inconsistent with progressing storylines that have existed before it. I always watch it, though, and I'm always like, after I watch it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, did this did this really matter?

I mean, I know we've seen title changes happen, but I don't know. It... Yeah. It's it's always weird, and we're we're getting one of those weird moments now where you've got Roman and Sammy, you know, having a really good segment opening up Raw, but then you've got all the shenanigans at the end of Raw with nine four six, which is a whole topic. It just doesn't feel like the same storyline.

Like, it's like you're running... Yeah. You're running two angles at once. And I thought that promo... Like, the promos between Sammy and Roman calling back to the Royal Rumble moment multiple...

In multiple promos was very well done. Roman cuts a great promo. Sammy cuts a great promo. They've had history. It's all incorporated.

If that was your only storyline and one of them did not have a belt, this would be a great match to tie off that, I think. But instead, you're fighting over this imaginary title that neither of them mentioned, and you're fighting over it in a manner that neither of them really seems to care that whoever wins gets this title. And it's just like it feels hollow, and I don't like that. But the promos themselves, seeing Sammy and Roman in the ring together with the chemistry they have is amazing. And I'm glad we get to see that, but there's no stakes here that matter.

Right? No stakes. Yeah. It's I think we'll probably feel hollow, leaving, Crown Jewel, and I can say probably when you're recording, this podcast after Crown Jewel, everything will be probably mostly forgettable because it won't... It doesn't feel like it's ever part of the canon, and it...

It's just like it starts and stops when they're trying to promote this event and have the event, but it never extends beyond it, which I think sucks from a storyline perspective. Very rarely. Yeah. We did see the Intercontinental championship change hands, which was a great match. And I have absolutely loved Ethan Page since he has been brought to WWE.

Not the person I would have expected myself to really gravitate towards, but everything he does is is just absolutely awesome. And I thought this match with Gable, unshockingly a banger. But is this, like, Gable was really working some great matches along this intercontinental championship run. I thought this was a little early to take the belt off of him considering what's going on, but I'm not sure what your thoughts are. Yeah.

I think... I thought it was early. I... I'm not really sure too much has interested me in the mid card programs recently. So I think maybe if I might not be alone and they decided to mix it up, I think Ethan Page is the right guy to put it on.

Yes. What he did in NXT. I I saw Ethan pay... I've watched Ethan Page worth the independence when he was, like, a hundred pounds heavier than he is now. So I've always been a fan of him, and I think he's a fan of wrestling.

Obviously, he's a master of his craft, and I'm very interested to see. And I I was listening to an interview a a while back. I can't remember where it was on, maybe Van Fleet or something. Van Fleet. But he was talking about, like, the Intercontinental title and it being one that he always, like, aspired to, was, like, a goal of his.

So it's cool to see that, the king of the inscription. So maybe maybe that would be cool if he incorporated cards as the champion, and let's call him. He's the king of the inscription, and now he's the intercontinental champion. Him him and KO have really done more for the inscription game than anybody else. And, you know, we get...

And, like, if you if you see that the torch was passed from Kairi Sane to, like, Johnny Gargano to, like, Ethan... Or to to KO to, like, Ethan Page. Like, they all do amazing inscriptions, and they do it on multiple cards, which is really cool. And I think there's some people... I saw the stadium club super fracture get pulled, with with his inscriptions on it.

It's it's a great looking card. His stuff is always fun. I loved when he put don't bother me at the airports, on his card, which was funny. But, yeah, I mean, like, I'm glad to see Ethan get a chance. I think, like, the dastardly heel, has really been something that WWE has moved away from in certain circumstances.

And I think Sami Zayn and Ethan Page represents sort of the dastardly heel character and seeing that they're both rising within WWE at the same time over, like, the the badass sort of, like, Royce Keys type of heel that we'll talk about here next, is really cool. Because, like, I love the dastardly heel. Like, I think the dastardly heel character is so vital and underused, and it's like, I really hope they do some great stuff with him. So I'm really excited to see where this goes. But speaking of Royce Keys, I like nine four six as a group.

I think they have been presented as in terms of these non wrestling match segments wonderfully. I was very unimpressed with the presentation last night. I'm having a hard time with it, man. And I wanted to... I I want Keys to succeed, and they're obviously giving him a stable, giving him presentation, main event, timeline.

I think here's my problem. My biggest problem, and this is in wrestling in general, when you have not proven... And and say what you want to about powerhouse in AEW, we're gonna talk about Royce Keys in in WWE. We're talking about the individual in the WWE universe. They...

The creative, the booking has not proven to me as an audience member that he is main event level in the ring. Correct. He has not won anything. He has not beaten anybody. And so all of a sudden, no matter how good the presentation is, the whole thing lacks credibility because for me as a wrestling fan, you need to have proven that you can beat everybody.

And now the way they're booking him is like, you know, he... He's the second coming of one of the most dominant forces in WWE history, Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, that... And it just... It doesn't make any sense. I wasn't overly impressed with his match on Raw.

No. Absolutely not. And and, and, like, I am a fan... I'm a... I've been a fan of this guy, and I just...

I don't think creative has done him any, any good service or anything. And then you have the reveal of... I have a hard time not calling him Mike Santander because I've watched it as Mike Santander for so long. But you have him being the the new member, and it's like, what are we do... Like, what are we doing?

Cobbling. Yeah. It's like week after week. It's like, I think three weeks in a row, they've brought in a new member for nine four six. And right members like Carmelo Hayes, great.

Jada Parker, great. You know? Jada Parker was my favorite one so far. I... She was a perfect fit.

Yeah. She's a perfect fit. I think... And here's here's where my disconnect is, and I'll get into the cards here in a second because that's another really big question mark. You set up a match against Solo Sikoa who has inexplicably just decided I'm going back to the bloodline and given up on all of this massive goodwill that I think was accidental.

And, like, they they clearly didn't know what to do because they had all of this planned out. And, like, well, we can't deviate, but now that Solo is, like, this big attraction, like, all of a sudden, he can't be the lackey anymore, and you've put him in this position where he has to lose. Here is my tell... Like, age is... Story is old as time.

The bell has to ring. Yep. And, eventually, the bell has to ring. The fiend, Finn Balor is the demon. Like, all of these characters that cannot lose always have to be like like this.

It just becomes this problem. And the fiend losing to Goldberg and, like, demon losing to Edge and, like, all of these other things that happened because you have these unbeatable characters that have to lose. Eventually, you can't go undefeated for your whole career. Royce Keys had not really had a match or a true match against a credible opponent since he started this factions, and he has to win. Not only that, but you literally screw him over the way the entrance was.

Coming out of, like, this weird corner of the stadium with no entrance music that's discernible, it's just sirens and... Which may... Did him no favors No. Considering what Jada Parker is capable of doing as a hype girl for him. Like, you could make her do so many different things, and that's the way they chose to bring him in, which was with the security personnel was awful.

Mhmm. The match was awful. Solo did not know how to deal with this, and it was like... Because he's supposed to be this face now, and he's with his... I mean, like, oh, the whole segment was a mess.

There are no Royce Keys cards as of right now other than base cards. And if I'm a collector and I'm watching this segment, because I was really curious how this is gonna lead into war games because it's clearly gonna be the bloodline versus nine four six. How do you invest in somebody like Royce Keys knowing that he is incapable of even just working a match? Like, I wouldn't have even had the match. I would have just had the people come in right away and beat Solo down, not even ring the bell.

And they they tried to have this match, and it was an absolute disaster. No chemistry. No no... Nothing worked well. The the...

Royce had to take some beatings. Like, I don't know. As a collector seeing that, I would have, like, okay. I'm not buying anything anymore. Like, this is not gonna work.

Yeah. It will be interesting to see once the card catalog, gets developed and releases happen, what the interest will be on the secondary market. I don't... I I can I can mention, like, I'm a fan? I think he's capable, but I don't think it creates raw.

Like, he just started, like, a couple years ago. Right? Yeah. I mean, he is... Yeah.

It's just... It's not... It's it's not good right now. It's when... Their...

Nine four six is such a big part of the raw program that I get upset now because it's kinda like with actions. Yeah. Yeah. It's kinda like how they were with judgment day where judgment day was on every segment. That's kind of what it feels like with nine four six right now, but I don't think nine four six is nearly as good as any iteration of judgment day has ever been.

You can't... And, like... And Obafemi was supposed to be a heel, I think. And they... And he just was too cool, and people started cheering for him.

And now he's, like, this big megastar that's probably gonna win at WrestleMania. It's like they're trying to see if they can continue with somebody like Obafemi being a heel, and it's just not working. Mhmm. We've... This is a lot of wrestling we talk where...

So let's get into some of the card stuff that's related. We got... Hey. We got one one thing. We gotta mention John Cena.

We gotta mention Oh, shit. I totally forgot. Yeah. I I threw this together. I had a bit...

Very busy work week, so that was... I knew I was forgetting something. I cannot remember what it is. All good. I just wanna say, like, why John Cena is so good is because what he said in those few sentences to Cody Rhodes was so real on a booked and scripted show, and it just, like, cut through all of the nonsense that we hear all the time with bad promos or bad matches, and it was just so good.

And, like, after he got out and, you know, as his walk, he salutes Randy Orton as Randy Orton comes by, and it was so perfect. I was like, man, I miss you, Cena. Like, you just make everything better. And that was my my feeling. But, like, when he said, I love you, pal, to Cody.

Like, just look on Cody Rhodes' face. Like, Cody had to, like, legitimately... Like, you could tell. He's, like, holding back, like, anything emotional, like, show... He could look like he could've cried because of what Cena said was so real, and it was like, man, this right here, this is why I keep watching wrestling for moments like this.

John Cena is unequaled, and I... Like, somebody said on a, wrestling video I was watching, like, people didn't appreciate John Cena until he was gone. And, like, as a regular, right, which happened probably three or four years ago. And now that he's back and he can sort of have, like, the shackles off of, like, having to carry a show and doing all the things that is expected of him, like, he's even better than he used to be. So good.

So I... I'm a be completely honest. Once Cody Rhodes came out, I fast forwarded through the rest of the segment. I I just... I'm so over Cody.

Honesty. I am so over Cody Rhodes right now. You have no idea. I... That's probably why I left it off here.

I listen every week, Adam. I do have an idea. Well, no. No. But, like, Cody Rhodes, when you give him something to chew on, that makes sense.

And I think this feud with Randy Orton has made sense at times, but is well past its its sell by date. The last man standing match is gonna be insane, and it's gonna be fun to watch. I'm gonna watch it. I'm gonna be glued to it. But Cody in a promo segment with Randy Orton these days is not my idea of entertaining TV, which is sad because Randy Orton is somebody you should be wanting to see every week.

It's made it's made it unpalatable. I'm excited for that match. It's gonna be fun. Yep. Alright.

So let's talk some gem rate data. Mhmm. Because this was just published last week. We've talked about gem rate data in the past, and I've listed out the year to date eBay sales. I've confirmed with GemRae that they do not include auction house stuff.

So the John Cena WrestleMania patch autograph, stuff like that is not included in this because otherwise, he would be at... Probably be closer to Hulk Hogan. Hogan has a lot of vintage stuff that sells on auction houses, so it'd probably still be number one. Number... The even more interesting thing is that the year to date rankings and the September sales rankings are exactly the same.

So if they are number one for year to date, they were number one in September. And from what I was seeing, it looks like September was the highest grossing month of wrestling card sales on eBay that I've ever seen. So I... I'm not sure how that Google considers the greater picture because obviously none of the WrestleMania patch autographs that were sold on auction houses are included. But from an eBay sales perspective and sort of the lower end of things, this is this is a huge month for sales and wrestling cards.

And we had Hulk Hogan, number one, with $1,400,000 year to date. Rock, number two, 685,000 year to date. Roman Reigns, 644 k, year to date. September, they were... All three of these guys were 6 figures.

So, like, really, really strong sales month. Four, five, six, Cena, Undertaker, Liv Morgan. Seven, eight, nine, 10 is Ripley, Austin, Bliss, and Obafemi. Obafemi crack... Cracking the top 10, I think, for the first time in year to date sales since I've been looking at it.

Not shocking there with 358 taking up the the tenth spot. But this was just insurance. Like, I love looking at stuff like this. I love that there's a website like Gemrade that goes and and sort of tabulates these types of sales. Because when I look on card ladder literally every day of every week of every year, like, to see the sales, like, seeing stuff like this aggregated sort of puts it all into context.

Yeah. I think this is certainly helpful data. Shout out, gem rate. I think these numbers, while they're nice and big, it just... I think...

I... And, again, for the audience, like, I'm looking at data across a lot of different categories. And this... Just seeing it in a snapshot like this and me knowing not only what I see and what we all see happening right now across the wrestling card category, but then looking ahead and where my ambitions are and where I think a lot of us and collectors and builders in this space ambition are, I think we're just very much getting started. Like, I Oh, yeah.

I would not be surprised if just this snapshot from eBay was double this time next year, and that's how bullish I am on wrestling cards. And, yeah, the the the individuals on this slide, no surprises to me. I think it... If you if you spend enough time in the data and you're connecting and looking at sales stuff, like, is... This this feels about right.

Mhmm. I wanna show you one other piece of information. Here are the biggest movers for September 2026 that have sales more than, like, a thousand dollars. Because there are people who have gone up, like, 70, 80%, but they they usually have $500, and then they're selling at a 1,500 or something. So it's not as big as these people who have multiple high value sort of year to date sort of numbers that they're bouncing off against.

So you have Tatum Paxley at 36% growth month over month. So compared to, August 2026, she just debuts. Now her sales data is showing she's up about 35%, which is crazy. But in addition, you have Kehlani Jordan up 36% as well. Kehlani Jordan beats Kendall Gray for the NXT women's title, so she's got a bright future, very athletic, very much deserving of these types of attention pieces.

Drew McIntyre, 27%. I think people are preparing for him to come back. I think there were some rumors that he's gonna be back on TV imminently after filming Highlander. And then you have people we've just talked about, Ethan Page at 31%. Sorry.

They're out of order. Brian Breaker at 23%, which is odd, considering he's really lost every match he's wrestled in the last couple of months. And then, of course, Becky Lynch at 21%, which caught me a little bit by surprise. But, and it's not me buying these cards. I don't usually buy Becky Lynch cards on eBay.

But, really interesting stuff. Like, some names here that make sense. Some names like Ethan Page, I think, deserve, but shocking. And then you have Becky Lynch out of nowhere. So, like, hey.

Yo. I'm curious what your reaction is. This real... This gets me to thinking you said, like, in the breaker example, like, he's lost a lot. I think this this is an interesting topic and an interesting question for all of us to, like, consider as collectors, and that is what really impacts the sale price for individual collectors?

Does does does win... How much does winning or losing matter? How much does momentum matter? How much do a potential call up matter? I think all of these factors, how many...

How much does, like, one wrestler having multiple player collectors matter? Like, there are so many different ways to slice and dice it. And that's what interests me because I think in studying, like, the different markets and players across categories, like, wrestling is unique. We all know that. Like, it is one of a kind.

And I think... I don't have my finger on it. And I... If I had an answer, I'd be probably out buying a bunch of those cards, but I have no answer. But I think seeing this is really, really interesting.

One side note for me, I... I'm not a... I'm not... I've I've been soured in general ever since the black and gold days because I was such an NXT black and gold guy. Like, I Me too.

Loved loved... I think we all were. I loved it so much, and two point o never lived up. And, like, I'll turn it on now, and it's, like, some of the... Like, 75% of the stuff I don't really like, 25% of the...

Is okay. But the one thing I can tell you, Kalani Jordan is a freaking star. I mean, she is she's incredible. So, like, from a prospecting perspective and looking at this, I look at her and I'm like, her prices are probably higher than they should be now. I've not even looked at it, but, like, she's one that, like, if I were placing a bet, I'd probably buy into some of her cards.

She's... Yeah. She's she's definitely got... And I... People have asked me, like, what do you think about collecting this NXT women's star, whether it's Carmen Petrovich or Tatum Paxley or Kehlani Jordan or Kendall Grey or whatever?

And my reaction is always the same. It's gonna take a lot for them to break through because the women's division at the top is about as solidified as you can get, and they just don't get enough TV time to really build out the mid card the way they need. Maxine Dupree, JC Jane, Fatal Influence, Jade Cargill and the catering superstar crew. Like, all of these all of these mid card women really don't get the focus that they probably need. So I I keep telling people, like, you have to be really careful.

Now the good thing about today's WWE is the prospecting can happen because you have h h h and Shawn Michaels working so closely together, and they obviously wanna push their their new stars to see who... What they have very quickly, sink or swim. So for collectors, you're gonna get a very clear understanding very early on in their NXT to raw or smackdown transition if they're gonna be able to tread water or not. And I think people like Tatum Paxley gave me a lot of question marks, and they put her with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, which is, like, right into the deep end. And I think if they can do something like that for Obafemi and they did something like that for others, it really does give collectors a...

Something to latch on to. On the other hand, you have somebody like Ethan Page who's taking a little bit longer, didn't get sort of this strong super push right out the gates. But, man, he has really earned his TV time to the point where he is now intercontinental champion. The men just get two thirds to three fourths as a segment. So when you're a woman and you have to deal with this tiny little sliver of TV time, it's a lot harder.

Such a good point. I think Tiffany Stratton is the exception to the rule. Yep. But environment is such a a key role, like, people out, injuries, them needing something new at the top, like... Which has happened a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. Stratton entered the environment... The the the main roster at the perfect time, but it wasn't just her entering at the perfect time. It was her, like, grabbing the proverbial brass ring and making it happen, and now she's a mainstay in the main event picture until she probably is done.

So I I... It's just such a good point. I haven't thought about it, but it is very hard for female talent to break through at the top end for sure. At the same time, you have all the people at the top, Becky, Charlotte, Alexa, very much later on in their traditional timeline for WWE career, which is sad because they shouldn't expire when they hit 40, but, traditionally, that's what happens. And then you have somebody like Nikki Bella coming back who has no business taking any TV time from anybody, and yet here she...

They're they're considering her for potentially a title run from what No. Rumors have say. I'm just like, I I... Nothing could make me stop watching TV more quickly than seeing Nikki Bella as champion in 2026. I wanna give a quick update on the fall combat sports auction because there are four cards here that are quickly approaching 5 figures.

Mhmm. One of them is the Cody Rhodes Superfractor Inscription auto from 2025 Chrome, which is at close to $10,000 already with buyer's premium. You have John Cena's, pink papa from 2025 with the Inscription as well. PSA 10 almost at 8,000. You have Alexa Bliss's rookie card autograph super fracture, which is just a grail and a half.

Mid nine auto 10 at $6,000. And then the gem of the auction, which is this PSA 10 rock, comic images autograph at $16,000 already. There's three weeks to go. So there's, I mean, just an inordinate amount of time left in this auction. But these four cards are pushing boundaries, and some of them are very, very new, and some of them are much more from the earlier eras.

And I think just... It's it's a healthy sort of representation of what we're capable of right now. Yeah. Obviously, this batch of cards at Golden is exceptional, and it is fun to see. It is...

We, as wrestling card collectors, need these moments where even if we're not bidding on these cards or don't collect these individuals, like, it is fun and it is exciting to see the best of the best cards up on a big stage going for auction. We experienced this. We've experienced this more this year than we have ever had as wrestling card collectors. And we really have. Yeah.

The... With the with the WrestleMania patch, autos being a big part of that. But it's fun that there's momentum after this. And, man, I just like the four cards we have up on the screen right now. It's like, you know, I feel like as a a content creator, they're all all interesting enough for me where I could be like, I could do an entire episode on each of these because I think each of these has different elements that make it important in their own way.

And I think the more we as a community of wrestling card collectors can... Even if we don't collect this stuff, can begin to see the significance in the stories and connect the dots with the past sets. The more we begin to do those things, like, I think the more informed you're gonna be in your own buying decisions. And I think these are great examples. Like, great car.

I would I would love to own all of all of these. I will not own all of them, but I would love to, and I'm very excited to see kind of where where this all shakes out. What does the Alexa Bliss price right now at 6 k? Let's say it gets to 15 k or whatever the eventual pricing. What does you think this indicates for the popularity or market viability of rookie cards in wrestling?

Because this is quite possibly for the modern era. I said before, Charlotte Flair doesn't have a rookie autograph. Becky Lynch doesn't have a rookie autograph super fracture. Sorry. They have rookie autographs, not rookie autograph super factors.

She is one of the only current superstars that has a rookie autograph super fracture in a tops chrome set like this. I don't think Finn Balor or Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn or any of those guys were autograph subjects. Roman Reigns does not have a 2013 chrome card, but he has 2014, which is his second year. So I'm like, this is really a interesting data point because so few wrestling current people have older super factors that are also autographed. Alexa Bliss being of...

Probably one of the most popular women, if not the most popular woman collected in the space. This is... I don't know if people truly understand how insane this card is. Yeah. It is a a big one, and it is a big one knowing what...

How rabid Alexa Bliss collectors are. Now if you look at the card itself, right, you've got the first NXT card, like, logo at the top. Right? This is reminiscent of Bowman and Bowman First. And so Topps is using that label to identify something brand new, and that is how from their other, licenses, how they've categorized prospecting.

And so, like, I look at this card knowing what I know about how Topps and Bowman is positioned in other categories, and I say, this is a, like, a prospect card because you can view NXT much like you can view the minor leagues. And every time I've see see cards like this, that's what I think about. And then you've got the super fracture one of one. You've got the on card auto, beautiful autograph. You've got the heart, on top of that.

It's it's it's it's... If you're a shiny card fan, this has everything you could want and imagine. And what's also interesting about it is that we don't have this type of structure because of the license change to Panini and then the reboot. Like, we don't have this structure like this, consistently, and I think that makes this card even more interesting to me. So, man, it's like, if you collect Alexa Bliss, like, and you want her best card, this is her best card.

This is it. And I know, like, her transcendent, super fracture, which I would probably... If you had a gun to my head and say, like, what's her second best card? I'd probably say, maybe you're It's not there... It's not that high of a bid right now on that card, which, again, there's twenty one days left.

So we're we're splitting hairs. But, like, yeah. I think this card is at least a $20,000 card in my opinion. I hope so. I hope In my opinion.

But we'll we'll see. We'll see. It's easy to it's easy to forecast when you're not bidding. Right. Exactly.

Alright. You ready to play a game? Let's do it. Alright. Today, we are recording today on election day.

Okay. And, I thought it would be fun for us to play a game called cast your vote. Now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you a question. I want you to quote, unquote, vote for your answer, and I'll vote for mine. And we'll try and make, a case for why our votes are the way that they are.

Hopefully, they're different so that this isn't just us agreeing with each other and everything. And at the end, there's, like, five or six of these, and and we'll go pretty quick. But I just thought this would be fun because it's election day. Hopefully, by the time you're listening to it, most of this stuff will be sorted out. But, let's let's play along.

And there wasn't a lot of card news this week, so we're gonna play a game real fast here. So ballot number one, in your opinion, which set has the most potential for growth over the next twelve months? Cast your vote. And I'm putting you on the spot because this is what I do to Ryan. So I just say...

I just say what set? And what... And why you're why you're gonna pick that set. Twenty nineteen Topps transcendent WWE. K.

What what what what makes you, make a political ad? No. I'm just kidding. It's There's there's too much corruption in the Panini era. Yeah.

I just like... I look at these cards every day. I looked at the safe searches, and I have to restrain myself because I'm trying to become more of a specialist when it comes to buying individual, like, it's been very obvious. I've shared. I bought some pretty damn cool Roman cards this year, some pretty damn cool Cena cards.

And I'm like, I'm trying not to veer too much off path, although I do veer because I like a lot of stuff. But, like, I look at the the the 2019 tops transcendent stuff all the time, save searches, and I'm just like, this this stuff...... So good. It's so it's so good, and it's so inexpensive based on what you're getting with the product. I think you've talked about just, like, the most expensive, retail box of all time, all this stuff.

And it's like, for some reason, this hasn't trickled down into long term value. Obviously, the ones of... One of ones and that stuff performs extremely well. You know, there's the sketch cards too. That's one thing.

But, like, I don't know, man. I just think these cards, like, I'm a big fan of first. Transcend it. I don't know the plans. I would imagine at some point, it might come back.

Like, will that revive this? I don't know. But, like, the images are great. On card autographs are great. I know we saw a scene out of 25 recently sell, for a decent price, but still, it's like, man, I feel like this set has a lot more left, to give collectors from a value perspective.

Can't disagree. One of my favorite sets of all time. My vote is going to twenty twenty six topped chrome sapphire, and I have seen just a massive push towards sapphire across all the non sports set, especially Disney, Marvel, plus baseball, basketball, football. People go nuts for this stuff. And I think people were very turned off in 2025 because it was, like, half of a Sapphire set, not a real one.

And as we get into 2026 and especially 2027, which I think they'll go full on with, like, autograph sapphire selections and stuff like that, this set... Like, the the 2026 version of it, which was the first ever real full sapphire set is gonna be insane. And I I... I'm not a huge fan of the pink one of ones. I...

I'm just a super fracture fanatic, but hard to argue when you see. And now that you've seen pictures shared by the wrestlers, that even the base autographs only have, like, 20, 25 copies, like, this set is exceptionally rare. So that's... That... That's why I'm voting that.

And Britt McGrath is a terrible person. No. I'm just kidding. Ballot number two, which wrestler elect the next wrestler to be next in line for a major collector target? You want me to go first to give you some time to go?

Yeah. Yes. So in true sort of, recent trends in sports, my elect... My my ballot goes towards Stone Cold Steve Austin. And here is why.

There has been this whole push towards underappreciated goats, and we've talked about it on this podcast a little bit. We haven't really spent as much time as probably some of the other content creators, in sports talking about it. Allen Iverson, Peyton Manning, you know, Shaq, all those people. Stone Cold Steve Austin changed wrestling forever. He's one of my favorite wrestlers of all time.

I own nothing of his card sadly, but, he's one of those people that I think is truly underappreciated. And because of the shift towards these underappreciated goats that is really driving huge value across the hobby, I think stone cold Steve Austin, I've already started to see his his prices climb. I've seen people start to buy his cards. I I think he's he's... Should be on a level with Hulk Hogan, and he's just not.

It's weird. I, Stone Cold's a really good one. I think a lot about demographics and ages with people and collectibles. And, maybe I'm saying this because he's not here, but my my vote is Randy Orton. Good call.

You you you look. There is this ruthless aggression era, and there... We're we're older guys, Adam, but there's a group of people where John Cena is their Hulk Hogan and Randy Orton. The great point. You you know, he is the the top heel of that era.

And not only that, like, we're... I I I try to stop and freeze and and enjoy the moment like I did last night on Raw when you you saw Cody and turned it, but I was like, when Art was coming out, and I was just watching Gordon to the interaction with Cena, which I appreciated it so much. But I was like, man, I'm getting opportunity right now to watch a living legend, and who knows how much he has left. And then I got into this rabbit hole recently of listening to, like, younger, the younger generation talk about who their favorite. It was like some real...

And it was like, who's your favorite? And, like, Cena was, like, 80% of the mentions, and then, like, 20, probably 19% of the mentions were Randy Orton. And it's just like, I don't know, man. Randy Orton, what else can he do? I mean, he's literally one of the greatest of all time.

He has... Yeah. He is a viral move. He, you know, has been in some of the biggest moments in the company's history. First ballot hall of famer has cards in active sets.

I mean... And it still feels like Randy Orton cards are underappreciated outside of the top end, and we know Ryan buys all his nice stuff. But just feel yourself. Doing him a big favor. Yeah.

Randy Orton Randy Orton, easy for me. But he hit... That out of nowhere thing does transcend wrestling, which is kinda funny. Yeah. Alright.

Ballot number three. What is your favorite parallel design in wrestling cards? I... My favorite parallel design in wrestling cards, the first thing that comes to mind reading this is the most twenty twenty six tops chrome black geometric. Like, that...

That's perfection. And I I I got the update on the tie dye, which is a bummer. I felt so compelled. I did a Instagram video about it. But it just, man, that design from 2026, WWE tops chrome is so good.

You layer on the geometric, finite, mosaic pattern. It's so good. That... That one, it's gotta be it. I am gonna take a a little bit of a march down memory lane here.

I... So I I got a card in recently, that just made me appreciate this even more. The white sparkles from prism, I think is... It has to be one of my favorites. I just got the Obafemi, and thanks.

A shout out to Card Tricks UK for sending that to me. Like, these cards are gorgeous. I wish the autographs were on card because they're all one on ones. And, you know, as much as I wanna say Superfractor or Blackfin, I think that's a cop out because I think those would be my choices far and away. But, you know, we...

Those aren't really viable as a choice here when it's, you know, trying to appeal to the masses here. But I think, like, you know, we could all say Prism Gold. I love the Pandora Golds as well that have sort of that. But the other one that I think really sort of resonates with me is the Pulsar, the green Pulsar from prism as well. If they only made that in black, I would be...

That would be my number one. But I I I have to say the white sparkles, man. I just got this card in. I I absolutely love that. The geometric...

The black geometrics, without a doubt, are my favorite tops parallel. It's not a super factor. Those cards are absolutely gorgeous. Have to agree. I was gonna say...

If you weren't gonna say it, I was gonna say it, but because you said I'm gonna go a different direction. You know what I'm upset about? And we've gotta mention this because I know you're a fan. We gotta mention the Galactic Saturn Revolution. Oh, for sure.

Gotta do that. But, dude, I I feel bad. If you're out there listening, shameless plug. If you bought the John Cena PSA 10 that was on eBay not too long ago, DM me. Let's work a deal.

I feel so pissed off at myself for not pulling the trigger on that card. That's an awesome... I saw that. It's a it's a great it's a great call. Okay.

Ballot number four. And you're not a big case hit, guys. Not a case hit, guys. We're seeing we're seeing come up. What what is your favorite case hit in wrestling cards?

Just Galactic is considered a case hit. Right? Yeah. It is. Well, I'm glad.

Okay. So perfect segue. Give a give a spiel here. Yeah. So I think, you look at Galactics.

Go look at the pop reports on Galactics. Get a galactic in hand, and then look at what the kabooms are doing that came out of the same product. And it's just night and day, and I understand the brand recognition of the kaboons. I understand everything, but, like, just go look at the numbers and come back to me. And I just think there's just such an opportunity there, and they're beautiful cards.

They are just aesthetically pleasing. They give you something no other cards can give you, and I'm a I'm a long standing fan and advocate of revolution across all all Panini era across basketball and wrestling. So, yeah, shout out Galactic. I would have said something like the slammed ones, which are great, and... Or the infinite sapphire things, which are great.

But, there are... There's one case hit that stands out to me recently, which is the tops royalty liquid silvers, which are just absolutely just amazing. I love the color blast. I love a lot of the old Panini ones. The firestorms, were were cool in one of the years too.

But, like, man, those liquid silvers are awesome. How many liquid silvers are there? I think there's five. Roman, Undertaker, Stone Cold, Rhea. No.

But how many of each? Oh, like 10, maybe? Okay. That's a pretty good number then. There's there's not many.

But, LabSquatch, it'll... He lists them out when he did his royalty breakdown. I got... I can't remember off the top of my head. Alright.

Two more. What piece of data is your favorite indicator of hobby health for wrestling cards? So the way I come at this is typically, I I I monitor how many thousand dollar or more sales happened each week. I don't know if that is the indicator of overall health, but I think it's a good indicator of growth, and that number continues to grow, your... This year as opposed to last year.

Like, we're just sit... And that just tells me that there's more confidence in the category and people putting their money into wrestling cards, which, you know, rewind the tape to three or four years ago. You had a thousand dollar sale. Like, everybody on Twitter was throwing a party of it. Now, like, there's multiple thousand dollar sales every day.

So that's one I look at. Yeah. I think that's a great... And I... I've said to Chris Hosh and to Josh a couple of times, like, I wish there was more aggregate data on card ladder that we could use for individual sports categories, but I understand why it's so much work to add those things.

I have been keeping track for a long time of the number of total sales that happen in a month regardless of of, like... And then try my best to aggregate and pull data down into spreadsheets on a regular basis. I've slacked off recently because of, work commitments and trying to figure out, like, what the average sale price is. So I tend to, like, look at it. We...

Like, pull a week that I know is gonna be busy because card ladder doesn't allow you to download more than 10,000 records at a time. So, like, when you start getting beyond that, it's... You can't aggregate the data anymore. Mhmm. I use Excel macros to do that.

So, yeah, I think, like, if you look over the last five years, I have data that goes back, like, all the way to the beginning of, like, the true boom era in 2020, and it's gone from, like, you know, this many sales per month to four to five times that per month. And it's just... I think that's just a huge indicator of our success. But I I I like what... The way that you looked at it as well and just sort of, like, the number of high end sales.

I just think that, at a point, there's, like, sectors. Right? There's, like, the low end, the middle end, the high end, and, like, each sector performs differently. Luckily for us, all sectors are up right now, but at times, it wasn't. And so I think it's a really cool sort of...

I'm just your data geek like I am, so it's like I wanted to see what your thought process was there. I'm gonna skip the next one because it's gonna take forever to get through, and I'm gonna get out of the big sales. So let's pull up the, some big sales from this week. This card has Second time? Three time.

Three times. It is the 2023 black one of one prism stone cold Steve Austin. I'd... Probably his best picture on a card. Insane.

It's like, that's what you want in an Austin card. Just that. Yeah. And I I didn't actually plan out to say what I said earlier in this podcast about him being the next collector target and then having this lead the sales section, but it so happens to be that way. I built those things about two days apart.

This one sold, PSA eight for $16,800 on the Fanatic weekly auction. Humongous price for this card. This is probably the weakest year of Prism and seeing that it's still mid mid sort of 10 to 20 k figure here is awesome. But this... I...

It's horribly off centered, which is totally center. Fat borders off centers, but the image is amazing. Image is amazing. So really cool. I'm...

Like, I have not seen the Stone Cold black finite sell from 2024. I would be really interested to see what that goes for. But this is a humongous price for a Stone Cold card. Yeah. You love to see big wrestling card sales in the big weekly auctions, and this one delivered it.

Hopefully, it ends up in a collection and we never see it again. I... I'm like, if Steve Pock bought this, I would... I thought he bought it originally. Maybe...

I don't know. Either way, this is a really cool instance. But, yeah, sold back in, 05/22/2025 for 4,700, and then back in twenty twenty four November for $3,995 before selling for $16.08. So that just goes to show you in just over a year, we're up almost, you know, three x or four x. It's insane.

Here is the, flawless 2024 rock logo gems, WWE logo one of one sold for $9,760. These are kinda gimmicky cards, and they've had really varying results at auction. Seeing this one come very close to five figures, I guess, is not surprising. But, the Rhea Ripley sold for nothing. This...

I mean, there's cards in this set that have sold for very, very little. And rock still has staying power, but I'm cur... Like, these these cards are are big deals for some of the flawless collectors out there. But I think somebody probably will end up thinking they got a deal here when all is said and done years down the road. Yeah.

I I think I... We've talked about these, I think, on one of my appearances, but, like, my hang up on this is there's no autograph. There's no patch. It's just, like, the logo with... Yeah.

It's just a card. And so I... Not... I know something. It's horizontal, which is my...

Yeah. And it's horizontal. And The Rock is little on that card. Look how big the WWE logo is. I know.

Some people love it. These cards aren't for me. I'll never spend this type of money on one of these cards. Here is a sale you called out. I think in our text message thread.

This is the one of one twenty twenty six tops now WWE WrestleMania set Obafemi autograph foil fracture sold for $6,250 via best offer on eBay. I love this set. I love this set. I wish I had done better on the ones that I bought. I did not do very well.

Brian didn't do very well. We... Neither of us pulled an autograph. I still haven't seen any of the Becky one service. I really like to buy one if they...

If one does. But, man, these cards are cool, and here's the one of one Oba. I have a feeling I know who bought it, but it's, $6,250 for a Tops Now one of one card is beyond crazy. Yeah. That was why I I I screenshot, texted Adam and Ryan, and I was just wanted the reaction.

And then Adam basically said, I think I know who bought it. And then once he said that, I was like, okay. That makes sense. But it just seemed like a massive... I would be interested, like, what the next few Obafemi cards did...

Big cards do and them in comparison to this one. And, like, does this change the trajectory of his cards even more? I don't know. But that seemed... When I saw it was the tops now, and I understand where it came from, it just seemed like a monster sale.

It's humongous. It's definitely big. Here is a card. I I really don't like posting kaboom sales, on our threads because they just keep going up. But I just wanted to call out.

This is the first John Cena I've seen cross the $5,000 mark. So this is a gem mint 10, kaboom from 2023 revolution sold on eBay via best offer here. $5,250. The last one before this was 4,000. The one before that was 3,100, and then $33.60 in a phonetics weekly.

I don't know what the sky is... What the limit is on the sky here for these cards, but every every month, it seems to be like a no... A new one is setting a record. I mean, Becky Lynch sold for $2,000, which was crazy to me. What's the pop on this?

Do you have that in front of you? I don't. I usually put it up on the screen because I... But I wanted to show, like, the historical pricing. So it's it's gotta be under 20.

So I just wanna say this, and this is not... Maybe I am Barry Horowitzing myself. I'm patting myself on the back. But I just wanna let the audience know, like, just the opportunity. I spent $5,000 on his top twenty twenty five super fracture...

Base set super fracture. One of one. There's only so many John Cena base set super fractures. And this card is selling for months later, $5,200. There are opportunities everywhere, my friends.

Yes. There are. Yes. There are. I think the kabooms overall...

Like, I'm not a kaboom guy. Like, I I know... And if you've listened to any of the content creators that do this as much as we do, very few people enjoy the kabooms as a collectible target. Most of them are in it for the investments or whatever because they see it as an incredibly liquid card. I just...

I've never been a fan, but seeing these cards continually grow and grow and grow and grow is insane to me. And I know it's insane to everybody else, but there was just a flood of these. I think the probably 10 to 15 at least going out in the Panini redemption replacements. So I'm curious how many additional tens will start to show up on the pop. Here's my question, Adam.

As someone who is dialed in ear to the street knows what happens most times with these cards. Do we see the individuals who are buying the card at this price? Do they post them and say, hey. Look. I bought this kaboom.

Like, are we seeing this at all, or is it I've seen a lot of sets. Like, I've seen at least three sets. I know Tim Benito has one. I know a few people that has a set, which is... People bought them early too.

So there were people who were in on this when these were, like, 500 to $1,000. Good for them. Now that set's probably 6 figures. Right? So it's it's crazy.

But, yeah, it's a good question. I have not seen people posting these and showing these off. I don't know where they're going. It could be independent. Curious.

Is it is it a few people doing it? Is it I don't know. That's a great question. I would love to know the answer. I have no idea.

This is a cool one. I think this is one of the last ones I have, and then we'll get into the title match topic quickly. Grande Americano Stadium Club Superfractor base card. Great photo from, Noche Delos, Americanos. Like, it's just it's a great card sold for $3,500 via best offer.

I do wanna make... Caution people. There is a Rhea Ripley that also sold for, like, $5,100. It was a zero feedback bidder that won. So I'm not gonna talk about that card even though there was a legit bid at $5,000.

It's not worth talking about. Trust me. This is this is a card I do wanna talk about because this was probably one of the best moments of the year so far for WWE, and they immortalized it on the card. And I absolutely love this photo. This is an awesome card for everything you said.

I love the image. I love immortalizing it. Yeah. This is this is one of the cooler cards I've seen, especially because it just draws back to that moment in time when you watch the match in the moment, and everyone watch the match in the moment. Do do they have an autograph version of this card, Adam?

I don't think so. I don't think so. I think this isn't one of the ones that I So this will be the best grande This is the best Grande America. I think so. Okay.

Yeah. Awesome. 3,500 is a huge price, though. That's that's like... If you think about, like, what the traditional super fractures are selling for out of this product, like, that's that's gonna be among the top.

Right? Which is Yeah. Pretty interesting. Yeah. No doubt.

Alright. So let's close this out. And I thought about this a lot recently. How do you define success in the hobby? I mean, you can keep it more specifically to wrestling cards.

But more importantly, do you feel people are more or less resistant to seeing others be successful in wrestling than other areas of cards? So you're asking in wrestling cards, do Or in general. You can do in general, but the second part is more specific to wrestling. Yeah. I...

Man, this is a deep, deep cut, deep question. I find that, oh, man. I think that people generally in this space, in wrestling cards, we have this unique situation where most of us collect a specific wrestler, and that makes things, for the most part, non competitive because we want to see that product that our wrestlers in be successful. We wanna help each other find cards. And that is one of the appeals...

The appealing things to me where I I don't necessarily, like, want to talk wrestling with other people in the community because it's such a polarizing topic, and everyone's got them in a bunch of opinions. But I love talking wrestling cards, and I I wanna help out others. And I would hope that people have helped me out. So many people have. So I think, like, that has been a draw for me alongside, like, my passion for wrestling.

But I think as with any category, when you grow and expand and there's more money involved, it gets more competitive, and it gets more competitive from an allocation perspective, who's got the products to break. It gets more competitive from a trophy card perspective. And so I... I'd say it's not the same environment that as it was when I walked into it, but I wanted it... I wanna change, and I wanted evolution.

But I I think, like, across the hobby, there are always people that are rooting against you because of jealousy, and I think that's a very big part of the equation, and it's a topic that probably doesn't get talked about enough. There's a lot of jealous people. And sometimes when I see the debates and the dialogue and people going back and forth in the wrestling card community about a specific topic or some sort of, you know, argument about a card or whatever, like, I always am like, man, I hope at some point they're able to take a couple steps back and just be like, hey, it's it's wrestling cards, everybody. So I would be naive to think that it's some utopia and everyone's smiling happy ear to ear and rooting for everyone. I do think that happens.

I do think there are circles of people that support each other and share cards and give information. And I hope this show can be one of those avenues that people can turn to if they're having bad experiences. But, yeah, I think with anything, there's more money being made. They're by companies. There's more money being made off of the sales of these cards.

And whenever that takes place, there's gonna be jealousy, and there's gonna be people rooting against you. So that's naturally taken place, and I've seen it on display. Yeah. And I I think, like... So I saw a couple of things that made me talk about this with about four or five different people this week.

One of them was, Suze, who is the marketing director for CGC, posted, like, why do people just wanna hate other people posting, like, cards that other people post and stuff like that? She asked that sort of, you know, honestly. Right? She was like, people just come on to other people's posts and just completely trash it. And I was just like, you know, it just made me think, like, people in certain areas of the hobby will root for people to be successful, and I define success as attention.

And it's it's not even value or money or anything like that because you can have a lot of money and a lot of cards in this hobby, but not have any attention. I think attention is what's drives most of the social media levels of success here. And I think when you gather attention, whether it's on sports card nonsense Facebook group or Twitter or Instagram or whatever, like, with more attention, you're gonna have people that come out and just... And, like, as long as you're not more successful than they are, they're more likely to to sort of lend their support. But once you start showing success that's above and beyond where other people can achieve, it tends to get really contentious really quickly.

And that's just so unfortunate, but I also saw a post, or I was... A podcast where somebody was talking about, like, the hatred of people like card collector two, Jeff Wilson, and and everything else because of who they are and what they represent and what people's understanding of their hobby positions are and stuff like that. It just got me thinking, like, how important is it to even have that attention because it just comes with all this baggage. And I've dealt with it too. Like, you've dealt with it too, I'm sure.

Like, when you bought that Roman card or when I post my Bexi card, like, you saw... I texted you guys, like, hey, I'm trying to buy this card on Facebook and somebody's in the comments saying, don't sell it to that Adam Gelman guy. You know? So I mean, like, coming with this attention comes with a lot of lot of people that are just in it to be angry, and it's unfortunate. And to your point, like, I don't...

I think jealousy is kind of, like, a portion of it, but I also think it's just people being unable to process their own sort of fit in place in this hobby in a meaningful and positive way. Yeah. It's just like... And it's just... It's hard.

And it's like, for people who don't have regular interactions with the community, it's even harder. So, like, wrestling, I feel like at times can be very welcoming and open and stuff like that. But other times, once you show any level of success or attention, like, people will turn on you as soon as they recognize that you are well past their own position, which they felt they've put in a lot of work and hard work to to be able to achieve. And I was just curious to see your thoughts on it. It pretty much aligned to what mine is.

It's just it's it's just a really interesting topic that I saw sort of flying around. I've got so many messages on it around Twitter and and Instagram just like, what is this? Like, why are people so, like, contentious about this? So, yeah, it was just cool. An easy way to to see it is no matter what the topic, no matter what the show is, you post a reel about something you're doing regarding a show that's Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And you're gonna get terrible comments. And it's... For me, it's always just, like, I try to show some grace and just know, like, it sucks being unhappy, and there's a lot of unhappy people that let it air it out in the comment section. So, yeah, it's unfortunate, but, yeah, it's not it's not gonna be perfect.

But I I think the way you framed it up was... Is very well said, and I really have nothing additional to say. I think it's a good way to sum it up. Awesome. Well, with that, I think that that brings me to the end of, oops.

Sorry. I hit the wrong button. Brings me to the end of of everything that I have prepared, but I... Man, like, I just... Crown jewel just feels weird.

Like, I hope that we get to the other the other end of this, and we can get back to sort of regular wrestling. All the the the previews coming for chrome and royalty and everything like that just going absolutely crazy. So there's a lot of stuff on the docket coming up, and I I I feel like this is gonna be, just an absolutely insane sort of couple of months as we head into the road to WrestleMania. But anything you wanted to add or close out with here? Yeah.

I just think just for the community that listen to this show, we appreciate it. And the one thing that I can tell you about wrestling cards from my experience, and I've never been the... I... Like, there's been times where I have not been good at this. But if you believe in a card and you think it is at a price that you can afford and you're not overextending yourself, but there's no, like, sales history or whatever that, like, give you a direct comp for it.

If you believe in it, like, make the move and just make sure you can give yourself time. Like, what I would like to see moving forward in this space, like I mentioned about that Austin card, I just want... I want these cards to stay stashed away out of sight, out of mind for a long time. And I... The more you're able to do that, the the better chance you are to increase the value of of your card.

So I think wrestling cards is the longest game ever, and it's hard because we have short attention spans and new stuff comes out, and we want the new stuff, so we have to sell the old stuff. But, like, if you've got old stuff that you love, like, try to sit on it for as long as possible. That's what I... I'm not saying what I'm doing is what you have to do... Be doing, but that's that's kind of how I'm trying to operate right now because I believe so much in this space.

I... You know, you were talking about that on card ladder confidential a couple of days ago or or last week, and you were saying, like, you know, when cards sort of come up frequently and over and over and over again, it just kinda loses their luster. That... I I can't explain how true that is because it's like... It's exactly the way that it feels.

And I think, like, there's a lot of people out there who don't recognize the power of seeing something infrequently. And it's like, I don't really know how to, like, articulate it better than Chris and Josh and you did on that show and and multiple times over the last, couple of years. But, like, you've gotta hide your gems, and we can't miss you if you don't go away. And it's like... It's it's really important.

That is a really key concept. The people who just list and list and list and relist and all this other stuff on eBay. Or reshare and repost in their store. All those things. Yeah.

We don't wanna see it. Don't don't share it. Don't share it anymore. Just keep it stashed away. Yeah.

Exactly. And there's that one Instagram account. I I... I'm not gonna mention it here just for the sake of the the show, but it's like the same card being shared over. It's not wrestling related.

It's it's not a wrestling card. It's a... It's football. And it's just, like, every single week, every time that this player plays well or does something, this guy posts the exact same card. And it's just gotten to a point where he's making videos of this card.

We're like, we get it. You have this card. It's not gonna get any more valuable because you shared it 18 times in the last, you know, two years or whatever it is. So I get it, man. To...

Totally agree. Alright, guys. That's it for this week. We'll have Ryan back next week. I gotta...

I I wanna bring on, a guest, at some point here because I feel like we've we've settled back into sort of, like, this rhythm. So maybe we'll we'll get some, some new blood on the show, somebody we haven't had before. But, really excited. Thank you guys for listening. Hope Crown Jewel goes well because there's, there's a lot of strife in the...

In that area, and there's a lot of risk. And I... This is a terrible decision to go over there, but I'm really hoping it works out well. And I hope that, the matches go well too because there's a lot of bangers on the card. So I I love I love I love the line of...

You you had politics front and center on a lot of this, and you're walking a fine line to not go too far deep into it. So well done, my friend. Well, no. Yeah. I just, like...

I I thought, like, I I... I'm gonna be honest. Like, in in this podcast can be over now. But, like, basically, I sat in, like, for the first time since we've started this podcast, there's literally been very little to talk about here this week. Wrestling cards goes through these ruts where there's just not a lot going on, and they were between sets.

Stadium club is is kind of like, okay. We're past the initial boom of of stadium clubs. There's not a lot to talk about there. Not a humongous sale to, like, drive a conversation around. So I'm sitting here and I'm like, what can we talk about on this podcast?

And, like, the the election is is something that I think drives a lot of conversation on social media. And so I was like, that'll be fun to do... Just ask... Play our usual game of asking simple questions with really complicated answers and just a new packaging. So, anyways, I hope it was fun.

Alright, guys. So, thank you, Brett, for for taking time out of your day. An hour and fifteen minutes, so not not our usual hour and forty five minutes, jaunt through wrestling cards, but, hopefully, it was fun for everybody listening. And with that, we will see you next week.