What is going on, everyone? Welcome to Book to Last on the Stacking Slabs Podcast Network. I am Adam Gellman. You probably know me as w w e gellman on Instagram and sc uncensored on Twitter. I am joined by my cohost, the illustrious Ryan Bannister of RBICru7.

Ryan, how are you doing today? I'm great, Adam. I'm I'm excited for this. This has been a long time coming for the opportunity to do this with you. Super pumped.

I think we've had so much great response by everybody on social media that reached out, friends, family, followers, you name it. So, again, I'm Ryan Banser. I'm the co owner of RBI Cruise seven. I am also still the NCWO champion, if you don't know about that. Gotta pay attention to the national every year.

I'm also rocking the national mania shirt for 2025. But, again, I am Ryan Bannister, the co owner of RBI Cruise seven. If you're not familiar with us, we are a shop. We're going on fourteen years open here this week. We've been open since our days of 2012 opening up in Florissant, Missouri.

Here we are in O'Fallon, Missouri at the new home, final home of RVA crew seven. You can also find us on social media at RVA crew seven and check our website at rvacrew7.com. But, Adam, thanks for your introduction, man. Let's hear a little bit more about you, giving a little bit about me. Yeah.

I mean, first off, I wanted to to say thank you to Brett McGrath, for giving us this platform. 100%. Thank you. Yeah. Brett, Brett and I and and Ryan have been talking for a while now just about getting a a wrestling card podcast up and running.

And I think what what we've been trying to do here is is get an opportunity to introduce more of the collecting community to what wrestling cards are all about. We've as Ryan was mentioning, they they've gotten a lot of feedback since the announcement that we made on social media. As as we've always said, you know, this is driven this entire community is driven by the passion of what wrestling collecting is all about. And, you know, if you wanna get all the the stacking slabs information, all of the great stuff that Brett puts out on a weekly basis, don't forget to sign up for his Patreon group. It's www.patreon.com/stackstackingslabs.

He is on a a, you know, sort of a a baby moon, if you will. He was gonna join us for this original episode. You and I both have been there before multiple times. So Yes. We all we all have a bunch of kids here, and congratulations to Brett on the new addition to his family.

So he'll hopefully make a run-in here as we get going later on in the in the in the in the run of this podcast here. But what we're gonna do just to to start this off, I I I'm gonna if you're watching with us on YouTube, you can definitely do that on the Stacking Slabs YouTube channel here. And if not, you can and you're just following on the podcast, that's fine too. We've got a lot to cover here. We're gonna do a lot of stuff throughout the course of the podcast discussing wrestling cards, discussing the market, discussing collecting.

It's gonna be, hopefully, a a great opportunity for everybody to get introduced to what this podcast is is all about. Ryan, we're we're gonna do some introductions here. I know people wanna get to know us a little bit of who we are. You already mentioned you have a a wonderful story in O'Fallon, Missouri. What talk about kind of your experience in the wrestling card community.

Talk a little bit about sort of what brought you to to wrestling cards, and then I'll jump in with my own introduction here once you're done. Absolutely. Thank you, Adam. And going back to what he said, I appreciate Brett for this opportunity for both Adam and I. It means a lot.

And and, again, Adam reached out to us to be a sponsor, and at the time he reached out to us, I thought we were just gonna be a sponsor, and I was all in until the day that Brett and I had our actual talk Zoom call. And Adam was like, by the way, I want you to be the cohost with me. And I was like, well, hello. I'm in. I love this.

I get to get be on another podcast and talk about something I'm very passionate about is wrestling and wrestling cards. So just to give a little bit of background on me, started collecting in the late eighties. Dad basically traded car parts, c a r, to a local high school kid for cards, baseball cards. And this is, like, late eighties, early nineties stuff, junk wax era, we like to know and call. Instantly hooked up.

Loved it. And I remember back then, I used to just price the cards on a sleeve with a sticker of 10¢, 15¢, 20¢. Man, we just I sound old saying that, but I am old now. So basically got me in the hobby. Obviously, date back my wrestling watching two again, the late eighties, early nineties.

Used to watch every pay per view. They were called pay per views back then, if you all remember, essentially. And I would say I really got into collecting wrestling cards late nineties, early two thousands. Big on when, like, o five top series released, love ripping that stuff because you could pull Hogan Auto, Shawn Michaels Auto, John Cena. And then fast forward to 2014 tops chrome.

Good luck finding any of those anymore. I remember ripping six of those cases on release night, and then I was think we were paying less than $50 a box to rip those. Oh my gosh. I wonder what those would be Back back in the good old days when when wrestling cards were were were not crazy $400 boxes apiece. 100100%.

I mean, back then, you'd be insane to pay anything like that for you. Think I ripped cases for less than $400 in Is that correct? Ripped boxes cases back then. So but, again, it goes back to a long time. And, obviously, my favorite wrestlers of all time, my what I like to call route my Mount Rushmore.

I've got three on it right now, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, and Seth Rollins. My son collects Bray Wyatt. That's why Bray Wyatt's on there, and he also collects a little bit of uncle Howdy and the Wyatt six. So Orton, hands down, probably my all time favorite. He also is a Saint Louis native.

Doesn't live too far from the shop, so my hope is that maybe Tops can get him in here for a hobby rip night maybe this year, which I was this close. Now you actually have room in your new shop to actually, like I do. Yes. Yes. Rip nights get so crowded when you had kind of the the smaller shop.

Now you've got this massive warehouse that's kinda going on. This will be great for you guys. Yeah. And and that's the one reason I wasn't too upset because I was very concerned with if we did have Randy Orton there, I don't think we could fit everybody in the old shop, and now I think we could do things like that. But then, again, Randy Orton's a big name here.

So, again, Orton, big big Orton collector, big Seth Rounds collector as Adam put here. You know, my favorite PC item, I did send him a picture of yesterday. It's the impeccable autograph inscription. He has, like, four inscriptions on it from RKO to when he won his first championship title. It's a great card.

And then I'm a big rock music fan. My entrance song, obviously, I I run every day I can, and the first song I run to is Psychosocial Slipknot. So can't take I wanted to take voices by Red Theory, but Em's like, yeah. We gotta keep this non wrestling interest. So but, basically, what what gets me to collect this stuff is, I would say, more of the passion for my kid, Parker, and now my other kids are really getting more into it.

That's really what brought me back to wrestling. He got was such a Bray Wyatt fan. And when he he wasn't big at ripping like football, baseball, basketball, but he loved ripping wrestling and star wars and stuff like that. So whenever he was all about collecting Bray Wyatt, it really got me wanting to get back into collecting, and Randy Orton and Seth Rollins were my two guys. So it would be a lot financially cheaper and better for me to collect one guy, but I'm I'm this far in, and I'm a fan of both of them.

Like I said, they're on my Mount Rushmore. I do have some Shawn Michaels cards in my PC, but I just can't branch into a third guy on my own. My kid already branches into other guys. And so Very expensive. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think Adam alluded to this at the start of the podcast. The wrestling card community, there's nothing like anything else. I I've done this a long time, and I know Adam has this one. Actually, Adam and I met back in 2018 when he used to come here for work, and my old shop used to be close to the airport.

He used to come in and rip football, like Spectrum football. I remember that. And Unfortunately, I remember that. That was Of course not. A fun experience.

No. It was not. Ripping through boxes of that. It it was not. And and then you obviously we got me, and you could you'll talk more about that.

But collecting rest of cards and the community behind it and the the collectors that are in it, the heart that's in there, the passion, I again, I I still stand by it doing this a long time. There's no other type of hobby people that are as passionate and as loyal and as good as the wrestling community. I And don't want anybody to take offense to that, but I I've done LeBron's. I've done baseball. I've done football.

I just see more true passionate collectors that are about collecting, and that's what this hobby was created a long, long time ago. And it's great to see that with the wrestling card community. So, again, one of the tips a little bit about me and who I am, Adam, to let the listeners know a little bit more who you are. Yeah. And, and right.

Well, actually, before we go before we get on to my own, sort of experience, like, so Ryan and I again, one of the reasons that Ryan and I are teaming up with Brad is just because we've all been passionate wrestling collectors. If Brett Brett was here, he would absolutely be, you know, as passionate about this as I think we are. And, you know, I it's rare that you find sort of, like, your kindred spirit in this hobby and and, like, you can really have that that foil for the way that you collect. And Ryan and I are so similar in the way we approach things, and I think that's why we were drawn to, you know, each other as sort of, you know, sort of kindred spirits in that respect because, you know, Ryan's PC, my PC, very, similar in our structure and what we do in terms of how we collect and what we collect. And, you know, I it's it's he mentions his son.

You know, his son, Parker, you know, has probably the the magic hands of the hobby. I don't think I've seen anybody pull the kind of cards that that Parker has pulled out of packs. He's absolutely the luckiest kid on the planet, and he actually has pulled not one, but, like, two major cards for my collection, that I have managed to to to get from Ryan thanks to our relationship. And I I always talk about on my site, which we'll get to here in a second, like, don't collect on an island. Right?

Like, no one should ever do this alone because you don't really get to have that experience of working with another person and and building those relationships across the community. And I think that's what really makes wrestling cards so much fun is, like, everybody cheers for each other. And and, like, as Ryan said, there's a huge, passion for the community. But everybody, who, you know, does breaking with wrestling cards does everything. Like, I I think Ryan is sort of the godfather in that respect.

He does so much for this community. He's he's sponsored so many of these things. And we were at The National. He was, sponsoring main event, the the wrestling card party we did at The National a couple years ago. So I think, you know, it was a perfect opportunity for us to get on, share our our love for wrestling cards and love for wrestling with everybody here.

I'm glad to be a part of this with you, Ryan. And so for those who don't know who I am, my name is Adam Gelman. I've been on Brett's podcast a couple of times talking about wrestling cards. You can find me, all over the the social media sort of landscape. I'm on Instagram at WWE Gellman.

I'm on Twitter, as I mentioned before. My main sort of content that I write is is for a site called Main Event Wrestling Cards. It's on Patreon similar to this one. It's all for free. So I actually got the inspiration from Brett's Patreon group because I was looking for a community aspect where we could sort of drive through, content of, you know, the the content creators on that site and I, and have our membership get notified when new posts are are up because, you know, as most of these things happen in in news and and stuff for cards, they, it it has to be instant.

It has to be sort of, like, as it happens. So I I created Main Event Wrestling Cards, www.patreon.com/maineventwrestlingcards to be that content creator that can can serve as an educator, can serve as as a voice for the community, but also really inspire the growth and of the marketing growth of of this hot path of hobby and everything like that. My main PC and if again, this is probably where you know me from. I I am a diehard collector of of Becky Lynch. I've been collecting her since 2017.

And, you know, if if you've, followed along with my Instagram, you know kind of the depth of my collection and sort of, what I've been able to to accomplish there. I actually got to meet her a couple of times, and it's been and she's just as good in person as as she is collecting on cardboard. But, you know, I think when it comes to, like, my entrance song and and I the reason I put this as a question for both of us is because I think it defines sort of who you are as a wrestler. It's like, what is the entrance song that you come down? And and for me, I I love I I I love metal.

I love, you know, rock music. I love old, metal as well. So, like, my favorite bands are, like, the cult and and, the clash and everything, but I also like sort of the new metal stuff. So it's stricken by disturb is is what I would be walking down the aisle to. Has a great opening.

Gotta get the crowd hyped. But for me, like, collecting and and driving my collecting, like, I've always, been an a I've been an English major coming out of college. I love to write. Creating resources has really been something that I've done for my entire professional career. So building sort of this, this community around main events and and with Brett's, stacking slabs podcast network here, bringing wrestling cards, that's that's really what I was hoping to do.

So, glad to be a part of this. I I think because this is episode one, we wanted to give you guys a little bit of a taste of who we were. I know Brett, couldn't join us, but, you know, because he was gonna do some of these introductions as well. But I think it's important for everybody to understand and trust sort of the information that we're bringing here as part of the podcast. And and Ryan and I have worked together for so long on so many different things.

Like, hopefully, our team can can come together with Brett and and the and the other creators on this network and really drive forward a dialogue around collecting and wrestling cards and everything that we've, we've been hoping for. Ryan, anything to add here? No. I mean, I think you you hit it spot on. I first off, I another reason why I like each other.

I like Heavy Metal as well. And, I mean, I there's a lot of the bands. I could've won with there, but, I mean, I love to serve a great slipknama more of, like, Link at Par, Three Days Grace. Yep. Really getting into ice nine kills these days.

And, actually, a lot of the bands that the the wrestlers come out to. So something I didn't know until yesterday. He sent this to me. I was like, oh, he likes my type of music. So another reason why we like each other.

Unfortunately, we're also not too wise. We're Vikings fans. He is born and raised in Minnesota. I chose to be one in 1998. So that is by choice.

My poor children are Vikings fans, but we love our team. Another year is not gonna make it. So Adam and I have a lot of similarities. Like he said, it goes back. And the collecting, what's crazy that you mentioned this is ripped quite a bit of Immaculate WWE in the two years they had it.

And, yes, we we pulled not only the 2022 immaculate Becky Lynch patch auto one zero one. The is that the memorabilia one? Is that what they call it? And we pulled the 2023 for Adam. And and again It's just crazy luck.

Like, how does that happen? Like, the odds that that happens that you pull the top Becky Lynch card in both years of immaculate is just ridiculous that it happens with the say he sends me a video. Like, he sends me a text message one day. So you might wanna be sitting down for this. And I'm just like, oh my god.

Here we go. It was it was wild. I mean, I was I actually pulled the first Becky lunch one zero one. I was in an hotel in Columbia, Missouri, and I it was still probably fairly new. And I brought a bunch of cases, and me and the guys sitting in the room, and I'm just like, we're all ripping.

And I end up pulling that and instantly knew, like, you were the guy. And this is before again, Adam and I have done business before, but that card really brought our friendship to where it is now. I I would say that was the changing point to our relationship is is I was like, hey. Pull this. Just so you know, I sent it, I think, to Jameson too, and I know you were like, I gotta get it.

I gotta have it right now. And I was away on a trip, and I was busy that weekend. And he, like, calls me. He's like, dude, I need to get this card. I said, Adam, this card is going home to you.

I'm just really busy. He's like, you don't understand. I have to have that card right now. I don't want you to ship it to me. I want to fly and get the card.

And he flew to us to get that card. And I would say from that point on, our relationship was just built stronger than ever. And, again, Adam was doing business with us, but not to the level that we became even stronger as friends. So it's crazy what cards can do. We've seen a long time in this industry of what it does relationship, how it brings everybody from across the world, not just the country, the world together.

And, again, it brought us even closer over one card that now has flourished into a relationship that I wouldn't be sitting here with Adam today, and I stand by that if that never happened because him and I have just again, we talk and text almost every day. I mean, one of the several people I talk to, but we always it take time for one another. What I like about Adam is his communication's like, boom. He's like, gets back to me, and I know I'm the same way. So we're always trying to be on top of one another as far as staying on top of so, no, I think this is a great combo with us too.

And, again, we we have different different but similar mindsets on things, and I'm excited to really dive into this podcast with everybody and the listeners. We hope you all enjoy it. My wife's looking through the the the cam the glass here at the shop. We have the podcast breaking real quick. Your brand new podcasting booth.

Yeah. Well, we're finally up the setup today, man. We we finally have taken it to the next level. We just got all the equipment in about close as we could timing, and I'm excited. So let's get started.

I think we touched on who we are. Let's let's get to talking about this podcast, what we wanna do here. Yeah. So we're gonna we're gonna do some recurring segments here every week, and I think every wrestling show starts with, you know, the pyro at the beginning, the fireworks going off. Like, if you've been to a wrestling show, you know what this is like.

And, you know, what we're gonna do sort of in this part of the podcast is really talk about some of the more current events of, of wrestling and sort of how that's gonna relate to collecting and and how this is gonna change. Now wonderful sort of timing, for this because we're about to start the road to WrestleMania. This is I I call it playoff season for wrestling cards. And Ryan who collects football cards, he he does a shop. This is where, you know, NFL playoffs are starting.

You know, it's it's basketball's ramping up. We're getting to the sort of the the formulation of who's who in the NBA as well. Like, cards get more expensive during playoff time because people have the most attention. So that's really the the purpose. This podcast really couldn't have come at a better time in that respect.

So I think what we're what we're gonna be doing in this section is just sort of talking about some of the things. And, you know, we had a a really big Monday night raw last night. I don't know if, if everybody on the on the who's listening here or watching along on YouTube had a chance to to binge, season five of of Stranger Things after, ten years off or whatever it's been. But, last night was was pretty incredible. They they really sort of went all out.

I mean, year long anniversary, first of the first Netflix Raw. So, really, this is, like, the new era of WWE sort of celebrating one year, and they had, like, a bunch of stuff come through with a stranger things themed sort of accoutrements through the through the entire show. Did you get a chance to to to watch Ryan? Like, I I think, like, it was a pretty eventful raw all in all. Yeah.

No. I did get to watch it. I I was a little delayed, and I kinda ruined it for Adam. My bad. I I text him, and I I was like, congrats.

And I was catching up on the phone for little bit because we're watching Landman that I watched most of the recap in the bed last night. And, yeah, we love Landman. It's a great show. It's such a Billy Bob Fortin. Yeah.

But I text him. I was like, congrats. He's like, I think you got the wrong Adam. I was like, what's he telling? I was like, congrats on the win.

What I'm I'm not live watching. I'm doing the I'm prepping everything. I was like, oh, man. My bad. Like so yeah.

No. It was it was a really, really good matches. We had two title changes. A great main event match last night. Overall was was awesome.

I've got pros and cons with how they played that out, but it was it was one worth watching one year anniversary, like you said. Stranger Things, I'm sure you're caught up on stranger things. I am as well. Hopefully, we're not gonna we're not gonna spoil any endings here of stranger things. Don't worry.

You don't have to sort of No. We're not we're not bringing stranger things up, but it was just coincide with it. So I do got make sure that I saw I was following baby face breaks. He was there. He did not have good things to say about the crowd and as far as overall.

But I I think from a watching from a home standpoint, they did a good job to grab everything. So, again, we we saw two title changes, and we're building up. Like you said, we're we're at the peak kinda getting into the peak time of wrestling and wrestling cards right now. The road to WrestleMania starts at the end of this month. So, yeah, I mean, it was great.

It was a great watch. And what what are your thoughts on things? Because we're not gonna let much work. I mean, I I am always loving when Becky Lynch wins a title. I mean, when you're it's like it's like when your favorite team wins, you know, a a big game, like, you you you celebrate, you you do your thing.

I think that, like, it's it sets up WrestleMania for a number of reasons. I think they're they have a lot of directions to go. Really from the card market perspective, like, last night's show really gave us some big clues as to sort of which way the the WWE is leaning. Because for for a lot of people who have collected baseball cards too, like, WWE has the buyback program very similarly in Topps Chrome the way that it does in MLB. So these four matches for the two main titles for the men and the two main titles for the women really have a huge impact on the card market, especially when 2026 tops Chrome eventually hits.

Like, this is gonna be a big deal. And I think, like, the seeing that Centimeters Punk is still the champion for the men on on the Raw side, Cody Rhodes, the champion on the on the SmackDown side. Like, I think that there's really huge impact for their cards just continuing to be on top. I think Centimeters Punk has been a widely collected person. Cody Rhodes, widely collected person.

And now with Bron Breakker, do you put him back into the title match at WrestleMania, give him his coronation, really sort of solidify all those things that I've been chasing as as a collector for a long time? Because I've invested in Bron Breakker cards for since he came up. Like, he's he's like a like, his pedigree is insane. Like, his his father is Generational talent. No question.

His father's Rick Steiner. His his uncle is Scott Steiner. Centimeters Punk was trolling him on the the thing wearing the Michigan jacket Yep. That was which was great. But, like, I mean, like, these guys are, like, the collecting prospects that we would have sort of aligned to in in rook in in baseball and football.

Their their Bron Breaker is, like, the the the young upstart QB. He's the guy that can, you know, throw touchdown passes, run the ball, whatever. Take the tools. Yeah. Exactly.

And, like, so a lot of collectors when Panini came on in 2022 and and sort of, like, had this sort of reinvention of the wrestling card industry under this new sort of banner, like, people started gravitating towards Bron Breakker cards for that reason. There was two guys that they were going after. Breaker was one, Gable Steveson was the other. Oh, yeah. Good.

Breaker, you're you're in a much better position now. Sorry to but I'm I'm card collecting back to it. So No. You're good, man. I think, like, I think Gable is is coming back to UFC, so his cards have spiked.

Could. Yes. His card. Yes. So, like, I mean, like, that that year was big.

I mean, Tiffany Stratton, another Minnesota person. Gable is also Carmelo Hayes. Yep. So, I mean, like, they they're all in that 2022 prism year, and I we've talked about it a lot between you and I, but and I've talked a lot about it on my site. But, like, this is really sort of like, okay.

Josh Allen coming up through the playoffs. Yep. Like, you know, is he gonna finally win it? And Brian Breaker is still a very young guy. Josh Allen's a little bit more seasoned.

Like but it's that that kind of, like, anticipation that collectors really drive from. And I think this is huge. Coming out of this raw, I think he's likely gonna be final four in the Royal Rumble. He's likely gonna be in a major match at WrestleMania. If Seth Rollins can can somehow make it back, maybe that's the match they put him in if it's not the title.

I don't know who goes up against Centimeters Punk if it's not breaker. Like, who do you put in the opposite of that role? No. I I agree with you. So what yeah.

I get everything you're saying. I I was thinking this earlier today, and we're we're spot on with this. So I think last night, you know, obviously, you don't wanna pull the title off Punk already. It's not time. Punk needs his flowers, gets his gets his WrestleMania title match is what he deserves.

And I'm not I'm not a huge punk fan, but, man, I mean, like, he deserves this for everything that, you know, to come back. It's great he's back. So, yes, I think last night was one of setting up to an even bigger match in Mania to where I think that's where you put Breaker on main stage. Even though there was a great role, it was the year anniversary, it was the stranger things, that's not where you put it on Breaker. I think you you don't wanna make him look weak.

So overall, it's a great match. You talk it up to learning an inexperience by Breaker as far as got a little too cocky at the end there. Obviously, seeing being the veteran takes over. I I think overall, it was a great match, but I think it's setting up something bigger. I'm with you.

Breakers bought a top four. If he doesn't win Rumble, then I think he wins elimination chamber to the best in the punk because you gotta build up this storyline. This storyline needs more to build up. It's been a great storyline to watch these two. And, obviously, you don't wanna make the vision look weak, so you gotta you're not making them look weak in this situation.

The only thing I think they made them look weak was a bunch of luchadors beating up on the guys three times. Right. I didn't get that one. But, yeah, I think breaker is right now is a great I mean, people have been investing in the breaker for years. Timmy is a huge Timmy Tim's a huge breaker fan, has an incredible breaker collection.

And I've I've held some back, but I've regretted some for years because the writing's been on the wall for this guy. His his athleticism, just everything he's got going for him, and they're gonna put him front and center. He's never really had a major injury. You know? It's know?

Knock on wood. Knock on wood. Yes. Knock always, yes, they knock on wood, especially in this industry. But I think they're building this up to something bigger.

And then it goes to, do we look at like you said, Roman Reigns here. Are we looking at a Roman Reigns getting the rumble, getting a face Cody to to finish, I guess, reeling the story? Most trilogies, man. Like, they they love the like, Stone Cold and The Rocket, three WrestleMania matches. Three.

You have Lesnar and Reigns. Lesnar and Reigns. I mean, like, they love these trilogies. And, like, I just think, like, the community of of Internet wrestling marks are are probably not gonna appreciate seeing Cody and Roman go to war again. I think it's a little bit of a different situation now that both of them are faces.

That's a little weird. So they're both baby faces. Like, how do you make that work? Like, but so if it's not if it's not Roman and Cody, then you've got like, you've got two matches to fill. And I think, like, last year, like, we were all kinda, like, wondering, like, okay.

Who do we who do we put our money behind? Because we didn't really know that Jay Uso was gonna win the Royal Rumble. We didn't know that, you know, the way it was gonna shake out with Roman and Cody and The Rock and everything like that. Like, there's and then John Cena comes back for his retirement tour. Like, all of this was swirling last year.

I think it's a little bit more sort of down this year. Like, it's I don't feel like there's as much buzz yet. But I think once that rumble finishes at the January, you've got a a lot of things that collectors are gonna be watching, especially now that we also know that Rhea Ripley is probably walking into the Royal Rumble as a tag team champion. Yep. You have Becky Lynch walking into the Royal Rumble as Intercontinental champion.

So I don't think either of them are going to win. And I think that leaves Bianca Belair if she comes back from her hand injury and Liv Morgan, who is literally one of the most surprising top names in collecting, for for a lot of different reasons. But, like, her cards ever since she came back or was rumored to come back have gone absolutely bonkers. Yep. And, like, huge sale after huge sale after huge sale, which we'll get to here later on.

But I think, like, she's a big name for this. Like, I I'm not a huge Liv Morgan fan. You're not a big Centimeters Punk fan. I'm I'm probably even less of a Liv Morgan fan just but I think, like, there are fewer and fewer names now available for these matches given that they are already champions other places. Of course, you can move the belts around really dramatically before we saw last year with the EOS Sky winning so early before WrestleMania.

Like, things will change, and I think collectors are are probably trying to figure out how the puzzle pieces are gonna fit. Right? Yep. Yeah. No.

There's no question about that. And another name to throw out, and I don't know if they could spin this in multiple ways, AJ Lee could win. And then, obviously, she could still choose to face Becky Lynch for the title that she's never, you know, obviously never held. She's you know? So that's an angle to go to, or you don't have to have that.

You can build it up other ways. Yeah. It really makes you wonder as far as the women's side. Again, you alluded to Bianca Belair coming back from the injury. Liv Morgan returning so over right now, and there's many ways they can go from the collecting standpoint like you alluded to.

Liv Morgan's cards, man, you know, from where she's come to where she's been, I mean, like, gotten to, it's it's crazy to see of of her size and everything, but, man, she's just so collectible. She's another version of kind of Alexa Bliss in a way. Yeah. Alexa Bliss has a huge following. We've seen some crazy sales with her as well, but I think Liv Morgan, she has that factor.

She has the if factor. She's got the look. I think a lot of that goes to plus she can wrestle. She can hold it on the mic. You know, all those things go into considering as far as not just, you know, wrestling standpoint of watching and and and prospecting, but it is nice to go hand in hand for a card collecting standpoint that you get you know, put your eggs in a basket.

It was nice last year that they won't be able to do this year. As Adam alluded to, Topps Chrome WWE came out before came out the weekend the week of Royal Rumble, which was in Indianapolis. I was there, and Topps Chrome was out, and they went with the the winners of the men's and women's Royal Rumble got to be the buybacks. And that was nice because people got a little bit of time to prospect, but not as much time. And in baseball, you you kinda get time to prospect.

So, again, I think the top's chrome this year will go something with main events in Wrestle May the WrestleMania. I'm assuming since it's not gonna be out before the Royal Rumble kicks off, but that's another way to prospect with cards into collecting Rumble if you think this curve this person could win. This person could win. It's pretty cool how that goes hand in hand with with wrestling as well. Yeah.

I mean, you mentioned somebody like Alexa Bliss, five time champion, you know, hugely popular. Probably the top like, other than Rhea Ripley, she's probably the top collected woman in WWE. And, like, she's got a shot at it. I mean, there's there's the this is what makes WWE so intriguing and what and when I came back to watching wrestling after, you know, growing up during the attitude era, seeing, you know, Stone Cold Steve Austin was my favorite wrestler and sort of, like, coming back to this, like, the intrigue of the Royal Rumble makes this one of my favorite events every year. Like, obviously, you can't beat WrestleMania.

It's still the granddaddy of them all, but, like, live for the Royal Rumble just like it's it's kind of like I equate it to the feeling I get around the NFL draft. It's like you're watching your team come and pick their team for next year. There's free agencies settling down a little bit. Royal Rumble sets the stage for the year. It's in January.

It's like the whole year flows out of the Royal Rumble, and this is one of my absolute favorite events. One other thing I think we wanna cover so Matt Cardona returned on SmackDown. I have, for those following along on YouTube, I have his card up on the screen from TopsNow. Like, Matt is a humongous card collector, and he has made himself very much a figurehead of this, sort of industry. Going back to WWE, his wife, Chelsea Green, obviously, another person that's that's widely collected.

How do you think that this, sort of could impact future sets if he starts to get autographs again in top sets? His older stuff from tops before he left WWE still sells for insane money because people, you know, equate his podcast and, you know, the major wrestling figure podcast, everything to him. Now he's back in WWE. Him, AJ Lee, other guys like that that are gonna come back and be a part of sets next year, hopefully. Does this have a big impact, do you think, for for people next year?

Oh, 100%. I mean, he's very likable. He's again, he's he's all over. I mean, a lot of people follow him on social media. He's rebranded himself, went in the Indies, did everything, worked his way up.

I mean, again, likable guy, especially in our industry, the collectibles, stuff like that. A lot of people wanna collect more types of wrestlers and athletes who are collectors as well. I know Cardona's big in the toys, if I'm correct. I remember Tyler Santiago said he came to the store and was really big on the toys. He loves the toys.

So I I think, again, he could wrestle. He carry the mic. He's brained himself. Now we're gonna get Matt Cardona cards. We didn't get that before.

We had to go Zack Ryder. Woo woo woo. You know it. Yeah. So Zack Ryder is dead.

Matt Cardona is here. What an awesome signing for WWE. Long time. You know, he deserves his flowers. He's gotten back to to here with everything he's done, and I think he is gonna be widely collectible when he does get actual cards and products.

Obviously, you could see he put the tops now card that we'll be getting here. But, again, I think he gets in implemented into products, another one to go with Logan Paul. It's been long overdue to get in the products as well. Supposed to be in finance. I you know?

It was. Yes. Go. Yeah. It was.

I wonder what was going on there. I mean, you may know more than me. But, again, another guy that I think collector's been itching to get Matt Cardona cards, and it's exciting. I I was it was great Do an autograph with Chelsea Green. Tell me that's not gonna be one of, like, the craziest chases they wanna look Inscribed on card.

Oh, yeah. Those will be popular. Insane. So so No. I think it's great that he's back.

And, again, I think another guy that that is a collector and in our industry, the hobby. Again, collectors appreciate collectors. Yeah. So, like and not only that, but your your main PC is back as well. Randy Orton shows back up on SmackDown.

So are did you did you finally get to celebrate him back on TV? I I was at we were at a friend's house. My wife and I, they had a little fun adult poker Texas home. I mean, we haven't played home, like, three years since last time we were there. And I'm there, and Kennedy Carey, it text me.

He's like, oh my god. Did you did you watch SmackDown? I'm like, no. He's like, do you want me to ruin it for you? I was like, go for it because I'm like, don't know when I'm gonna be home.

He's like, your boy's back. I'm like, wait. What? He's like, Orton, he sends me the clip. And I'm sitting there, I'm at a table.

People that probably don't care anything about wrestling are like, Janet. Janet, look. Look. Look. He's back.

He's back. He's back. Cool. Let's not embarrass yourself in front of our friends here. So I'm excite obviously, my my pick for the rebel is gonna be Randy Orton.

That's my guy. I'd love to see him get that. That would be would awesome. They've already saved he saw the setup. He's like, I'm back, but I'm back for that.

You know? Get him to fifteen. So, no, I I love it. I'm excited he's back. I mean, he he's one of those guys that I mean, really, in his age and everything like that, he's in immaculate shape.

He's a beast, but it really doesn't need to be wrestling full year round. I think taking the time off is good for him and getting, you know, getting healthier and coming back. What what a better opportune time. Obviously, he'll be in the Royal Rumble. And, again, my pick, my favorite, my guy to win.

Obviously, Seth will not be there. So but I'm excited. Yeah. Unfortunately, I I, you know, I remember when you were at the Rumble in Indianapolis, and we were I was at a basketball a Timberwolves game with my my kid and my wife. And I was like, I wasn't able to watch the Royal Rumble as it was happening out.

And I thought that Becky Lynch was gonna come back at number 30. And and, like, it just never we were texting, okay. Who's next? Who's next? And, like, the return is, like, I live for huge pops.

I am a a connoisseur of fine wrestling pops, and I think, like, the the return pops that these guys get on their returns just drive me to to want to watch over and over and over again. And I I watched the Randy Orton clip a couple of times. It's it's really good. So really happy he's back for you. Yeah.

I do wanna spend, transition to one of our next segments here. We'll talk a little bit about some of the high spots, from the market here. I the reason I think we should call this the high spot segment, if you're not familiar with wrestling terminology, this is, like, coming off the top rope. This is the big sort of finish. This is the the this isn't the the rest holds in the middle of the ring.

This is the the the peaks of the matches. And what we'll do here is we're gonna we're gonna cover some of the things that are going on in the actual card market. We really are expecting the things to ramp up over the next couple of months with tops. We've got a lot of big previews here that have been shared through tops social media. We've also got some huge sales to cover here.

So, Ryan, I know you didn't get to to buy in quite as you wanted on tops universe. Preorder went live a couple of weeks ago. $170 a box, two autographs, one relic, launches on the literally, like, as the Royal Rumble is happening. I assume they'll have product there. What what do you like, tell me your initial reaction to what you've seen for tops universe.

Are you excited? Like, what what what's driving you on this on this set here? I mean, I I love first off, those are more relics and on card with the subscription there. First time, yes. I think this is gonna hit the ground running.

Like you alluded to the price point out of the gate, great. I don't think it's gonna be anywhere near that price point on the secondary. The way that everything's limited to to directs and everything like that, I mean, it's it's a free for all to get a lot of this stuff now, and you've got a bill of allocation. So I just don't think there's gonna be as much readily available out of the gate, which drives up the market, obviously. If I'm correct, they're making a blaster if I'm Yeah.

They they did have blasters, and they had blasters on their on their preorder. Yeah. Which which will be big at at Royal Rumble because when we were there last year, we went to the WWE shop and everything like that, and the it was a great setup, but they had the tops chrome blasters. They sold out a mega so fast, and those megas are absolutely loaded, by the way. You haven't ripped any of those last year, megas, but they had the blasters.

So I remember, Mike, we bought a bunch for the kids to go back to the room and rip. So I think that'll be big. I think the the blasters will be on-site at Rumble, which will make collectors more prone. I don't see how this doesn't get released during the week of Rumble. That would be tragic.

That would be crazy. That would be crazy if it does. We we need another wrestling release, and what better time to hype it up. So I think that goes hand in hand, but I like the look of it. I'm I'm seeing more and more pop up.

I think the product's gonna do over extremely well. The fact that you're getting three hits a box, I wish it would stay at that price point. I just don't foresee it happening. Yeah. I think the the order on most of the retail sites at, like, $300, which disappointing to say the least, but I think it'll settle.

Disappointing. And I I I don't depends. I mean, a couple factors going, and this is where my my knowledge of the the boxes and everything goes in with that with what we do on the back end is, you know, Finest wasn't readily available. It was not allocate it was very heavily out, like, lightly allocated out. It's did so well.

It outperformed everything they did with. It was great. It shot up. There's just not enough out there. Tops Chrome took a little bit to tick off, but Cactus Jack, they made there's too much readily available.

And I think when you take out in a hit per box, that changes the element of a lot of that too. I think when you're adding in not one, not two, but three hits in this with chances of some of the cards were not the bottom ones with the ones we're looking up top here, I think that's just gonna drive it up. I still think, you know, I think at $300 a box sounds a lot better rip than paying almost $500 a box for finance. You know? I mean, again, we don't are there gonna be rock autos in this?

That's drives it. You know? Yeah. I think the checklist is gonna be an interesting thing to check out once we eventually get it out. Are are we gonna get loaded Paul cards?

You know? Those are questions. You know? I don't think we're gonna back Cardona. It's just too early.

But there's other factors that could drive it. Is there gonna be other prospects in here? We just don't know right now. I don't think they've released all that information. But from what I'm seeing and from where I'm standing, I I think I think it's gonna go over tremendously well.

I think $300 a box at at paying for what you pay for tops from last year. Now I I think that's a no brainer. You rip at that. That's you know, again, it's easier said than done It's somebody in my position that has access to this stuff. But the blasters.

I think the blasters gets more people the price point in to ripping wrestling. That's key. Get more people to rip more affordable things into wrestling cards to get them in, and what better place to launch that to anybody that may not be a wrestling card collector than the Royal Rumble like they did last year. So perfect timing. Excited.

I'm okay with it being pushed back because we definitely needed a release at Royal Rumble that week of. Agreed. Yeah. No. It's a it's a big thing.

I think, like, the blasters having a retail component for the first time since last January. Right? So that was the last time we had any WWE product on shelves at Target or Walmart. Huge huge development there. Was not expecting a retail component, then they put it up for preorder.

Really, really good stuff. You mentioned earlier kind of the event used relics. I don't know if people really understand what this means. So let me kind of, like, break it down here. So in wrestling, for a long time, rest relics were very ambiguous.

Like, tops really never identified the source of a lot of the stuff of the stuff they put in the cards. So unlike where you have Panini in a football product or a basketball product saying player worn or game worn or whatever, wrestling up until, you know, recently was was more ambiguous. And I think when we got to the Panini era, almost everything was player worn. They had a couple of mat relics. They had a couple of other things.

But it was like, hey. When we're doing these signings, the wrestlers are gonna try on these shirts. We're gonna embed those in the cards. Everything is good. Topps went completely the other direction.

So they went, they got event worn gear, so, like, actual tights, pieces of entrance gear, like, everything. They're cutting that up. They got Cody Rhodes, outfit from, WrestleMania forty one. They've got, like, all of these different things that are driving really historically connected and driven relics for the first time at scale. Right?

Because we've had tops fully loaded where they've had other relics that have been worn by the wrestlers. I know I helped with tops to get them a Becky Lynch jacket back in 2020 for fully loaded, like, that she wore to the ring. Like, those sets are very few and far between. Now we're finally, after a year, we're getting our first event worn sets completely made up of these relics. You have, tops previewed the Roman Reigns, where he it was part of his sweatshirt he wore at one of the events.

We've seen, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano talking about they they won a title in the relics that are included in this set. Like, all of these things are really driving collector appeal to have and, like, you every board that every message board, every piece of social media, everybody wants, why aren't we getting more gear? Why aren't we putting gear in the cards? Well, here it is, guys. Like, this is your opportunity.

And I was worried because let's be honest. Like, you you cut up a football jersey, you get a thousand pieces. You cut up a wrestler's trunks, and you maybe get a 100. So, like, I I I'm curious, like, how much color they're gonna have in these relics. I'm curious, like, how they're gonna turn out.

I'm really excited for this product. I'd never thought I would be. It just the design really doesn't speak to me as much as some of the other products that they've done. But now that I've seen the cards completed, it looks really nice. The relics look great.

I think it's gonna be a a no brainer at a $170 even at $2.50. I mean, that's still half the price of finest at this point. Like, getting two autographs on card inscriptions, all that fun stuff. Like, you can't go wrong with this. And then not only that, but the day after they released the John Cena commemorative collection, I know it's kinda like we're a little bit late to the party.

The podcast is launching a little bit late. But, you know, the commemorative collection where you have John Cena's entire career spilled out over an entire set, Really cool to see top sort of taking the Shohei Ohtani fifty fifty club Yep. Set and translating that to wrestling. Did you get any of that? That was up for a little bit longer.

It was. I actually bought a box of each. I I got lucky in that respect, but, the the scene I I was like, a $100 for a set chance at some insane cards. I had to take a shot. I dropped the ball and didn't get to it.

I think somebody might have been Brandon or you told me they were still up, and I was busy with things in the back end. And by the time I got to it, they were gone. Obviously, I'm saving all my money for the Randy Orton commemorative set that they hopefully make when he retires. So Right. You know, but, it was a good price point, everything, what you can get out of it, the chances.

Years ago, Panini did a Panini instant of him, and he was $200. And you were guaranteed an autograph number one or five, a base card that was number one or five, and then you got a set, and they were $200. And I bought 30 sets, 40 sets. I was like, this is a no brainer. Like and I I mean, it took me years to sell, but now they're worth way more.

I mean, like, it just yeah. I was actually able to give one of those to a kid locally. It's his birthday. He came in, loves wrestling. Big John Cena guy.

I surprised him with with one of those cards for his PC and autograph one. I was, like, happy to give it to him. You know? And for $200, it was a no branch. So these at would you say a $100 is what they were?

Yeah. They were really You're not obviously not guaranteed autograph, but for now, for who you're getting, absolutely. I mean, he's Why not take a shot? Not take a shot considering we're gonna talk about a John Cena card here in a little bit. So, you know, it's the value of John Cena cards are are up there.

I mean, you get a nice number one. You $100, it shouldn't be too hard for you to get your money back. Yeah. You if you pull that the the dual autograph with Randy Orton, I I think somebody make sure to to give Ryan. Drop Ryan a line here.

He's gonna want that. Please. That was one of the preview cards, but I I like that they've they've got these, relics. I think they cut up one of his socks, one of his shirts. The logos are gonna be all over this on card autographs again, dual autographs.

I think I saw John Cena and The Rock on a card together. I saw Unreal. Roman Reigns and John Cena. I mean, like, this is gonna be a valuable set, but I think it's gonna be plentiful. And and I think tops limiting it to one set per account made it extend out a little bit because Universe sold out in about a minute.

So this took a little bit longer because they limited the access. I think that was a really good move. A lot of people are gonna be getting access to this set. I like it a lot. Royalty is probably the the the one that made the most waves over the last couple of weeks.

They've been starting to get the signings done at shows. Wrestlers are previewing the cards on their inter Instagrams and whatever. So we've we've seen since WrestleMania that they've they've been signing these cards. We've got now our first look at the completed WrestleMania relic autograph 101. Unbelievable.

This is this is Topps' call out to the debut patches from baseball. They're gonna do debut patches for wrestling as well. That's a little bit different set, but this is probably the most historically significant relic set ever created in a wrestling product. It might actually be one of the most historically significant tied sort of relic sets ever made because you have people winning their first title. You have John Cena winning 17 titles of world record.

You have Roman Reigns. You have all these people winning huge matches over the course of this. You have Seth Rollins, with the with the patch for that that he wore on his flamethrower in his entrance. Like like, everybody here has historic ties to WrestleMania, which is the Super Bowl of wrestling every year. And now you get to own a piece that was on the gear, was on the on their, worn on their body during the course of the event.

Tops reclaimed all of those and has embedded those into cards with autographs, all one of one to be released in royalty. We're getting some inscriptions. There was one inscription on the Cody Rhodes version of this. John Cena has, was previewed as well. These cards look absolutely stunning.

I love the the simplicity they approach this with. I love the design of the card. I think they look incredible. I think this is gonna be one of the most valuable wrestling sets ever produced. Slated to come out probably '1, I would guess, maybe '1 here for tops with tops royalty.

But, man, these cards look amazing. No. I'm with you a 100% on this. What was great about watching WrestleMania this past year, felt like Leonardo DiCaprio. There's one.

There's one. Yeah. We were all we were all playing spot the spot the rest. Yeah. You're like, where's it at?

Who hasn't? Where's it at on their stuff? So that was cool knowing it was coming. No. I again, this brings you as close as you can to the wrestlers memorabilia, but at the biggest stage of the year, maybe biggest stage of some careers.

You alluded to that Sena one's gonna bring insane money. Will be a record breaking Sena sale. I mean, we have Fatu's got his for his first one ever. You know, these things right here are being they did it right on card. There's a description here on EOS guy we know.

We know Cody Rhodes did an inscription. You know, the the patches that just the card itself just comes off the screen right now to me that I see. They just pop it pops with the white, everything. No. I think this is something that the resin collector has needed forever.

You know, we've never had anything to this magnitude. These are gonna bring insane money, record breaking money for every one of these wrestlers. I would be shocked if if this each per each wrestler that has one doesn't break some type of record for their cards. I'm curious to see what this stuff does. I I mean, I would collect any I mean, obviously, you know, I'm gonna be after Orton and Rollins, but I I would take anybody.

If I pulled one, I'm not selling it. I don't care if I could get me. Well, unless it's Becky Lynch, I'd have to sell it to you. I I don't think I would be Let's use box I think we'd have a podcast. You're gonna rip.

And rip, rip, rip, and in hopes, obviously, you know, to to pull one of these of any wrestler, obviously, my guys or your girl. Obviously, we know a Ria Collector and Steve. You know, obviously, if I pull that, I I I would you know, people are friends with it. I pull the. You know?

That's the thing. Like, it's like if I pull one of these, at least I know There's always somebody. There's always somebody who What is great about the rusty card community is, you know, I think the rusty card people are so they're vocal with who they collect. And I get there's multiple people collecting. You know, there's several collectors.

Steve comes to mind on me. Roman, you know, Jameson, you, Becky, you know, the list can go on all day of of these people that we've built relationships with. And it's nice that they all look out for one another. So when this product does happen, you're gonna be in a bunch of breaks with Becky. I'm gonna be in a bunch of breaks with Orton and Rollins and maybe some other people to try to pull this card that's gonna be I wonder what bounties I'm gonna throw out, but I'm gonna have to throw out some bounties.

I'm sure you I'm really curious to see the bounties. Like, we saw some of them go up for cactus jack with the inscriptions. I think they'll be higher here. And the ria's not surfaced yet. Correct?

It still is not surfaced. None of none of the big like, there's been a few of the big ones pulled from cactus jacks, but none of the ones that had bounties on them. Correct. But, yeah, the bounties on this are gonna be crazy. And I think it sort of leads me into the question here, which is, like, given the really attractive sort of, propositions here for everything that Topps is putting these products, do you think, like, this is gonna be a better year for WWE collectors to get access to to some of the wax?

Are we still gonna be sort of, if they release a product every month like they say they're going to and stuff like that, is there hope for people to find WWE wax on the shelves? Because right now, it is so popular. Like, I I think it's really hard to keep in stock. I know you've mentioned it to me how much your stash has dwindled. Like, I think it it's not Pokemon level where people are waiting outside the door yet.

No. But I think we're we're we're we're like, We would like some affordable wax here because it's been so in demand that it's hard to find. No. I'm with you a 100% on this because, again, I can decide right now. The WW wax just from last night on the website has picked up.

We sold several blasters, some hobby boxes in the past twenty four to forty eight hours. So we know wrestling's heating up. Everybody knows football playoffs kick off. Wrestling heats up and kicks off at the same time. So, again, I I think the biggest thing is they need to make more affordable retail SKUs readily available at stores.

Obviously, we know we'll get them at tops chrome. It's nice. We're gonna get with Universe. We know royalty is not. It's gonna be it's standalone product.

We but we hope that they can produce in double digit products this year. I get that, you know, the constraints Yeah. Are We we all would love it. You know? I think, you know, the biggest thing the did a great job, but the biggest problem we're facing with right now is the redemptions.

You're not gonna see those redemptions. It's gonna be harder for them to fulfill, especially guys like Roman. You know, with tops, I know Ruben and their team is very much like, we gotta keep our redemption rate at so low Yeah. Before we release a product. That's why there's these delays.

And it's appreciated. It's It is very appreciated. You open your box and your cards are there. Like, we get it. It's it's appreciated, but, also, at the same time, it's wrestling fans are itching.

Wrestling card collectors are itching. We want our we want our fans. We want. And whenever one comes out, we're we're, like, fiending to get it. Like, may it be breaks online with, like, mama breaks or Blez or who you break with, All Star and all that.

You know? It's like people are, like, lining up. You go and grab Becky and everything you can. I'm out there trying to grab I'm little bit of a DJ in there. Yeah.

Yeah. We we are. But, I mean, again, it's it was, I guess, from a wall standpoint, from a breaking ripping, it was nice and that standpoint last year, but come on. We've gotta really get these releases out this year. We've gotta try to follow the calendar the best we can.

We need to know we we just what did we get last year? For for hobby releases, two shops, two just the shops. Not talking about the All Accessories. We got Tops Carl. We got Cactus Jack.

We got Finest. Is there anything I'm believing that was not we had An online there was a couple of online exclusives. The online. I'm talking about just hobby shops. Yeah.

It's it's tough. It was three products, and that and that's never happened before. No. Like, that has never been the case before. And I'm not Meaning did eight, I think.

Right? They did, like, seven or eight a year, I think. They did eight. Yeah. And I get again, I think a lot of it hinders.

Again, I'm a collector. I love on card. Get it on card, and it takes time. So I'm patient in that standpoint, but I think we've gotta make more things readily available, not just at hobby shops, but just at Walmarts and Targets and Dick's and all these things. We gotta get more people into the collecting wrestling cards, and people can't walk in and drop $500 on the finest box.

You know, they're not willing to try that out for just an intermediate product. I get demand secondary drives about Basic economics is tough for wrestling right now, man. Supply is low and demand is insane. That's And, like, the other thing the other thing about the redemptions too is, like, I will wait. Like, I've been waiting.

I will Tom does a great job of redemptions. We will They do. They've they've I'm still I'm waiting on the the main event, Becky Autos from Chrome still, but I know they're gonna come. They're good for ten years. Yep.

Like, I'm okay with the redemption. I know a lot of people are. I know a lot of people are. You sell the keys then? Ten years.

Ten years. Yeah. Wrestling collectors are different, though. Like, we collect our one person. We collect our one or two people.

We are diehard and and passionate. Like, we will wait. If you give us a redemption, we will redeem the card, we will wait, and we will be happy with that as long as we get the card. Correct. And I think, like, that's where I think tops needs to sort of balance, like, the economics of supply and demand versus, okay.

We wanna give a good experience to people opening the product for the first time. All of the there's like, it's half dozen of one, six of the other, and it's just like you have to make sense of from a business standpoint, do we wanna put out a product that has, you know, a bunch of redemptions, or do we wanna put out a product? And, like, that's that that's where I think there's a a really, you know, sort of understanding with Ruben and and Mayhan and everybody on tops that they are very committed to delivering a collector experience in the box themselves, and they don't want those redemptions there. But at the same time, there's no product to buy. It has a same similar negative effect.

So I think that there's some challenge there overall. Yeah. Let's get into some sales real quick here just to finish out the high spots. We're gonna do these rapid fire. I think we're running a little bit late.

It's first episode. We'd love to chat, rest like Yeah. We we said this was gonna go a little longer than the other ones, but I think a lot had to with the introduction stuff. So Exactly. So I think, like, the one that I wanted to focus on the most was, the eighteenth and a half thousand dollar sale of the John Cena one zero one black from 2024 Prism.

Like, no shock to anybody. John Cena's final match went viral. Like, it went all across all sports, ESPN, everybody was covering it. National news, not a shock that his cards have tripled in value over the last couple of months. Like, this sale is sort of like the the cherry on top.

I think it is one of his biggest sales ever. I'm pretty sure that is his record breaking. Because this 22 black sold for 17. So this is higher by a thousand. It's not as attractive as a card being that it's not the first, but it's a cooler picture, I think.

And I think, like, the the scenic collectors out there are are really driving prices up. And I think if we saw a PSA 10 of his rookie card, it would sell for record prices too. Those come up very rarely because of the condition sensitivity of those cards. So yeah. I mean, like, seeing the the price tag there for the the Sena Black really was shocking.

Well, to touch base on that, you own Blacks of every year. I own all three Orton Blacks all around you or all three Beckys. These Blacks are near impossible to tint. They're not clean. Do you have a 10?

They're not. I mean, all my nines are eights. No. Parker has the one year Bray Wyatt. These are that's a lot goes in it.

That wasn't a 10, still a black. The 10 is what does that. I I just can't see many prison blacks of any year getting tens, and I think that's key that that is a PSA 10 right there. Yeah. That I mean, I I don't I I'm not like a grading guy one o ones.

Like, I I don't see the attractiveness either, but I I get why people want the 10. Like, PSA tens is what drives the hobby right now. And, like, seeing that this one got the 10 and got the price it did, not a shock. But then you see the rock, you know, that set the all time record, PSA seven, like, you know, it's there there's some give and take there. You're talking to the guy that that was in the bidding war for it too.

Yeah. I know. Yeah. That was this means one other person went at it. So Yeah.

I think it's it's really important to see that that there is a huge demand for these rare and desirable wrestling cards. I talk about it a lot on my site. Like, if you have flawless prism, you know, select black one o ones, gold finals, like, there's and the crazy thing is, here's what most people don't understand. There are ten, twelve prison black finites of Tom Brady. There are how many is Steph Curry, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James?

Mhmm. There will only be three of John Cena. There will only be three of Roman Reigns. There will only be 30 golds of all of those people. There are more golds in Topps Chrome 2025 than all three years of Prism combined for most of these wrestlers.

And that's only if they were in the set all three years because Cody Rhodes is only in two years. Like, you know, we we've had so much to drive force on this wrestling card topic because Panini only got one, you know, opportunity to to make this, and they blew it out of the water. Like, it was so they did such a good job, but it was only there for three years worth of product. There are only two immaculate years. There's only one year of flawless.

Like Three years of the All of this stuff yeah. All of this stuff is so dramatically short printed because Panini got kicked out of the of the of the game a little bit early. And as a result, a lot of those products never came to fruition for a fourth or a fifth year. And, like, if you look at one of the other sales I'm gonna cover here with the Alexa Bliss, you know, throwback of, of, you know, generations card from Immaculate that sold for $5,000. Like, people want these cards because they they it's accessible.

The value is understood through what goes on in football, what goes on in basketball. And then now, hey. I can get that same card in wrestling. I'm gonna pay more because I have it in basketball and football too. Mhmm.

And that accessibility drives so much value for wrestling, and that's what I hope tops comes to understand is, like, if you can bring products like Dynasty and Transcendent and all of these other things, definitive collection to wrestling, that accessibility and value comes with it. And I think Pini did a tremendous job, so it's not shocking to see that this John Cena card sold for what it did. Right. And to go with the past and present of the Alexa Bliss, that was the one time thing. Present.

That's the name of it. Thank you. That was blamed. You know, that was a one time year they made it, and all those past and present cards of almost any wrestler continue to go up. Those have all the cards.

They're they're really collectible because it's kind of a rookie to the point they made the card essentially, just the growth of who they were as a wrestler. But collectors love these type of cards. I I'll be honest. I have the Rollins. I love it.

It's a great card. It's it's an awesome card. Is an awesome card. And I again, Alexa Bliss sales, obviously, she sells crazy too. So, again, so our listeners who aren't aware, that was a onetime year they did past and present.

That was '23 in Mac Glenn. That was the last year they had a Mac Glenn. Yeah. And that Alexa Bliss card I mean, so Liv Morgan sells for $12,000. That was last year.

Yep. This is the first big sale of of 2026. So this went down on January 2. The scene is sold on Christmas day. So, like, we're we're already, like, off to the races with wrestling cards.

I wanted to highlight, one of my fellow content creators on main event, Steve, bought the Rhea Ripley baby Milo card. That one sold for $5,500. Really excited for Steve to get that card. I know he now has both of the Rhea Ripley one zero ones from the vape set, the collab set that just came out. So, I mean, like, again, if you're listening to this podcast for the first time, you're watching on YouTube for the first time, just getting introduced to wrestling cards, wondering, hey.

Is there value to be had here? As a collector, like, we all want our PCs to get bet better and better. And, like, I think we also get excited when we see other people coming in and and getting, you know, realizing these massive prices for a lot of these cards. So Mhmm. Really excited there to see some huge sales to start off the year.

We'll continue as we go through this podcast week after week. We'll we'll continue to come back and highlight some of the big market trends and and sales like this as well. Not just because we wanna highlight, oh, wrestling cards are so super expensive. Everybody should FOMO buy everything. It's just like it shows value validation for what we're doing as collectors.

It shows that what we've invested in, the passion that we've put into this market is is coming to fruition. I mean, like, I I know for for my Becky collection and for your collection, like, we're not selling this. We're not coming into this and selling these cards. We're we're collectors first. And it's so important to see that other people are seeing the same value that we're seeing in our own PC.

And I guarantee these three sales went to collectors. We already know the Ria a 100% went to Steve, but I'm guaranteeing these are going to collectors that are getting resold. The Sina maybe maybe one day, but I could see the Alexa collected in the Ria. The scene could see somebody from sports basketball coming over saying, oh, this is a person black. Get it.

I mean, when you put, like you said, Brady, for example, Mahomes, guys like that who have more years, there's only three years. So when you so when I see these numbers, I see Alexa and Ria collectors. I see seeing a potentially collector. Potentially, it could be a $4,050,000 dollar card before you know it with with people being more knowledgeable of the the lack thereof of years of being in prison being produced. Absolutely.

So just to close this out, we're gonna do our title match topic of the week here where each week, I I will well, I'll sort of Ryan and I will come up with some questions, we'll each give our take. In the community, if you wanted to leave a comment on YouTube or or leave a comment on the podcast, please give us your own sort of take on this. Shoot us a message on social media. Maybe we're gonna run some polls. Another area we'll cover is maybe Ryan's gonna do some breaks here as well.

So if you see kind of on the YouTube side, actual cards being ripped or on the podcast side, sort of a recap of how these products are being broken. Ryan runs a shop, so we get access to product that, you know, will give you the information here. This is an opportunity, for each person to get sort of what they're looking for out of this. And this week's topic, I I think, is because we're a new podcast, because I know Brett's network is mostly sports cards and stuff like that, I wanted to ask for both of us to consider, what is one way that you think in wrestling cards very similar to sports card collecting in the mainstream and one way that it's it's really different? So, Ryan, do you wanna give yours first here and and then I'll I'll weigh in with mine and we'll close it out?

Yeah. No. I I think the the one thing that goes hand in hand for for card collecting, obviously, is the the more people are starting to prospect some of these wrestlers, like people prospect in sports, and I think you can do that with a product like NXT. It gives you the opportunity like a minor leagues to watch those people develop in there. That's where, again, Bron Breakker.

We got Javon Evans just got called up. Tiffany Stratton, the list could go on. These people all start NXT, and they make hard for people in NXT. I think that's a way to prospect kinda like people in baseball do bowman stuff like that, first rookies, all that, things like that. Those go hand in hand.

I would think that the one thing that they don't go hand in hand, I think man, I don't the collectors. I think I've alluded to this multiple times. We're crazy. We're absolutely crazy collectors. We are crazy.

We are devout collectors when we collect wrestling, and it I just think the the top ones that wanna collect, you know, obviously, it's sad says you gotta have a little bit of a budget to do this. You could collect it any way you wanna collect. But if you wanna try to get the one on ones and everything like that, I don't think there's anybody as crazy. I think the competition is much different. How many Brady collectors are out there?

How many LeBrons? How many Jordans? There just isn't yet in the the wrestling scene. I think it's continuously growing. I think you're seeing more people branch over.

But I would say the the love that the collectors have, the passion for it is not like any other, I and I mean that. And I used to collect LeBron for many, many years, and I still have some nice LeBrons. But I shifted and sold a lot of LeBrons, IEA to pay for a building here, but also I've shifted my collecting into more wrestling. Not just wrestling, I'm into nonsports as well with my family and some guy named Babe Ruth, but I've shifted my collecting. And and, again, I I was cleaning up my collection the other day of and I was just like, it wasn't just my collection.

It was my kid's collection. It was everything. And I'm like, what? I have all these, and it just it it consumes you, but you're passionate enough for it. And I don't think there's the wrestling card collector is the most passionate I've ever seen, and I just don't see that as much as sports cards.

I see more people in sports cards selling, buying, flipping, buying, flipping, whereas the wrestling card collector is I'm buying this to collect. And I'm not saying that does happen in sports. It does. Just so much harder to do in sports. Looking at Nathan here, BSG, huge Ray Mysterio collector.

That's one thing I love about working with these guys. They're all wrestling collectors. Niels of Finbauer. Nathan's a Raymiserion. They go for the one on ones.

They're trying to collect that stuff. So, again, I I see similarities and differences, and I think a lot of it is to the devout of the collector and wrestling cards, the way they wanna collect, how they wanna collect. It doesn't just have to be one on ones, but they wanna collect in their way. And and I love that, I respect that. It's just awesome to see, and I think it brings those collectors more together because it's not about the monetary buying and flipping aspect.

It's about what we're into this hobby for, why you and I got in this hobby a long time ago as collectors. Well before I had a shop, well before I sold my first card, I was a collector. And I know that goes hand in hand with a lot of wrestling card collectors. Yeah. I I agree.

I I think it's it's hard to to to separate collecting and wrestling. I think it's all like, wrestling cards, like, niche from a niche audience perspective. You have soccer cards, been around for a long time, now ramping up with World Cup. You have, you know, a lot of these sort of niche collecting areas, like wrestling and other thing, non sport especially ramping up. They've been around for a very long time.

Mhmm. And I think it that's what drives these passionate collectors. But I think it's one of the things I think is is very similar with with wrestling collecting and sports card collecting because I've I've had my experience with both. I collected the Vikings and Twins for many, many years before going full time into wrestling. Same with the Vikings.

Yeah. It's just like it's like I I've always collected a team. I've always collected a player. And, like, I think the the the drive there is very similar here. But I think one of the main things that's really come in to focus, very similar focus of sports cards, is collecting goats.

Right? Like, everybody's now buying, you know, the the the guys that have done it, that have been there instead of the guys that are coming up through the ranks. And, so the Brady's and Mahomes, sure, in baseball, you know, you you wanna buy the Ichiro's, the Derek Jeter's. You wanna buy all those guys that are gonna have those long term success. Shoahi Ohtani obviously has done it a million times.

And I think in wrestling, those guys don't go away. Like, that's what's different. It's like, the like, you're you're collecting these goats, they can still show up on TV even though they're not wrestling, you know, every week. Like, they're they're not the commentators. They're still involved with the shows.

And so I think, like, collecting the goats and then drawing those parallels between the two types of of of collecting here in wrestling and and sports. Like, we've seen The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker. Like, all those guys are still some stone cold Steve Austin, some of the most valuable people in the wrestling industry, very much similar to what we're seeing on the sports side. Mhmm. One thing that I think is a little bit different is I I think the community, to your to your point, is is very passionate, very, very involved.

But I think, like, the the overall sort of understanding that, that you have to have the the money making mentality just doesn't exist the same way yet in wrestling cards. I also think grading really hasn't caught on in wrestling cards yet either. I think it's getting more and more since Panini has come on board, but you don't have to have a PSA 10 to get full value on a wrestling card sometimes. I think that's very, very different, on the on the wrestling card side than you would on the sports card side. So I think as grading becomes more of a factor, we've seen how much it's impacted Pokemon.

We've seen how much it's impacted nonsports. We've seen how much grading has sort of added multipliers in value to a lot of these things. That will catch on in wrestling sooner rather than later. It's already those those seeds have already been planted. So I think that's one of the main differences that still exist, but really interested to see how it plays out.

But in terms of the passionate community, that's what drove me here. And one of the things I think we'll leave in sort of our closing is, like, you know, we're gonna be here every week. We're gonna be passionate. We're gonna be driving these conversations. Ryan and I live this every day.

Ryan and his shop, me and and creating content through main event, we're excited to be here with Brett, like, in in offering wrestling card content to the masses. I was so happy to get all the messages from people telling me how excited they were. You know, the Card Vault guys reached out to me. Like, all these guys are reaching out to me saying, hey. Ryan mentioned a few of them.

Hey. Really excited to have wrestling cards on stacking slabs. I love hearing that. I love seeing that as a part of our community. We are incredibly passionate.

I hope you guys can sense that in the in the first episode here. So as we're sort of going into the coming weeks here, we're gonna clean this up a little bit. We're gonna get more comfortable with the process. I appreciate you bearing with us through our first episode, but, it was entertaining. Hopefully, it provided a lot of feedback here.

Ryan, anything you wanna add there before we wrap it up here? No. Yeah. No. I think Adam's spot on everything.

Again, I think the biggest thing was the the response for everybody excited to hear both you and I and just to have a wrestling card podcast in general. Means a lot to me, and I know it meant a lot to Adam. I know my staff is excited about it. I've got some friends that reach out. So we we thank you everybody for the support.

We hope you enjoy this show. Again, this is just two friends talking about something that we talk about already. Literally, I'm sure we'll have a phone call later today talking about more stuff or text messages. You know, this is two guys that that already talk. So to to take this to this level, again, I alluded to I have another podcast, but we talk about wrestling as we heat up to mania and stuff like that, then other things take over.

So it's nice to have this opportunity to just make a show dedicated to wrestling and wrestling cards, which, again, two things I'm very passionate about. Two things almost everybody here at RBICru7 is passionate about. My family's passionate about, same with his. So, again, excited to be here. We can't thank Brett enough for this opportunity.

It's just it's almost like a dream come true. It really is. And I never thought, you know, a, I never you know, my dream is to have a card shop, to have a two story house, and have a blonde wife and two kids. I got all that, but I got a third kid. So, again, love that.

And then to to sit here and be able to do what I do day in and day out, I get to live in a shop. And then now I have our podcast breaking room where I could come in here and just shoot it with one of my great friends and talk about something that we both love. It's just awesome. We hope you all enjoy it. There's a lot of fun things coming.

As Adam alluded to, yes, I am a hobby chef. I have access to product. Let's look at universe here. We've already talked about this. I'm gonna spoil it right now.

We're gonna rip one of these live whenever it releases, and we're gonna give away the content to a listener. So, again, we'll talk more about that as it come, but we'll clean this up as we get going. This one went a little bit longer than most of these shows will run only because the introduction, and it's our first one to do this together. But don't you worry. We'll we'll have a good rhythm with this, a good a good overall forty five, forty minute time podcast.

And, again, excited. Adam knows how busy my schedule is. I know how busy his schedule is. He's like, are you able to take time out of, like, Adam, for this. I'm in.

Kidding me. I get to talk, and I get to talk wrestling cards and wrestling. Sell me. So, again, thank you, everybody. Hope you enjoy the first one.

Again, we can't thank Brett and stacking slabs enough for the opportunity to do this together. I'm excited, man. I don't don't think I could tell you enough. I'm I'm pumped, man. We can tell.

We can tell. I'm fired up. Thanks again, guys. Talk to you next week. Keep keep coming off the top rope here.

We always love love hearing from the community. Don't hesitate to reach out to us on social media. So thanks again, everyone. See you.