When I look back at 2022, I cant remember a year where I had more of a crazy experience in the hobby. Aside from all the news about the Fanatics takeover, the first signs of the bubble bursting in trading cards, and the general craziness of what followed, the previous year was a tremendous time to be a wrestling card collector.

Check out the year in review panel discussion:

The year kicked into high gear in April with an epic Wrestlemania 38, and the first launch of the Panini WWE license. With the new era in full bloom, we saw a growth in the hobby like we had never seen before. New faces, new collecting methods, and a growing divide among the people who had been collecting for years and the perceived threat flooding in from every direction. Because the crowd that buys products like Prizm and Select tend to be of a certain type, the situation provided an oil and water reaction to a part of the hobby who had been used to the dark corner of the hobby populace that had been undisturbed for decades.

Now that we are seven products into the new regime, things have settled down, especially with the enormous success of products that are the legacy staples of the Panini calendar. Although the success was partially driven by firsts, and collector’s love of debuts, year two doesnt seem to be done trying to redefine the potential showcased by what we saw across the year.

Here is a breakdown of what I expect as we get into 2023, and the near future of cards in WWE.

The Next Edition as Compared to the Previous

For those who dont have a lot of experience within the hobby, card years usually run April to April in the mainstream sports, mainly because of how the products are built and produced. Sometimes, with delays, it can be even into May, June and beyond. With this, we should expect that 2022 WWE sets will become 2023 with the release of the next edition of Prizm in April (barring the aforementioned delays).

This also means that all the bullshit and bickering that has happened through 2022, will likely renew as we approach the next version of the set that sparked the battle in the first place. This time should be different for a number of reasons, however. First, the card economy in general has changed dramatically with the economic downturn that has happened since last year’s launch. This will hopefully equate to a more affordable starting point for a product that got way too overheated before the market had a chance to react the first time around.

We are also going to see the Prizm debuts of a number of new wrestlers who have been a prime focus of WWE programming since April of last year. Cody Rhodes, Ronda Rousey, Bray Wyatt, Roxanne Perez, Nikkita Lyons among others will get their first shot at the limelight of Panini’s flagship brand. I didnt think there could be another rookie class like we had for 2022, but some of these debuts could make up for it.

Panini is also known around the hobby for the growth of their approach in every aspect of their products. New parallels, new sets, new card types, new configurations, new designs. They arent going to sit back and just copy and paste 2022 into 2023. I think there is a definite chance that we start to see a growing escalation of content as Panini tries to fund the license cost in a declining market that has struggled to keep momentum in the major sports.

For someone like me, who is entirely focused on a single person in a wide ocean of people to collect, 2022 was a daunting task to keep up with. I am already preparing to see an increase across the new year, where things will continue to escalate as the products grow. A set like Select was already one of the most robust configurations we have ever seen in WWE. 400 cards in the base set, 4 different variations to collect, and up to 10 parallels per variation. It was released months and months ago, and I am still trying to keep up. Despite the challenge to acquire the cards I wanted, Select was one of the most fun experiences I have had in WWE collecting. I put it as one of my favorite sets of all time, and I cannot wait for version 2.0. Does that mean we start to see some of the cornerstones of Select products in the major sports? Die cut cards, additions to the zoo, and other cards are mainstays of NFL and NBA. I have a feeling its going to be a wild ride for this year.

Lastly, as we approach the super premium products of the year, we could see things start to get more in line with what we are seeing in the NFL and NBA. Panini has already started collecting all sorts of player worn material at their signings to include in products, and though its not ring worn, it adds a chase element to products because the pieces are unique and stand out. Immaculate will be the first time we see some of these unique relics, and I dont think it will be the last time.

I also believe the higher end products will increase the content to a point where we will see Panini take more initiative to include cards we havent seen in WWE before. New signature combos, new signers, and hopefully more of the hobby standards that have defined their calendar across the hobby. Even though Im not a fan of the cards, sets like Kaboom! and Downtown are surely going to be coming, as are other elements of their products that have become collector favorites during the boom.

Projecting Value Over the Next Year

To the celebration of some, and the anger of others, prices across wrestling cards have exploded. Even though Prizm wax took a serious tumble off the top rope to the floor, the values across all of wrestling cards has stayed well above 2021 levels, even with the drop from the peak. Everyone seems to have this common misconception that the value in WWE cards is following that of the wax, but there are so many examples of prices that have stayed at an exponentially higher number than they were before this all got started.

Ive said a number of times, the bulk common shit in Wrestling continues to have very little value, and I dont expect that to change. As much as Im sure people loathe pulling people like Ivar and Reggie, their values represent exactly what they have up until this point – very little. However, when you look at the top of the mountain, or head of the table, values remain much higher than they were previously.

We have seen over and over again that records are being set for people who have potential as a prospect for the future, or the top superstars in the promotion. The Rock was the main event for 2022, as were people like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Roman Reigns. I doubt this will change, and as Panini institutes more contrived ways to drive scarcity and chase, the values for the rarest cards and most desirable people will continue to hold or increase.

Funny enough, this is the same thing that has happened across the hobby, where the threshold for a “grail” centerpiece has seemingly increased by the day. When those pieces hit the open market, the values they achieve leave people wondering how anyone could think cards were trending down.

We have yet to see the true power of a product like Transcendent was for Topps, and we have yet to see what Panini can achieve when they have time on their side. Prizm was rushed, as the license started on 1/1 and they were hampered with delays all over the place leading up to the April release. Should we expect better performance with more of a ramp? Logic says we should, but Panini’s history shows its uncertain to be the case.

Will Legends Continue to Carry the Torch?

In the stick and ball sports, it isnt legends that drive a value in any product that is released. Sure, there are always the Tom Bradys, Lebrons, and Mike Trouts that people chase, but it is rookies that drive the tentpoles of Panini’s biggest products. In WWE its the opposite, and likely for good reason. Wrestling was at its biggest cultural influence during the late 1990s, and people from that era remain household names. If you go ask someone on the street who the Rock is, they will know. The Undertaker is still someone that many people know is a wrestler. Not as much so if you ask them who Roman Reigns is.

Based on that, its no surprise that the nostalgia of the attitude era and before is what drives value in WWE products. That being said, up and coming stars like Solo Sikoa and Bron Breakker could be the spark that balances the scale more than we have seen prior. Prospecting in WWE used to be a fool’s errand with Vince McMahon seemingly changing everything fans loved about NXT stars moving to RAW and Smackdown. Now that Triple H is in charge (at least for now), the continuity seems to be much more in tact for the transition out of developmental. As a result, many more collectors seem to have embraced the rookie element than before, as so many of the future stars are continuing down a track to stardom instead of getting rebranded and buried by Vince’s old school tendencies and tired favorites.

Chronicles saw the first examples of autographs from Sikoa, and we should be getting our first run with Roxxane Perez and others coming up. Breakker was the focus of 2022 Prizm, so his cards will be entering their second year of collecting. He has cooled off because his unparalleled trajectory was stalled coming into the new regime, but I doubt there is anyone who thinks he doesnt have the goods to be a future pillar of the company.

Its also worth mentioning that people like Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair are still very young and both have accomplished a ton in their short careers. Add this onto the burgeoning careers of main eventers already established, and I think there is a lot to be excited about for the next year’s worth of releases.

Collectability as Licenses Progress

The thing with any hobby is that time can heal almost every wound. As more and more time passes since a release, the value of the older products usually goes up. This has happened especially with the most collectible products that exist, especially for ones that have become investor favorites. Looking back on the first releases of sets like Prizm, Select and others in the NBA and NFL, all have increased in value to a vast degree.

I was around for the first release of Prizm in the NFL and NBA in 2012, and I promise you the value of those cards was a fraction then as it is today. Its been a decade since that release, and as more of the products were released, they achieved a legacy status that has driven the collectors out there to go back and find the cards they want. Demand has increased price to a ridiculous degree, where some of the more common cards can hit four figures and above on a bad day.

Im not saying that 2023 will be the salve for all that ails some of the perception of the early part of Panini WWE, but I think it will be the beginning of the realization for many of the uninitiated that Prizm isnt going to go away. Neither will Select, or any of the main products on the calendar. As we get to years three and four, before the inevitable takeover of Fanatics in 2026, I think the healing process will be well into its advanced stages.

This hobby seems to function in years that feel much longer than they actually are, as things tend to move quickly and the stigma of previous news cycles tends to be short lived. Hopefully as the attention for Wrestling cards continues to grow, the major pieces of the Panini calendar will start to gain footholds where there were none before.

I think we are all eager to see how this plays out, as the soap opera of the hobby landscape has been just as interesting as the angles in the ring. Hopefully we continue to see the massive growth that 2022 saw, and more faces continue to join the hobby as wrestling continues its time in the sun. I think we have a lot of indicators that show WWE cards are going through the same events that we saw in the other parts of the hobby, giving us a map to plot out an expected course. That map should be invaluable as things progress, and I am confident we will see things get more and more interesting.