The Rock’s Black 1/1 from 2022 has sold for $126k and I am in shock. Its now a few days later, I have taped videos and had hours worth of discussion with both card friends and non-card friends alike. TMZ has covered the sale, other mainstream outlets have mentioned it, because even if you aren’t a big wrestling card fan, this is a monumental event.
For as long as wrestling cards have been around, there has never been a card sold publicly or privately (that I know of), which has sold above the $100k mark. I remember back in 2021, when the sports card boom was in full swing, the ceiling for modern was $10k to think that we have smashed both numbers in the course of 12 months, is absolutely crazy to think about.
If you go back to the recent history of modern cards in wrestling, most value focuses on autographed cards of female stars. For recent history in sports cards, value focuses on high grades, rookies, and future potential. If you are playing along at home, its easy to see that this sale reflects absolutely none of those things. Not a rookie, not a high grade, not autographed, and not even his first shiny card. Somehow, a card that has no indicator of any of the usual value markers for both populations of buyers had the immense appeal to the market for at least two people to think it was worth six figures. As someone who has been a part of this hobby for as long as I have, this was absolutely shocking.
In the aftermath of this sale, Ive started to run through the previous record sales and I think that the public’s befuddlement around how a wrestling card could reach these heights, is likely for a few reasons. First, lets look at those sales. Previous auction record in a public setting was the Hogan All-Stars BGS 9.5 that sold for $54k during the height of the boom. Most of the other largest sales were either vintage cards, or private sales of Prizm cards around its release last April. In fact, I had this card originally selling at around 50k and then again at 75-85k privately as mentioned in my previous post. Other than that, we had the Rock’s Prizm gold PSA 10 going to Drake McGruder late last year at a big price (around 30-35k), Michaels and Bret Hart similar black Prizm 1/1s selling privately around $25K the week of release, Bron Breakker’s black 1/1 selling privately around $22k, and then the Warrior Black and Roman Super auto both going publicly for 15k each.
As its clear to everyone, none of these were close to what we saw for the Rock. During our video, all of us unanimously agreed there was no card available today that would ever be able to eclipse this price. Not a Hogan PSA 10, not another Prizm card, nothing. Its one thing to hear that statement from a devoted modern and Prizm fan like myself, but as we see on the video, noted vintage collectors agree that this is a benchmark sale that could take a long time to clear. Let’s get one thing straight, I cant even begin to explain the importance of this situation to the overall state of wrestling cards, especially as we begin to explore what the post-boom market looks like.
In that vein, I expect a few things to happen over the next few weeks and then a few more things as we get months down the road. First things first, we should expect everyone who has a Rock card to sell try to get their card in front of buyers during this period of time. Like we saw with the gigantic 52 Mantle sale in 2022, a slew of cards were brought to the block in subsequent weeks. We have already been given hints that the recent sale of the 2023 Rock Prizm Black 1/1 will be auctioned at a major house coming up, after being sold quickly and cancelled on eBay, and that’s just the start. We will also likely see our first public auction of a 2022 Rock Gold PSA 10 coming up, as that card was pulled from eBay recently as well. Speculation abounds for what those cards could bring, and its possible on the heels of this sale that more huge prices for wrestling cards are in the works.
Observing bidding in real time on the auction, it was refreshing to see that multiple people were in on the card in extended bidding, and there were at least 2 bidders that valued this card above $100k. In an auction format, without two bidders at a high price, the price can only go as high as the top price for the lower bidder. For this, we saw rapid fire bids during the extended timeframe that pushed the card above the Hogan sale, but even more action as it got higher visibility on PWCC’s premier auction home page. It was a surreal experience for sure, but wrestling action in the heavyweight area of the hobby VIP section is limited. The Rock’s card broke through that barrier with ease.
When considering the overall state of the wrestling card market, especially on the modern side of the spectrum, there were already a number of indicators that things were in a very good spot. However, I dont think anyone was expecting to see a card like the 1/1 Black reach the heights it did, this far after the slump of Prizm wax, and the overall softening of the high end sports card market that has happened so dramatically over the last 4-5 months. Cards from people like Brady, LeBron, Jordan and others have dropped as much as 50-60%, while speculative buys on unproven rookies have seemingly dipped more. Despite this fact, the middle part of the market is seemingly chugging along, with card shows more packed than ever, and many deals still going down the old fashioned way.
It should come as no shock that modern wrestling is a bit below this middle part, but we have seen more cards sell in the low to mid four figure range now than I have ever seen during my shorter stint in WWE. Its become a regular thing to see major cards sell at 2500 bucks, especially the bigger stars of the current era, with some rare and desirable premium release churning out 10-20 cards in this range at a time.
I think Ive also seen more competition for PC favorites than ever before, especially as Panini brings more and more people to the space. To actually say out loud that Panini has brought no one to wrestling cards is a joke statement, as values continue to reflect a growth in market size that has been sustained, despite a dip since the original Prizm release. I remain infinitely curious how platforms like Whatnot and Loupe have been able to give new life to WWE, especially with the amount of action that new sellers have been able to generate for every release, and sales of singles.
Given the state in wrestling cards explained above, there is a huge amount of potential that could be brought to the forefront of our experience. Sales like the Rock may never be equaled again, but it presents a unique opportunity to get WWE cards back on stage within the consciousness of the mainstream sports card hobby. There are two main outcomes from this that will have major considerations as the market moves forward.
First, we know that Panini’s time in WWE cards is finite. Although we know that Fanatics will be reclaiming the license in the near future, having a lot of market action before that timeframe may encourage Panini to take risks with the product calendar that would not be in play without interest from the greater community. Ive seen countless calls for products like National Treasures and Flawless, and there is zero reason to build those brands without potential from the consumer base to support their release.
Secondly, its important for the market to be growing at the point of that changeover, especially with the exclusive changing hands this quickly into the run. There is argument to support that Panini’s limited time in WWE limits the card availability long term, and increases value above and beyond for collectors who’s collections are focused on Panini cards. If those people dont want to participate at the same level on a Fanatics owned license, the value overall on new wrestling cards could dip significantly.
Ill close with this discussion around the community, as it pertains to their support of the products like Prizm. To put it bluntly, on twitter, people are approaching this in the same tribal war as we have seen with WCW vs WWF in the late 90s, and AEW vs WWE in recent years. Some long time Wrestling collectors believe that Panini has ruined the market, while the other side of the community loves the new world order for brining attention and validation for wrestling cards as a worthwhile method of collecting.
It should be clear which side of the fence I am on, but seeing the way this sale has been covered by either side has been like comparing CNN coverage of an event compared to the same coverage on Fox News. Too many agendas exist for either side to concede the importance of this sale to the others in the community, but this was one of the first time that only a few uninformed people really couldn’t grasp. Calls of shilling, poor auction management, and other controversial takes about why the sale wasn’t legitimate were rallying cries for those that have little experience outside of Wrestling cards, and it became very clear how challenging it was going to be to educate the community on an auction process that only recently became a viable selling avenue for wrestling cards.
The good thing is, the sale is real, Ive spoken to the top bidders on the auction, and there is nothing that will take away from the incredible success we have witnessed across the historic night. This was a monumental sale with wide impact across both Wrestling cards and the hobby overall. If you are a wrestling collector, this night was something to behold. Even if the growing price of participation has hurt some collectors ability to engage, its clear that its not 100% removal from the hunt. Despite all the posturing and the horrible takes, this was a night that most of the community has celebrated. Tribal or not, this was a fun one.
As we look to the future, things look brighter than I would have imagined they would be during the crash that happened in May 2022. I am beyond excited to be a part of that new frontier that seems to have all the workings of both an entertaining experience and a value driven growth trajectory that will benefit all the collectors holding cards in their PC. As I mentioned in 2022, Wrestling cards have arrived, and this was the confirmation that the rest of the hobby can see as well.