Coming off a landmark release with WWE Prizm, we are finally getting the third WWE product in scope for Panini with another shiny product. Select has long been a collector favorite for a number of reasons, but most recently turned into a lower budget outlet for collectors to get their fix of chrome style cards. Because Prizm is the flagship set for Panini, it has left Select to occupy a secondary position with Mosaic and Optic in the other mainstream sports. Curious to see what we get to see with the first version of Select in the wrestling market. Here are a few things to watch as we get closer to release.
First Cards for Big Names and New Gimmicks
As part of the preview, we are already guaranteed to see Ronda Rousey make her Panini WWE debut. As a worldwide household name and current champion, Rousey’s presence in the set was definitely expected, but no less exciting. Her cards are highly collected by a number of big WWE community members, and I would expect her to have a focus similar to Brock Lesnar as we get into the thick of things. Unlike Lesnar, Rousey hasnt had other Panini cards before, so her debut could bring new value.
Similar to Rousey, its possible we get to see another debut with Select. Depending on Production timeframes, we could get to see the first WWE cards of Cody Rhodes in a very long time. After spending years on the independent scene and a few years with AEW, Wrestlemania saw the American Nightmare back home to the place he began his career. If included, he will also be the first person to have cards in all three manufacturers who have made wrestling cards – Topps, Panini and Upper Deck. Im especially intrigued to see this fun fact in action, and feel that his cards could be sleeper hits with crossover collectors.
In addition to debuts for new names, we should see our first chrome cards of major gimmick changes, like the heel Big Time Becks gimmick for Becky Lynch, and others. Because of the hype surrounding Prizm, some of the misses there were overlooked, including the absence of Macho Man and Ric Flair, who will both hopefully have cards in this set.
More Affordable, More Fun, Better Designs?
There were a number of Wrestling collectors that revolted against Prizm because wax prices skyrocketed leading into release. Even now, Prizm is the most expensive readily available Wrestling product ever made, with only Transcendent eclipsing the cost. Like we see with most Panini products, online dealers could cause problems with setting cost on Select Wax as well, depending on how they feel the market can support high wax costs.
So far, we have already seen the speculative price for Revolution WWE climb to astronomical levels, despite very little evidence that the product will do much to support a price like that given the content included. Being that Select is meant to target a different portion of the hobby, Im hoping the cost to rip it will be much lower than what we saw with Prizm.
Similarly, I find Select to be the best looking Chrome style product that Panini makes. The parallels are done better, the designs are cooler, and this could be the first product from Panini that offers the relic and relic autographs that were absent for Prizm and likely absent for Revolution.
We are also getting our first dose of some of the crazier stock patterns with retail exclusive Tiger Stripe and Elephant parallels, but seeing the cool photos that they are using in the set will make a number of these cards much more collectible.
Base Variations = More Big Hits
For Prizm, most of the value comes out of the rare base parallels that are available through the checklist. We are already seeing a preview that mentions a 300 card set, all of which have multiple border variations to collect. There are 4 types of borders, including one that is a retail exclusive. Each of these borders should have a parallel structure meaning there will be 3 more golds to chase, and 3 more black 1/1s to chase as the boxes get ripped.
Because the scarcity isnt going to be the same, the value of these alternate base formats should make them much more affordable to collectors like me who want to catch them all. Prizm golds and blacks have already staked their claim as some of the most expensive wrestling cards of all time, and for most of the WWE faithful, were out of reach. These could be MUCH much different.
Can the Checklist Measure Up?
When I first saw the post on Panini’s site that gave us the goods for WWE Prizm’s massive checklist, my jaw hit the floor. It was clear that aside from a small number of key omissions, if there was a wrestler that was important to WWE, they were in the set. First time autographs of guys like Batista and Great Khali were interesting additions as well, and that’s just the beginning.
Now we look to another set, that operates in a very similar space to what we got with Prizm. I dont think there are many people who are expecting the checklist to be as strong in that respect, but there is a lot of expectation that Panini continues their momentum. I already mentioned Flair and Savage, but people like Sable and Vince are also prime targets for fun checklist targets.
On the flip side, if Panini fails to offer a strong checklist, the product itself could be seen as Diet Prizm, and will drop lower than most are expecting.
Stickers Versus On Card Autographs
If I saw one major complaint other than pricing, it was Panini’s use of sticker autographs in Prizm. For most, on card autographs are the only acceptable signed cards to add to their collection, and personally I dont think they are necessarily wrong. Production timeframes from the beginning of the license on 1/1/22 to release right after Wrestlemania in April, likely prevented on card autographs from being done, but Select definitely has a longer lead time to make it happen.
As part of the preview, we are seeing stickers as part of the retail autograph set, which isnt necessarily an indicator that all cards will be stickers. That being said, it doesnt look good. Panini needs to find more ways to include on card signatures, even though the plan is probably to debut them in Immaculate or another high end set.
Topps found a way to make almost all of their sets feature aspects of hard signed cards alongside the sticker autos they used, and I cannot stress how much I want this to be a focus for Panini moving forward.
Im a huge fan of Select overall, and think this year’s design looks tremendous. I really hope the delivery is as good as the preview, as we saw execution dip with Prizm flaws that were rampant. I feel like this will be a redemption story for those mistakes, but we will have to wait and see. Hopefully the rest of the WWE market is ready for another chance at some awesome cards.