Yesterday I started talking about the legacy that Panini has left behind during their short tenure in wrestling cards. If this is truly the end of the road for them, pending the outcome of the pile of lawsuits currently in progress, that inevitably means that Fanatics will be back in charge. As of last year, Fanatics has acquired Topps to be their flagship provider in trading cards, putting in motion one of the largest consolidation plans in hobby history.

The good thing is, we have had lots of experience with Topps at the helm, and collectors have a TON of expectations if/when they come back. We already knew that come 2026, Fanatics would be back in charge of wrestling cards – that was announced the week of Prizm’s launch in 2022. This means, regardless of the outcome of the litigation, Topps will be back in the fold in the near future.

With that notion in focus, I wanted to take some time to talk about some of the things that I believe need to happen to continue the success that Panini has cultivated over the last 18 months. Coming into the Panini era of WWE cards, I had VERY low expectations given their history in NFL, NBA, UFC, and other sports. I think my expectations were blown out of the water, and Panini did a tremendous job bringing new attention to the niche area of wrestling. Now that the bell has been rung, what are the next steps to keep that attention in place?

Part 1 – Avoiding the Fanatics Way

Let me start by saying Fanatics has a horrible reputation in many areas of their business for producing lower quality goods than meet the expectations of their customers. They have recently received a ton of criticism for clothing and other goods being produced with low standards of quality, including a national story about a fan who ordered a Philadelphia Eagles shirt. Here is why those things happen.

Fanatics is a multinational conglomerate whose business depends on high margins to be successful. This means producing goods at the lowest possible cost and selling them for a price that consumers still find acceptable. If you have ordered a shirt from Fanatics WWE Shop recently, you can already tell the quality of the shirts has diminished significantly. I still have shirts from the late 1990s bought during WWE events, and I can tell you that they used to have higher quality in their production. Even recent shirts I bought are much higher quality.

If Topps comes back with this mindset in tow, we are going to have major, major issues. I haven’t ripped baseball since Fanatics took the reigns, so I cant comment on any changes in quality there. But recent problems with duplicate superfractors, errors in production, and horrible collation issues seem to signal a greater issue.

I see this issue being exacerbated in WWE, being that it will end up being a license that should be 6 or 7 rungs from the top of the ladder in the grand scheme of things. In the past with Topps WWE, the amount of care delivered to the license was representative of its place within the corporate structure. Smaller budgets, lower amounts of attention, and as a result, some ongoing issues around products, timing and content were frequent.

It would make me exceptionally happy if WWE got more equal treatment within the corporate structure at Topps, even though I know that NFL, NBA, Star Wars, UFC, and of course MLB will continue to get the bulk of the attention. If there is an expectation of more gimmicks and higher margin to increase consumer demand, I have major concerns about the quality that will result from these choices.

Part 2 – Better Autograph Checklists Need to be a Focus

There was one thing that Topps did exceptionally well during their run, and it was refreshing. Most of their products by the end of things featured a majority of on card autographs. Stickers were used in some circumstances, but for the most part, autographs were hard signed.

That being said, outside of Transcendent, autograph checklists were severely lacking and incredibly repetitive. There is a finite universe of people that can sign for products, but Topps seemed to focus ONLY on the easiest to obtain. When Panini came to WWE, there was a tour de force of new signers that were featured across a ton of brands. They even got people like Batista and Scott Steiner back to the fold after long hiatuses from the card business. Other signers like John Cena, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and the Undertaker were regularly featured and very accessible.

Because Topps was more cost and risk averse in their previous run, signers like this rarely made it into sets, if ever. Sometimes they wouldn’t even be put on the base checklist. That all needs to change, especially if there is now going to be more budget available. Even if it means more redemptions need to be issued, I fully support Topps assuming this risk, as I was supportive of Panini taking similar risks. Collectors may bitch and moan about having to wait, but those redemptions still carry exceptional value on the secondary market. Despite all the complaints, people still want autographs of the biggest names in the sport. From last count, Panini had a pretty high success rate of return as well, so many of their redemptions were worth it. Although some bigger names are still outstanding, their track record suggested that they would be fulfilled with more time to execute the signings needed. For a set like Immaculate that had a lot of redemptions, my tracking was showing more than 3/4ths of the outstanding ones had been fulfilled.

Now that we know what is possible with Panini in this space, its impossible to put that toothpaste back in the tube. They found ways to make autograph checklists a strength for their products, even when they were issuing sets with 100% hard signed cards.

Part 3 – Photo Choice Has to be a Huge Focus

If you look back over what Topps produced during 2013 to 2022, there were major struggles in one specific area, and that’s photography. Too many times Topps relied on the WWE render database to build their cards, over the iconic photos that were available from the historic moments in WWE history. For those unfamiliar, a render is the posed shot that WWE uses in their match graphics on TV. For many wrestlers, they reused the same renders quite a bit, and it made products hard to digest.

When not using renders, Topps didnt really have success in finding action photos from events that encapsulated the best of what wrestling fans were looking for. Championships, big TV moments, entrances, and finishers are the four buckets I align to great photo choices in sets like Select and Prizm. Topps tended to go the opposite direction. Wrestlers were rarely shown with titles, and action shots were from forgettable TV spots.

I hope that the experience with Panini and the collector response to the photos will spur action upon Topps’ return. This is an area that was arguably the strongest that Panini products displayed, and it will be hard to go back to the previous approach if not remedied.

Part 4 – Relics Need to Be More Interesting

From 2019 through the end of the license, Topps relied almost exclusively on mat relics or furniture relics to fund their memorabilia sets. Collectors CONSTANTLY complained about this, and were bored with relic content to a point that those cards became relatively worthless. When they offered unique relics in fully loaded in 2020 and 2021, there wasnt much of a response because of a small checklist, and pre-conceived understandings about the value of Topps relics.

Starting in Select 2022 and going through Select 2023, Panini opened the door to show us what is possible. Although the relics were player worn instead of match used, the visual appeal of the cards were undeniable, and collectors didnt seem to care that they werent from items worn during a TV taping. Immaculate had some of the most incredible looking relic cards in any sport in any year, and values reflected this with huge secondary market performance.

When Topps comes back, I hope we get to continue this approach, because it just didnt work the last time around. Relic cards lacked appeal, and with a lack of appeal comes a lack of value. Sets like Undisputed and Transcendent would greatly benefit from these new relics, and I would love to see what doors are opened if Topps continues what Panini started.

Part 5 – Build a Chase in Every Product

Back in 2016, Topps started focusing a lot of energy on autograph content in products. They signed a deal with the Undertaker, dedicated resources to include more autograph content in every box, and as their deal moved on, brought back Steve Austin. They also accomplished something that Panini was unable to – Vince McMahon had his first ever pack available autographs. In a way, the autographs became the chase.

When Panini came to WWE in 2022, they took that ball and ran through a wall. They added high value chases to every single product they put out. WWE logos made their debut in 2022 Select, and rare case hits in Prizm, Select, and Revolution became a favorite of collectors. Instead of autographs being the chase, Panini used their brand notoriety to create value in base parallels and rainbow hunts to add value to products without adding more cost to the box. As a result, values went up across the board for these cards, and products were more widely opened by mainstream breakers and resellers.

Although secondary market demand often put box cost well above MSRP, the chase made those box prices more easy to stomach for people like me who collect the super premium cards. Panini even put some of these chases in the more affordable products like Revolution and NXT, to ensure collectors had something to hunt for in every release.

When Topps comes back, this might be one of the more important elements they can focus on, and it cant just be for ultra premium releases like Transcendent. It needs to be more prominent, and it needs to be cool. Panini set the bar REALLY high here, and collectors will notice if Topps decides to avoid this part of the planning.

Thankfully, Topps has things like Superfractors, which have become hobby benchmarks for collecting, and they also should have access to go to the same well that Panini went to with more logos and awesome relics. Without this element, products will feel more boring and flat, and less attractive to breakers who give collectors more options and access to the experience of collecting.

Part 6 – Create More Product Variety and Crossover

When you look back over Topps Wrestling from 2005 onwards, there is an extreme focus on affordability and mid range products. Flagship, Heritage, NXT and Women’s Division were calendar staples, and Undisputed was one of the only premium releases on the calendar. Although the creation of Transcendent WWE in 2019, brought the most expensive wrestling card product in history, it wasnt enough to satisfy the demand for high end collectors that have joined WWE since 2015. Sets like Chrome and Finest can deliver premium cards, but that isnt the target delivery of those product checklists.

When Panini took over in 2022, they had more focus on a variety in their calendar, and focused all but one product on a previously successful brand name that collectors could identify with. They also had a number of premium releases that were readily accessible to collectors, with plans for more as their license went on. They played the hits for WWE, and sets like Chronicles filled in the gaps where there needed to be more affordability in play.

As much as I loved Undisputed, its maybe the only unique to WWE product that carries any real weight or value with collectors. Although there are prominent members of the previous WWE collecting community that loved Women’s Division, NXT and other ‘WWE only’ sets, the value outside that small (but vocal) group of people was small. None of them really brought new people and new eyes.

If Topps were to come back with sets that were incredibly popular in MLB and other brands, the entire scope of their calendar could change. Sets like Dynasty, Museum Collection, or Masterworks could add huge value to their portfolio when paired with favorites from the previous era like Chrome, Finest, and Undisputed.

Part 7 – Find Opportunities to Maximize the Shiny

Topps is the innovator of Chrome style sets in the modern sense that most products are built upon. Not only that, but Topps has EXTREME brand equity in this space, even though the cards arent as valuable as we have seen Prizm and Select become over the boom period. It took a risk in 2020 for Topps to even consider bringing back Chrome and Finest after being gone for multiple years. Both sets were insanely successful on the secondary market, and were some of the only cards in Topps’ run to be in demand through the Panini era.

The introduction of Prizm and Select in 2022 changed the game for WWE cards going forward. The most expensive wrestling card ever sold comes from Prizm. Maximizing this continued focus that started in 2020 needs to be a top priority. More configurations like Sapphire or Bowman could be a huge addition to the portfolio, or even shiny elements to other products like we saw with 2021 Transcendent Superfractors.

As the boom has transpired in the mainstream hobby, shiny cards became a gigantic element of what drives a successful product in all niches and licenses. Topps has the methods and IP in place for Baseball that could be similarly successful in WWE.

Part 8 – Make it a Focus to Engage the Community

One thing I think that no company has been successful with in the hobby is engagement around the community aspect of collecting. I proposed to Topps, late in their WWE run, that more community spotlight opportunities would be great to drive the competitive tendencies in their collecting base. We all know how competitive each person can be when they have a desire to curate a top notch collection, and I think Topps needs to put a focus on this aspect for their return to WWE.

Unfortunately, I think this is one area Panini completely fumbled during the last few years. Their entry into WWE caused a huge divide amongst the existing collector base, and there was little effort spent to highlight any area of the community to repair the damage. Honestly, it might not have helped even if they had tried.

Fanatics is quickly gaining a negative reputation across the entire world of sports, and finding ways to showcase their success with the community could be a huge olive branch for collectors in a small space.

Overall, I have been an avid Topps and Panini collector now for 6 years, and I have high hopes for the future of wrestling cards. Im sad the litigation strategy has thrown a wrench in the vastly successful period we are in right now. Cards are more valuable, more people are engaged, and products are selling well enough for card manufacturers to invest more in their creation. Its unfortunate this has been ground to a halt. If Topps can come back to the fold and give more due to this smaller license, things will go great. If they dedicate the same resources as before, we could see gigantic issues arise. Values will drop, fewer collectors will stick around, and investments in the future will diminish. If you just want cheaper cards, its a stupid and narrow thought process about the future of wrestling cards. I hope we dont have to go that direction.