Its been a while since I have sat down at a keyboard to write about cards, as things in my life have been exceptionally busy as of late. Four kids, a hectic work/travel life balance, and sports for all the kids have limited my content creation availability. However, now that we are a month into 2024, I think its become absolutely clear that this year will be the most important year for Wrestling cards ever.
As it has been since it’s inception, the Royal Rumble is the way WWE begins the calendar year, and with it, the Road to Wrestlemania. If Wrestlemania is the Super Bowl of Wrestling, Royal Rumble is more akin to the NFL draft, with weeks of smoke screen rumors, free agent signings, and of course – surprises galore.
Last night we got our first look into the way WWE planning their future, with what seems to be definite overtures to go a completely new direction. More importantly, it set a path for a number of things in Wrestling Cards that should have a drastic effect on value and scope over the next few years.
The WWE Without Vince McMahon
I think it comes as a shock to absolutely no one that McMahon has been accused again of being a deviant sex pest. A recent lawsuit (the second in as many years) has surfaced through a WSJ article detailing McMahon’s horrific behavior towards Janel Grant, a WWE employee that he is accused of trafficking around to a few others within the org, and performing some insane sex acts that would make Cartman’s mom proud.
Within hours of the release of the article, McMahon resigned from all his roles at TKO, and for the first time in the history of the WWE, no named member of his immediate family is involved with the company his father built.
Vince has always been a controversial figure, mainly because of the way the internet wrestling marks thought of his booking, lack of connection to modern wrestling, and refusal to adapt with the times. He has been accused of racist treatment for minority wrestlers, among other things, and that was before the first lawsuit that seemingly led to his original “retirement’ back in 2023.
Despite these reputations, Vince McMahon was revered by wrestling fans for popularizing sports entertainment across the globe. His card values due to extremely limited availability of officially licensed signed examples, have skyrocketed over the last few years, regardless of how many people he is accused of hurting. Wrestling collectors historically have trouble separating the art from the artist anyways, as other controversial figures like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and even Chris Benoit continue to have high value on the secondary market. Hogan has become infamous for his lies and inability to accurately portray his career, and was caught on tape using the N word causing his removal from WWE’s programming for a number of years.
This hasnt stopped his value and hero worship within Wrestling Card circles from continuing, and his value remains among the highest in the market. Because of this, I feel like this scandal with Vince will only ensure he will never be in another WWE trading card product for a VERY long time, and his autographs will become that much more desirable. If people dont care that Ric Flair assaulted a flight attendant, they wont care that Vince McMahon has a scat fetish.
AEW Transplants Rule The Royal Rumble
Its become a running meme how many former WWE sendoffs have ended up on AEW programming. So many that WWE is now showing that the grass was likely not as green as they expected it to be, luring some of the more important talent back to their pastures. None of these people have been more successful than Cody Rhodes, who for the last few years has been the beacon of light WWE has used to show their “never say never” approach. With the recent addition of CM Punk as well, back in a ring on RAW for the first time in close to a decade, its been insane to see the meteoric rise of these former AEW top guys.
Since his return in 2022, Cody Rhodes has main evented Wrestlemania, won two Royal Rumbles, a tag title, and thats after missing 9 months with an injury. Punk’s first match back in WWE was the Men’s Rumble, and he finished as the runner up, with a top match at WM40 in his future. He was the odds on favorite to win until Seth Rollins injured his knee. Punk has not yet had cards in a product with WWE branding since his return, but when he does, everyone expects his value to be huge.
Cody Rhodes and his cards have seen major benefit since his return as well, with his older WWE releases going way up in value, and his rarities selling for enormous prices on the secondary market. The main issue is that he has only had one live autograph on any checklist with 2023 Prizm, and the rest have been redemptions. Given that he has been telegraphed as the next face of the company, I would hope that this year shows that Rhodes’ cards are a prime focus for Panini.
In addition Rhodes and Punk being in the final 2 of the men’s match, Jade Cargill debuted in the ring for WWE in epic fashion last night. Not only did she look like a future main eventer, she had multiple moments with current main event stars like Bianca Belair. Now that she is in a company that can use her strengths and hide her weaknesses more effectively, I would think Jade could end up being a huge pickup for the Triple H regime. We saw that when she basically picked up Nia Jax with little effort and dumped her over the top rope. Most women in wrestling are small, and because of that Jade stands out like few have done.
Its unlikely she will have cards for a while, much like Punk she debuted in the space when products are pretty much set. Maybe Panini can pull some magic and get a few base cards into coming sets, but we will likely have to wait for next year’s sets to see her featured prominently. When those cards come, it will be interesting to see how Wrestling Collectors react to her first WWE examples.
The Fallout of Panini vs WWE Will Be On Full Display
Over the last few months, there havent been any WWE releases in the trading card space, as Fanatics and Panini continue their cold war over control of the major licenses in the game. In theory, we already know Panini will be on the outside looking in for EVERYTHING starting in 2026, so this really isnt a winnable long term fight. Panini has already lost.
However, through back channels, Fanatics has been accused in Panini’s filing of orchestrating the early cancellation of their WWE and NFLPA license, effectively testing the waters to see if it was possible. You can check out the recap and aftermath here:
This led to a pause in just about everything, but with a settlement in place, Panini seems to have come away as a winner as far as we can tell. Signings have resumed, with the Royal Rumble being used as a hub to complete a number of signings for the upcoming Elite and Impeccable WWE sets.
Panini has been overwhelmingly successful during their run in WWE cards, setting records in every sense of the word, and captivating collectors with some of the most insane wrestling cards ever created. Their continued presence in the space is important for a number of reasons, especially with the eventual control Fanatics has already secured for every aspect of the hobby going forward. Given that this year could be one of their last in WWE, Panini could use this as a swan song effort, delivering even more bangers before their exit is required.
Despite redemption issues due to WWE’s limited access to their stars, Panini has done well bringing home run products on a regular basis, which has led to quite the drought over these months that have led people to hunger for new sets to deliver fresh content. If they are as successful with these new products as they were with the previous ones, you can bet collectors will continue to hunt for Panini cards long after Fanatics reclaims their license for Topps.
A Worthy Sequel for a Record Setting Year?
For the first time in history, we saw a six figure wrestling card sale in 2023. Not only was it covered extensively within the hobby, but also on a few mainstream news sources as well. Modern wrestling cards became the center of the card universe for a bit, and now it has left people looking for what happens this year.
Even though the Rock is hinting at one more match to finish his career, I dont think there will be another six figure sale for wrestling for the near or distant future. However, that doesnt mean the values for wrestling cards have seen the slump that has cast a dark shadow over the rest of the hobby. Cards from Prizm, Select, Immaculate and other recent WWE releases continue to sell for big numbers, and rarities from Topps products like Superfractors and Transcendent 1/1s have reached new heights across the board.
I think we should absolutely expect these trends to continue holding, as more and more collectors discover how undervalued some of these wrestling cards really are. The hoarding nature of PC focused collectors like myself make it even more difficult to pick up collection centerpieces for new participants joining the fray, so when something rare and desirable hits the market, all bets are off.
Panini still has some big mountains to climb, as well, especially with Leaf finding a way to get the Rock to sign his first cards in almost two decades. Hopefully this opens the door for more opportunities to get autographed collectibles of stars that have a limited presence in the hobby, something that Rock remains the white whale poster boy. Although I dont expect Topps to achieve close to the same values that Panini has been able to cultivate, I do believe they have the best shot to convince him to sign. Its a definite possibility that an autographed superfractor of the Rock could bring a LARGE bounty and another record sale. If Panini can make it happen first, a Prizm black auto might be the biggest chase in wrestling cards, ever.
Young Talent Prospecting Could Be A Valuable Chase
If you were like me, and glued to the TV last night, watching Bron Breakker in the ring should give you a feeling like his cards are extremely inexpensive for what he is capable of doing. Wrestling definitely has more than one royal family, and the Steiners are shaping up to be in the court. Breakker is the son of Rick Steiner, and nephew of Scott Steiner, one of the most revered tag teams in the history of the sport. He seems to have more athleticism and strength than both, which is just insane. He runs the ropes like a wild dog, and performs with an intensity I havent seen in ages.
When 2022 Prizm was released, his cards were obscene in their value, because people saw exactly this. His Prizm Black 1/1 RC sold for $20k before WWE decided to pump the breaks and give him more seasoning in NXT. Since then, his cards have come back down to earth, but the talent has grown. If he is called up and delivers the way he did during the Rumble, expect collectors to respond.
Same can be said for other young talents like Tiffany Stratton and Carmelo Hayes, who both were part of the matches last night, along side young stars like Grayson Waller, Austin Theory, and others all well under 30 years of age. Even when Roman Reigns moves on, the WWE is in some VERY capable hands for years to come.
For a long time, the main dig on WWE was that their stars were all guys that havent been actively on the roster for a long time. Undertaker, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and other attitude era stars were the only ones who could pop a rating. Now, all of that has changed, with fresh talent getting over simultaneously to older stars like Randy Orton and AJ Styles who have been there for ages.
Funny enough, Tiffany Stratton looking like she does has already given her multiple legs up on the others I mentioned, with RCs already cracking four figures for desirable parallels. In a program worked with Becky Lynch recently on NXT TV, they showed that she has more than enough charisma and talent to live up to the values she is seeing in her cards.
The last person I want to talk about is MJF, who was the AEW champion for over a year before injuries required a hasty handoff of the title to another former WWE star in Samoa Joe. For a long time, MJF has been a darling of indy collectors as the one guy they saw with undeniable talent to be a star. Although he seems to be the biggest fish in a small AEW pond, his run as AEW champion was plagued with spotty booking, and coupled with a massive decline in attendance, TV ratings and negative influence on basically everything a wrestling company uses for benchmarks.
Although AEW seems to be on quite the downturn while WWE is seeing a renaissance, MJF’s market has held up with the prospecting ties to his future star power. He is a young up and coming dominant heel talent, with mic skills to rival WWE’s best. In an odd choice of storyline, his “free agent” status for 2024 was posted everywhere he gave interviews, and drove speculation of a possible exodus to big leagues of WWE, cementing his future legacy. Most rumors are suggesting he has already re-signed with AEW for multiple years, and the free agent talk is all a work. However, he is young enough to survive this current deal and still have a long future outside of AEW. He is definitely the one young prospect in that entire org that has solidified a following in the collecting world. The question of his future is a hot topic for collectors, especially if he is bound for a larger stage.
Creating a Welcoming Community for All Wrestling Collectors
Ill end with this, as our community is something that has really been a focus for most who have seen the way Wrestling Cards have jumped over the last few years. If I look back over 2023, a few bright spots in the community stand out as lighthouses on the vast ocean of shit that this hobby can churn out in epic quantities.
First we had the Main Event in Chicago, which brought hundreds of wrestling collectors together during the week of the NSCC to celebrate the success of the community and show that wrestling cards are here to stay. It was a show of force that is set to return for another year in Cleveland, bigger and better. The Main Event should be the building block of a new direction for the NSCC to showcase niche communities on the hobby’s biggest stage, and drive new people to see the incredible things that collectors who work together can accomplish.
Another is the creation of the Wrestling Card Community Collectors set, which has shown to be a highlight for many people who get the chance to experience their face on a wrestling card for the first time. I was fortunate enough to be included in series 1, and with the release of series 2, which was highlighted by inclusions of indy champion Matt Cardona, the display of influence that wrestling cards has on the collecting world is huge.
That hasnt stopped collector infighting on social media from continuing to be a reputation damaging experience for the way Wrestling Cards are thought of by the mainstream hobby. Gatekeeping and stupid people saying stupid things are everywhere, especially on Twitter – with certain people forgetting that its okay for all wrestling cards to be successful, not just the ones they collect. If this year is truly going to be the biggest and best in history, those vocal minorities will need to be silent and let the natural community growth take shape, rather than force its implosion the way we saw when Prizm was released in 2022.
Other community driven things like posting cards on #wrestlingcardwednesday has opened doors for new people to see what our niche can offer. Grading companies like CGC have gotten into the mix as well, with highlights for wrestling cards on their posts. Social media continues to be a gigantic hub for wrestling collectors to share their passion, and I hope this coming year makes that hub more of a place that more people can feel home inside of.
I never expected 2023 to live up to 2022 as a collector, but for me it met and exceeded it. I fully expect the same to happen this year, no matter who is the company of record producing cards. Wrestling Cards deserve a spotlight and deserve the attention in the mainstream we saw glimmers of in 2023, and I truly feel this year could be a catalyst for the future in the mainstream. With Netflix showing that 2025 will be a new future home of content, similar to what we saw with F1, the sky is the limit. I hope it gets there.