The last few months in the WWE card market has been a whirlwind of craziness. Massive increases in wax prices, huge bumps in value for singles across the board, a change in manufacturer with the exclusive license, and the release of a landmark product that has seen more high dollar sales than ever. Given that the trajectory with WWE cards had already been well on the upswing, it shouldnt be surprising that the release of the debut edition of Prizm has re-ignited the debate of dominance with the history of Topps Chrome both in WWE and other places.

Lets take a step back, because as I mentioned in previous posts, Chrome and Prizm have been compared and contrasted since Prizm was first introduced in the NFL back in 2012. Prior to Chrome’s release, Panini was looking to establish themselves as the primary competitor across the major sport’s only remaining shared license. To combat the monopoly on Chrome stock products, Prizm was released as Panini’s first and only shiny set. Much like early editions of Chrome, parallels were limited, and the set was small. Within 3 years, there were a number of other Panini products using the technology, and also an exclusive license in both the NFL and NBA to sew up the majority of the collecting audience.

When the boom started in early 2020, Prizm had already started to hit its apex as the flagship product introducing new collectors to high dollar investing within the hobby. As Panini acquired more licenses, Prizm was inserted into the welcome wagon slot, garnering a throng of investor fans that followed it through each debut. Upon the first release of UFC in 2021, Prizm’s potential was on display, showing massive growth in the market seemingly overnight.

In WWE, things have worked out very similarly, with a huge spike in the market for many of the high dollar investment pieces that are a staple of the product. The difference here is that WWE’s versions of Topps Chrome remain a major competitor and have held up exceptionally well in matching what Prizm has brought to the table.

Chrome also has a few advantages in the WWE population of collectors that Prizm didnt have going into its other brand launches. Previous versions of the Topps products had TINY runs, with 2014 likely topping out at less than 300 total cases available. This has led to a gigantic demand over its small supply, and huge prices to acquire the top tier names in the set. Same goes for 2015, where a larger run offered more parallels, but no less demand for the major stars who are all over the checklist.

Much to the appreciation of WWE collectors, all of the chrome autographs are signed on card, and feature some awesome designs that have stood the test of time. Prizm is a bit different, focusing on the parallels of the base cards above and beyond everything else. Its designed to speak to a very specific crowd in the hobby, and for the most part, it has been ultimately successful in changing the entire dialogue about wrestling cards.

Personally, I have collected Topps Chrome since I was a child, and still have a ton of those cards in my collection. I feel like Topps Chrome is the BETTER set, even though Prizm remains very much more valuable overall. To me, the debate isnt a debate at all, its literally a PC vs Mac discussion in WWE. Do you chase autographs and want access to nice parallels, or due you chase parallels and want access to nice autographs?

For a lot of the collectors, it turns into a tribalistic argument, but there is appreciation to be dumped on both products – something I never expected to say when Prizm was first released. Because I have a long standing history with Chrome, I will always gravitate towards the Topps products that pepper the memories of my childhood. However, I also really like what Prizm has done in increasing the size of the WWE market leading up to its release, and the amount of attention it has gotten within the mainstream hobby.

Wrestling is still a small niche of a hobby growing exponentially in size to accommodate exploding values. So far, the top heavy Prizm release is already the most valuable WWE product ever produced, and we havent even seen what the top of the mountain really looks like. Chrome will continue to chug along down the tracks, picking up the crazy momentum it has managed to maintain as we move into a new era in wrestling cards. Neither of these things will change, and I think it becomes an awesome place to have two very valuable products that will forever compete for dominance with the collecting public.