Since I was a kid, there is one PPV that I always found to be the most consistently entertaining. The Royal Rumble has always been a wild ride of emotions since the 80s, and more recently for reasons that have more impact with cards than any other PPV. Wrestlemania may be the most grandiose and important PPV for the television product, but the Royal Rumble is the most important for collectors. I wanted to share my thoughts on this topic because its this weekend, but also because I love this event so much.

Understanding the Importance

There are a few things that drive value in modern WWE cards. They range from potential, to race, to gender, to accomplishments, to legacy. Most of these things are not able to be changed, while others are directly impacted by on screen performance. Things like potential and accomplishments have always driven value in sports, and I would argue that lately, potential outweighs any other attribute, even if the hobby is functioning on old information or tribal knowledge that leads to bias.

In Wrestling, stars can have untapped potential well into their mid thirties, or even early forties, especially if the TV presentation changes the way they are seen by the public. Look at Roman Reigns as a prime example. Prior to his current gimmick as the Head of the Table, he was a stale babyface who had zero edge. A less relatable John Cena type persona. He was beloved by kids, but unlike Cena, few adults were able to get on board with the big dog. When he adopted his first heel gimmick since the days of the original Shield, everything changed. He went from a lower tier collectible superstar to a highly collectable generational talent.

Even though many collectors may still have well seeded hatred for anything Reigns has done or will do, I am among the converted. I see the potential changing just by adopting a new presentation for the character.

The other type of potential that is subject to the Rumble, is a bit different, and it stems from how the company will view the performers in the coming year. A great showing in the match can signal an upcoming push towards the top of the card, or if the person is truly lucky, a main event type match at this year’s Wrestlemania. Seeing the final four men and women in each event can be a huge signal that potential is about to change, even if they dont win.

Similarly for NXT stars, not being in many collectors purview can change instantly if they are given a featured spot at this PPV. We’ve seen people like Rhea Ripley go far in the match, and then win the title a short time after. There are countless examples of this happening.

The Road to Wrestlemania

Its rare (at least these days) that a Rumble winner ends up being Brock Lesnar or someone who needs further establishment as a star in the business. Most of the time, we get someone like Bianca Belair who started her meteoric rise to the top of the women’s division last year. Historically, the winner ends up being the focal point of TV for months and months leading up to WM, and for collectors, thats a huge indication that things will change on the potential for that individual.

Wrestlemania is the most visibility that Wrestling has on a national level, period. We’ve seen huge stars have game changing performances at Mania, whether its Bad Bunny, Logan Paul or Pat McAfee. For a budding megastar, the Royal Rumble can be a coming out party of sorts. With the right predictions, or widespread diversification in collecting leading up to the PPV, collectors can see huge value shifts if someone new gets their shot at the main event.

If you look at the WWE’s history, being in that top of the card slot has propelled almost every career that collectors latch onto. Hogan, Austin, Rock, Becky, Roman and others have all seen WM main events change their life. In 1997, this match catapulted Austin to the biggest stage wrestling has ever had. In 2019, Becky Lynch’s win cemented the rise of the Man to the first ever Women’s main event. The future of WWE collecting can progress or diminish with one event.

Who is Primed for a Featured Run?

Much like last year, we are in the middle of two historic runs for both men and women leading into this weekend. Roman Reigns has been champion now for two years. Bianca Belair, almost a year. Unseating either one of them could have huge implications for the collectibility of two stars.

For the men, there are three names that everyone needs to have eyes on. First is Cody Rhodes, who’s epic return at last year’s WM sent ripples through the industry. He is the odds on favorite to win after tearing his pectoral muscle and being out a number of months. Because his first cards since the return are just starting to show up in a large group, this could be a huge year for collecting his stuff.

The next person is Seth Rollins, because since the end of 2021, I dont think there is a male star that has grown in popularity quite like him. He has been a major part of WWEs main event scene for a while, but aside from a short run as US Champion late in 2022, he hasnt held a major title since 2019. Rollins has seen more and more collectors see his contributions as vital and his new persona has driven a ton of fans to jump on board.

Last but not least is the Rock, who for months now, has been rumored as the only match Roman Reigns could have that could sell out any stadium in the world. The two of them have never wrestled, and Roman’s identity of the Tribal Chief stands directly in contrast to the Rock’s celebrity status as a worldwide movie blockbuster. The Rock is already one of the most valuable people in WWE, and a win in the Rumble could reignite some of the crossovers from NFL and NBA to again look to get into the wrestling hobby with the great one as their entry point.

On the women’s side, things arent as clear. People like Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley have been the two betting favorites heading into the event, mainly because both have business with each of the current champions that would make for great mania matches.

The feud between Lynch and Flair goes back years, and their offscreen relationship deteriorating led to one of the best women’s matches of the year in 2020. Rhea Ripley is the future of the business at only 25 years old, and already having matches that turn heads. Her potential feud with Belair has been hinted at during multiple Royal Rumbles in the past, and was set for a match earlier this year before an injury made the plans change.

Up and Coming Rookies on the Main Stage?

If there was one thing that I think made Prizm and Select landmark products, it was the rookie class. People like Bron Breakker and Gable Steveson saw gigantic value coming out of the gates for each product. I also have to believe both guys will have a big night for the Rumble, along side other NXT standouts like Carmelo Hayes and Grayson Waller.

For the women, I have championed the cause for new talent like Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade, both of whom are set to participate. Because the women’s roster is smaller, finding 30 participants on the women’s side forces the writers to use more talent. Others like Tiffany Stratton and Nikkita Lyons might make an appearance as well.

Overall, WWE developmental is in a great spot with both sides of the coin, and NXT is looking like it might be on a path where those new stars might get a fair shake, unlike what we used to see when management was more focused on the main roster product.

Predictions For the Match

I have to go with my gut on this one, and I absolutely believe there will be some huge surprises over the weekend. I think on the men’s side, a win for Cody Rhodes would give the best story heading into the biggest event of the year in Hollywood. I think we get some big moments with the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin as well, as there is rarely a big event in Texas without the rattlesnake making an appearance. I think a sleeper pick could be Sami Zayn, who is one of my favorite new elements of the Roman Reigns storyline that could have a tremendous payoff at WM.

For the Women, my homer pick would obviously be Becky Lynch, but with both champions being babyfaces right now, I dont think that is the right course. For that reason, I think the easy pick is Rhea Ripley, with a hopeful match against Becky Lynch as the payoff, hinted at during Becky’s comeback at Survivor Series and the following few weeks.

Again, the Royal Rumble is so much fun, and sets so many things in motion that collectors always gravitate towards. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I will.

When I heard Panini was getting the WWE license, I wasnt happy. I had never been a fan of much of what Panini had done in the hobby, and I knew my days as an easy going Becky Lynch collector were going to change dramatically. As things got closer to release, I started to warm up to the new era, especially as more and more people jumped on board with WWE cards prior to the first release of the license. Eventually, everything that I was sure was going to happen, started happening, as the price of Prizm wax ballooned to four figures before a box was even ripped.

As the wax was climbing, all I could think about was how crazy things would get for the first gold prizm of the Rock, who had emerged as the top name in WWE cards over the boom. His Miami Hurricanes football “rookie” had sold for high five figures and again to a group of NFL players and their partners. Everyone wanted a piece of the Great One, just as the most hyped set in WWE history was about to land. What I didnt realize, this one card would not be the rallying point I expected it to be, instead representing the worst the boom era had to offer to a small but vocal group of wrestling card collectors.

Before we get to the how and the why, I want to step back and talk about Prizm, and more specifically the golds that have captivated collectors over the more recent investment focused years of the late 2010s and early 2020s. This period of time has been one of the most fruitful in the entire history of trading cards, but also one of the most controversial. Especially since 2020, when the boom really started, cards have become a new asset class, with many new investors invading the space. At the center of this boom is Prizm, a set that became the banner for the hobby day trader.

Back when Prizm originally came out, it was anything but a banner for anyone. Riding the coat tails of Topps’ shiny empire that spanned MLB, MILB, NFL, and NBA, I used to call Prizm “Diet Chrome.” The cards werent as nice as Topps’ flagship product line, the autographs were stickers, and the designs seemed second rate. Upon its release in 2012, many hobby shops struggled to move the product off their shelves. It wasnt seen as a viable chrome style alternative.

The original sets weren’t the woven web of parallels either, they were 3 parallels deep – the Silver, the Gold (/10) and the Black (1/1). Keep this in mind as we get further on. Because the hobby hadn’t found its happy place yet, many collectors just ignored both the initial NFL and NBA releases and went on with their day. As the sets continued to be released in the main sports year after year, they started to gain a loyal collecting base, especially after Topps lost their football license in 2015.

By 2018, the rookie year of Luka Doncic, Prizm had evolved to be Panini’s cash cow. Multiple configurations of box types, pack types and close to 50 parallels in each year’s set. It was close to becoming the hobby standard across many areas of the new investment focused crowd, looking to pad their “portfolios” with the best Prizm cards in the world.

One aspect of this story remains in tact, and this is where our story truly begins. Because collectors continually find themselves fawning over firsts – the legacy of the gold prizm became solidified. If you were going to find the best of the best, the gold rookie of your favorite player was the way to go. If a gold rookie wasnt available, a gold from the first year of prizm became just as important. Players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James saw their initial gold cards creep into the five figure range. Others like Tom Brady, who was already a decade into his career when Prizm was created, saw their “first prizm” take on an extreme value.

By the time WWE Prizm hit shelves in April 2022, the Golds were the standard across the entire universe of trading cards. These cards were popular enough that Topps Chrome golds started taking on exponential growth as well. Leading into its debut in the squared circle, it was no surprise that many of the collectors who were indoctrinated hobby wide during the boom, were starving to get their hands on a gold of the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.

Unlike launches in WNBA, NASCAR, and UFC, the existing collector base for Panini cards wasnt the same type of collector that was used to this focus on unsigned parallel cards. When word got out that Panini was taking over, the connotations among this group were almost entirely negative. For decades, WWE cards were a dark niche corner of collecting, populated by a community of people who loved the cheap thrills that wrestling cards were all about. As someone who had joined this small community in 2017 for that reason, I get the sentiment. Panini would mean more cost, less focus on what many WWE collectors loved, and being at the back of the line if your budget was dollars instead of stacks of cash.

In addition to this general bitterness and anger, there was also a vacuum of information that prevented the excitement over the new license from permeating the walls put up by the most vocal groups within the community. For collectors in the stick and ball hobbies, crossover between the sports was exceptionally common. In Wrestling cards, that wasn’t the case at all. Many WWE collectors existed as fans of wrestling who collected cards, not fans of cards in general. Seeing modern WWE cards sell for $15,000 like we saw in late 2021 was a foreign concept to most of the community, and very few could fathom an unsigned parallel with 10 copies selling for almost triple that cost.

Leading up to the first sale of the Rock’s gold prizm card, I was beyond excited that we could finally see WWE cards in the spotlight. Unlike most WWE collectors, I was looking forward to seeing the hobby standards I had covered for years on my site finally come to my new collecting home. Even though things were about to get exponentially more expensive for my PC, I saw this as a time to shine. Like finally getting to show off your house to a new group of visitors. I also wanted WWE Prizm to live up to the hype for a number of reasons, especially because everyone wants to see their horse win. My collection had always been focused around chrome cards, going back to the early 90s when Finest and Chrome first became a focus for Topps. Prizm was going to be my new jam, and I was hoping it would be as popular as I had predicted.

This launch wasn’t without anxiety for a number of ‘Prizm-aware’ WWE fans out there, because we knew how much was riding on this release. I remember telling a friend that I hope the first Rock gold would be pulled by someone who knew what they had, because most WWE collectors wouldn’t know that it could be a mid five figure card.

Funny enough, this is where the controversy starts. This is where the real fighting began, because that’s exactly what happened. Because 50% (maybe more) of all product is ripped by breakers, people no longer needed to support the gigantic wax cost by themselves anymore. Prizm was a breaker friendly product, and with the wax price at such a speculative astronomic height, many WWE collectors went that route to get a taste of this new hotness. Sure enough, the first Rock gold was pulled in this way, and the person that pulled it didnt really have the kind of familiarity with the hype train to know they would be holding a card worth the price of a mid range sedan. In addition to this, this new golden owner did something no one should ever do: ask their breaker for advice. Despite facebook groups with posts offering bounties on leads, premium offers for anyone with one to sell, and lots of talk about high dollar buyers on social media, the breaker gave some very low estimates of what it could be worth.

Within a short period of time, the card was listed by the owner on eBay for around $7000, and sold in seconds. For context, most collectors familiar with the modern mainstream hobby had thought the value of this card was closer to $25,000 based on their experience with other Prizm brand launches. Because the hobby is well embedded in the FOMO lifestyle, the fear of missing out on this collection centerpiece pushed a number of people to send messages to the seller detailing their mistake. Within a few days, the original sale was cancelled, and the card was sold to a new owner for $20k. Personally, I didnt take much offense to this. I felt bad for the guy for listening to the wrong voice of reason in picking an original listing price, and knew how many times this had happened for other cards in the hobby. It was a daily occurrence. It had happened to me before. I had won cards for prices that were well below their cost, and sellers cancel the sale citing their mistake. I would chalk it up to “welp, that was worth the risk!” and not take it personally.

Unlike those situation, the difference in cost here wasnt a couple hundred or even a couple thousand dollars. It was 13 grand. We have all made mistakes in our life, but very few of us have ever made one that big. Immediately, the hundreds of white knights of the hobby launched their crusade.

“FUCK THIS GUY!”

“HONOR THE PRICE!”

“OWN YOUR MISTAKE!”

“WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLE DOES THIS?”

People often cite hobby positivity as their mantra, but I saw some nasty things said about the way this went down. Nothing gets people in this hobby fired up like a collector they dont know scorned. I vocalized forcefully that not everyone is part of the Hobby’s version of hammurabi’s code, and the seller shouldnt be skewered for making this call. I probably would have done the same thing – especially if I was acting on information that wasnt credible. If I have learned anything in my decades of collecting, there is only one person you ever need to look out for – yourself. Too much money is at stake to think of it any other way. To be fair, almost a year later, the seller and buyer have faded from memory, and rarely come up in the discussion of this card. Its clear that 13k loss wasnt an ideal situation, but like most hobby scandals, they burn out quickly.

Unfortunately, the scope of the sale wasn’t the only issue with this. Many of the wrestling hobby’s most visible voices refused to believe the card was worth what the speculation said the value was. Most investment grade Prizm cards in the NBA and NFL can reach high five to low six figures. The cheapest card in this segment of the hobby would still be above most (if not all) wrestling cards. It creates a lack of believability that a non-autograph card out of 10 could be special enough to reach this level.

Ill give them their due for the reasons mentioned above, sometimes the context of why the Golds are what they are just isn’t there. Reasons like the drop in wax cost that followed the enormous height at Prizm release, the previous modern sales records, and historical WWE card values all factored into what was discussed. The problem was that none of these data points were based outside of Wrestling cards. This was a card that transcended this corner of the hobby.

The private sale of three Rock golds that followed all reinforced that the card was dramatically undersold. The aforementioned original sold for 20k, a subsequent one sold for 22k, and the final one sold for 18k. These prices were all confirmed via conversations with both parties involved, though weren’t available for the general public to consume. These sales all dwarfed the original sale on eBay, but that was the only comparative value available to the public, until recently.

What most dont know is that the original Rock gold was sent to PSA Immediately and graded a 10, much to the shock of everyone when the pop report was made public. Although I despise grading, its a part of the process for Prizm, and was a catalyst for modern WWE collectors to shed their own hatred of slabs. The shock of the grade stemmed from issues with this release of Prizm, plagued with issues, leading to the “gem rate,” or the frequency a card was graded a PSA 10 vs other grades, to be much lower than expected.

The second one was sent to BGS and graded a 9.5. The final one was sent to PSA and graded an 8. This third copy was the one recently listed with Goldin for their summer auction. The second the listing went live, I knew this whole debate would bubble to the surface again. Because it wasn’t a highly publicized lot, the card moved slowly at first. It was also listed incorrectly in the MMA category, so many auction hawks didn’t see it originally. By the time the ticker crawled to its conclusion the PSA 8 had sold for $11,400 with buyer’s premium. It wasn’t the 18k it was sold for raw, but a vastly respectable number for a card that wasn’t in the gem category the hobby was built on.

As expected, both sides went to war over the price on social media. The story told above was retold, the price was flaunted in the faces of the Prizm fans, and a lot of ice cold takes were shared about the state of the WWE market. In discussing the sale with more experienced people than I, the common sentiment was that a PSA 8 selling for that cost was VERY healthy. It also reinforced that the original valuation was likely correct, as a PSA 9 would likely be valued around 20k based on this price. Similarly the PSA 10 would be multiples of X in its multiplier, especially being the only one on the market. For the general wrestling card community outside of twitter, I dont think many were disappointed at all.

One thing the detractors of the ultra-modern Panini era are right about, this market has gone down. Sadly, WWE cards arent worth what they were at the beginning of 2022, following in the footsteps of just about every other area of the hobby. Prizm wax has reached all time lows, close to MSRP. With the end of lockdown restrictions, a pending recession, and overall economic downturn, trading cards have come down significantly in value. Comparing a sale in late 2022 with a sale from before this dropoff, probably isnt apples to apples. Even so, seeing the card reach the price it did, continues to show there is a gigantic market for Golds.

One thing that hasnt been mentioned much in collector circles is the sale of the Black 1/1 Rock Prizm, which was purchased through ThatsTheOldPrice on Instagram. Rumors of the sale reaching WWE records have been rampant, with my own research putting the sale likely above $75k.

After changing hands a few times, the original PSA 10 now resides with Drake McGruder (who WASNT the person in that controversial story – just to reinforce). Drake has publicly said multiple times that he valued the card at $30k and used that valuation to acquire the card in Q4 of 2022. Seeing a public verification of a RECENT large sale should put the argument to rest, but we all know that’s not how wrestling fans are. I fall into that category as well – tribalism runs rampant in most places on social media.

Prizm is about to be back for the sequel, likely coming up around Wrestlemania in April. This new version will likely be approached with a vastly different plan by collectors, and I assume that the age old argument of its place in the hobby will kick off another war on social media. Panini is likely going to bring back this product a number of times before they give the license back to Fanatics. There will be many more Rock golds to go around. Historically, the first one is always the card to have, but with this never ending controversy swirling, who knows?

When I look back at 2022, I cant remember a year where I had more of a crazy experience in the hobby. Aside from all the news about the Fanatics takeover, the first signs of the bubble bursting in trading cards, and the general craziness of what followed, the previous year was a tremendous time to be a wrestling card collector.

Check out the year in review panel discussion:

The year kicked into high gear in April with an epic Wrestlemania 38, and the first launch of the Panini WWE license. With the new era in full bloom, we saw a growth in the hobby like we had never seen before. New faces, new collecting methods, and a growing divide among the people who had been collecting for years and the perceived threat flooding in from every direction. Because the crowd that buys products like Prizm and Select tend to be of a certain type, the situation provided an oil and water reaction to a part of the hobby who had been used to the dark corner of the hobby populace that had been undisturbed for decades.

Now that we are seven products into the new regime, things have settled down, especially with the enormous success of products that are the legacy staples of the Panini calendar. Although the success was partially driven by firsts, and collector’s love of debuts, year two doesnt seem to be done trying to redefine the potential showcased by what we saw across the year.

Here is a breakdown of what I expect as we get into 2023, and the near future of cards in WWE.

The Next Edition as Compared to the Previous

For those who dont have a lot of experience within the hobby, card years usually run April to April in the mainstream sports, mainly because of how the products are built and produced. Sometimes, with delays, it can be even into May, June and beyond. With this, we should expect that 2022 WWE sets will become 2023 with the release of the next edition of Prizm in April (barring the aforementioned delays).

This also means that all the bullshit and bickering that has happened through 2022, will likely renew as we approach the next version of the set that sparked the battle in the first place. This time should be different for a number of reasons, however. First, the card economy in general has changed dramatically with the economic downturn that has happened since last year’s launch. This will hopefully equate to a more affordable starting point for a product that got way too overheated before the market had a chance to react the first time around.

We are also going to see the Prizm debuts of a number of new wrestlers who have been a prime focus of WWE programming since April of last year. Cody Rhodes, Ronda Rousey, Bray Wyatt, Roxanne Perez, Nikkita Lyons among others will get their first shot at the limelight of Panini’s flagship brand. I didnt think there could be another rookie class like we had for 2022, but some of these debuts could make up for it.

Panini is also known around the hobby for the growth of their approach in every aspect of their products. New parallels, new sets, new card types, new configurations, new designs. They arent going to sit back and just copy and paste 2022 into 2023. I think there is a definite chance that we start to see a growing escalation of content as Panini tries to fund the license cost in a declining market that has struggled to keep momentum in the major sports.

For someone like me, who is entirely focused on a single person in a wide ocean of people to collect, 2022 was a daunting task to keep up with. I am already preparing to see an increase across the new year, where things will continue to escalate as the products grow. A set like Select was already one of the most robust configurations we have ever seen in WWE. 400 cards in the base set, 4 different variations to collect, and up to 10 parallels per variation. It was released months and months ago, and I am still trying to keep up. Despite the challenge to acquire the cards I wanted, Select was one of the most fun experiences I have had in WWE collecting. I put it as one of my favorite sets of all time, and I cannot wait for version 2.0. Does that mean we start to see some of the cornerstones of Select products in the major sports? Die cut cards, additions to the zoo, and other cards are mainstays of NFL and NBA. I have a feeling its going to be a wild ride for this year.

Lastly, as we approach the super premium products of the year, we could see things start to get more in line with what we are seeing in the NFL and NBA. Panini has already started collecting all sorts of player worn material at their signings to include in products, and though its not ring worn, it adds a chase element to products because the pieces are unique and stand out. Immaculate will be the first time we see some of these unique relics, and I dont think it will be the last time.

I also believe the higher end products will increase the content to a point where we will see Panini take more initiative to include cards we havent seen in WWE before. New signature combos, new signers, and hopefully more of the hobby standards that have defined their calendar across the hobby. Even though Im not a fan of the cards, sets like Kaboom! and Downtown are surely going to be coming, as are other elements of their products that have become collector favorites during the boom.

Projecting Value Over the Next Year

To the celebration of some, and the anger of others, prices across wrestling cards have exploded. Even though Prizm wax took a serious tumble off the top rope to the floor, the values across all of wrestling cards has stayed well above 2021 levels, even with the drop from the peak. Everyone seems to have this common misconception that the value in WWE cards is following that of the wax, but there are so many examples of prices that have stayed at an exponentially higher number than they were before this all got started.

Ive said a number of times, the bulk common shit in Wrestling continues to have very little value, and I dont expect that to change. As much as Im sure people loathe pulling people like Ivar and Reggie, their values represent exactly what they have up until this point – very little. However, when you look at the top of the mountain, or head of the table, values remain much higher than they were previously.

We have seen over and over again that records are being set for people who have potential as a prospect for the future, or the top superstars in the promotion. The Rock was the main event for 2022, as were people like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Roman Reigns. I doubt this will change, and as Panini institutes more contrived ways to drive scarcity and chase, the values for the rarest cards and most desirable people will continue to hold or increase.

Funny enough, this is the same thing that has happened across the hobby, where the threshold for a “grail” centerpiece has seemingly increased by the day. When those pieces hit the open market, the values they achieve leave people wondering how anyone could think cards were trending down.

We have yet to see the true power of a product like Transcendent was for Topps, and we have yet to see what Panini can achieve when they have time on their side. Prizm was rushed, as the license started on 1/1 and they were hampered with delays all over the place leading up to the April release. Should we expect better performance with more of a ramp? Logic says we should, but Panini’s history shows its uncertain to be the case.

Will Legends Continue to Carry the Torch?

In the stick and ball sports, it isnt legends that drive a value in any product that is released. Sure, there are always the Tom Bradys, Lebrons, and Mike Trouts that people chase, but it is rookies that drive the tentpoles of Panini’s biggest products. In WWE its the opposite, and likely for good reason. Wrestling was at its biggest cultural influence during the late 1990s, and people from that era remain household names. If you go ask someone on the street who the Rock is, they will know. The Undertaker is still someone that many people know is a wrestler. Not as much so if you ask them who Roman Reigns is.

Based on that, its no surprise that the nostalgia of the attitude era and before is what drives value in WWE products. That being said, up and coming stars like Solo Sikoa and Bron Breakker could be the spark that balances the scale more than we have seen prior. Prospecting in WWE used to be a fool’s errand with Vince McMahon seemingly changing everything fans loved about NXT stars moving to RAW and Smackdown. Now that Triple H is in charge (at least for now), the continuity seems to be much more in tact for the transition out of developmental. As a result, many more collectors seem to have embraced the rookie element than before, as so many of the future stars are continuing down a track to stardom instead of getting rebranded and buried by Vince’s old school tendencies and tired favorites.

Chronicles saw the first examples of autographs from Sikoa, and we should be getting our first run with Roxxane Perez and others coming up. Breakker was the focus of 2022 Prizm, so his cards will be entering their second year of collecting. He has cooled off because his unparalleled trajectory was stalled coming into the new regime, but I doubt there is anyone who thinks he doesnt have the goods to be a future pillar of the company.

Its also worth mentioning that people like Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair are still very young and both have accomplished a ton in their short careers. Add this onto the burgeoning careers of main eventers already established, and I think there is a lot to be excited about for the next year’s worth of releases.

Collectability as Licenses Progress

The thing with any hobby is that time can heal almost every wound. As more and more time passes since a release, the value of the older products usually goes up. This has happened especially with the most collectible products that exist, especially for ones that have become investor favorites. Looking back on the first releases of sets like Prizm, Select and others in the NBA and NFL, all have increased in value to a vast degree.

I was around for the first release of Prizm in the NFL and NBA in 2012, and I promise you the value of those cards was a fraction then as it is today. Its been a decade since that release, and as more of the products were released, they achieved a legacy status that has driven the collectors out there to go back and find the cards they want. Demand has increased price to a ridiculous degree, where some of the more common cards can hit four figures and above on a bad day.

Im not saying that 2023 will be the salve for all that ails some of the perception of the early part of Panini WWE, but I think it will be the beginning of the realization for many of the uninitiated that Prizm isnt going to go away. Neither will Select, or any of the main products on the calendar. As we get to years three and four, before the inevitable takeover of Fanatics in 2026, I think the healing process will be well into its advanced stages.

This hobby seems to function in years that feel much longer than they actually are, as things tend to move quickly and the stigma of previous news cycles tends to be short lived. Hopefully as the attention for Wrestling cards continues to grow, the major pieces of the Panini calendar will start to gain footholds where there were none before.

I think we are all eager to see how this plays out, as the soap opera of the hobby landscape has been just as interesting as the angles in the ring. Hopefully we continue to see the massive growth that 2022 saw, and more faces continue to join the hobby as wrestling continues its time in the sun. I think we have a lot of indicators that show WWE cards are going through the same events that we saw in the other parts of the hobby, giving us a map to plot out an expected course. That map should be invaluable as things progress, and I am confident we will see things get more and more interesting.

Back in 2016, when Impeccable was first released, I wasnt a fan of Panini’s sets in the slightest. The cards they made were hammering home every pet peeve I had with design, and seeing a product released that actually encompassed what I liked was nothing less than astonishing. Now that Impeccable has come to WWE, and we are seeing some awesome stuff in the product with First Off the Line boxes releasing yesterday, I can already see a number of cards I want to chase. The awesome approach that drove this product’s inception seems to be in play for this release, too.

Ive said this before on Twitter, Impeccable is one of my favorite sets that Panini makes from a look and feel perspective, and I dont think that will be changing now that we are seeing this in action. Because many WWE collectors havent had an experience with Impeccable, I want to discuss my list of five things that people should be watching as the set is released on 10/19.

Number 1 – Will the Price Exceed the Value Expectations of Collectors?

Ever since the release of Prizm, WWE collectors have been cautious about diving in fast on these Panini products. Even though this product is almost entirely different than anything we have seen in the new era of wrestling cards, I get it this time. Super Premium products at Panini are a lifestyle, but not one that is devoid of risk. There is a HUGE risk here, especially because FOTL is releasing an entire week before the main product.

Right now, initial prices on singles are quite high, and box prices remain in the 500 dollar range. Im also not sure how the wax prices will fluctuate, which is even more of a focus now that we saw the FOTL boxes hit the floor on the dutch auction, but have been filling in breaks at 1500 per box on Whatnot (I am not exaggerating, this actually happened).

This brings up a very interesting and weird point in WWE cards, because we are seeing something happen that actually makes sense for once. Wax prices seem to be going down, but the chase worthy singles prices seem to be going up. Usually, both increase exponentially together. I also feel this is a good thing for a population of collectors who love ripping wax, but want to see more bang for their buck. If the best cards in the product are still valuable, but everything else is affordable, huge win all around.

Of course, this is a high end product, so things are going to start VERY high, and come down considerably if the card being sold is readily available. Seeing Stone Cold Steve Austin on card autos that have 98 copies? I cant say Im going to be paying Transcendent prices for those. Does that make the cards any less cool? Maybe from a value side, but the look is awesome. Making big names more accessible is something a lot of collectors have wanted to see for a long time, and here we are. On the flip side, this could mean some challenge for people hoping to hold on to these unique autos that were rarely available en masse for other Topps products at a price point that was prohibitive for 98% of the market.

Number 2 – Will On Card Autographs Make a Difference in Product Reception and Value?

Panini has released 4 sets so far, and all three of the main roster sets have had sticker autographs as the only method of signatures available. Impeccable is the first main roster Panini product with hard signed cards, and it definitely makes a difference to a lot of different people out there. Ive been collecting in the mainstream areas of the hobby for close to 30 years, and the introduction of sticker autos remains one of the more controversial aspects of collecting. Nothing will change that. However, seeing a sticker auto sell for more than an on card auto continues to be a disorienting experience. The reality is that with all the complaining, many hobbyists have come to accept stickers as a necessary evil.

Similarly, Panini took over this license at the beginning of the year, and timelines were exceptionally tight to get Prizm and Select out with no major delays. Because chrome stock cards take forever to print and pack out for signature, its understandable why stickers are the drug of choice for the card companies. It doesnt make it any less frustrating.

I do believe that WWE collectors are cut from a different cloth, and for almost two full years, Topps avoided sticker autos in their wrestling product lines. Not only that, but they did it with boxes that cost 1/5th the cost of Impeccable, and less. This reality is the only reason why I feel like there could be a bump in value with hard signed cards for this product.

If this were aligned to one of the major sports, where on card autographs are available more frequently, I would say that the value increase would be negligible. It could be a similar situation here, but one I am very interested in seeing outcomes.

Worth noting that in the entire history of Topps WWE, there was only a small handful of on card auto relics. Most recently we saw the Sting Bat Cards in Transcendent, but outside of that the choices are very sparse. Fully Loaded has become the only recent example where Topps was able to execute on card relic cards, and the value didnt really shake out well overall. Impeccable has multiple subsets of these cards, and its curious to see if the issues with Topps are going to continue here.

Number 3 – Is There a True Chase Element to Drive Collectors Crazy?

For as long as I can remember, chase cards in the hobby drive a product’s impact. In the NBA, the Logoman is the standard. In the NFL, the shields are insanely valuable. In WWE, I think its exceptionally more complicated and exceptionally more challenging to establish a chase for people to want to dive deep into a product enough to keep wax high.

That doesnt mean chase cards havent been created recently in WWE, though. In fact, I believe in the last 2 years, there are more chase cards available for collectors than ever before. In 2021 Transcendent, the autograph superfractors showed that a chase card can be possible. With Prizm, the black base 1/1s are incredible chases for many player collectors out there. Select had something that has never been available before in a WWE product – logo 1/1 autographs. Knowing this to be the case, I think there are a few potential chases in Impeccable.

One is focused around the case hits, which are the bar cards that have been in Impeccable since its original release. These cards feature stamped bars of silver and gold, and for some, are huge chases for their collection targets. Gold bars are 1/1, and given the price of gold right now, and the collectablilty of trading cards, these could be a chase. Similarly, Impeccable has shown that there are going to be some amazing relics used for the memorabilia cards, and there are multi-case hit jumbo relic cards that could deliver some INSANE swatches.

Given that Impeccable is designed to be a configuration that delivers the top level of collectible cards, I hope there are a few surprises that can knock the socks off of people and give them a reason to keep going back to the well the way Select did.

Number 4 – Is This the Right Time for a Set Like Impeccable?

For almost a decade, Topps released Undisputed WWE as its most readily available high end product. A premium product was only released once per year, and UD became the place where the top collectors flourished. Among the many issues that WWE collecting was saddled with, having a community driven by cheap thrills meant that sets like Undisputed were controversial. After many years of releases, most of that sentiment had gone away, leaving the examples from the set as a top collecting goal for almost everyone.

The difference was that most Topps products were released in WWE under 100 bucks, even after the boom period really got going. When 2020 Topps Chrome was released, it started as low as $65 – a product that eventually was a main component of the explosion of value in WWE cards near the end of 2021. Here, Prizm and Select are high end products around the same cost as Undisputed, despite having a flagship set configuration. Impeccable’s price point above $500 may be a challenge to maintain because there is no alternative lower end product that performs the way other low end Topps sets did back in 2020 and 2021.

Its also worth mentioning that Topps only put out a few wrestling sets per year, and Panini has released 3 since April, with Impeccable being number 4, and Chronicles coming mid-November. More importantly, the saturated market is likely going to see more products after Chronicles, which doesnt spell good things for a set like Impeccable that might find a problem with a card market on the decline. Even though this product has a LOT of unique benefits that arent available in other places, too much of the market is driven by perception in WWE.

Number 5 – Who is the Target Market for Impeccable?

I think we have seen some intriguing things happen across the release of Prizm and Select with the way collectors have reacted to the sets. Because of their history in NFL and NBA, I can also go back to the target market for each product, and see it play out identically in WWE. Prizm is an investor friendly product, driven by people looking to build portfolios in the hobby’s most profitable flagship brand. Select is aimed at the player collectors, with tons of cards to chase across 20 parallels. Impeccable is meant to be a big bang product, with chase-worthy super premium hits.

The reason this target is valuable in other sports is because the audience is huge. Collectors in the NFL, MLB and NBA have money, time, and resources to make their collections incredible. Some of that exists in WWE, but not at an audience size that is even close to the mainstream, or UFC even.

Given that is the case, will the bigger hits for the large checklist hold enough value to make this product a long term success? I think that is a big question that is still left to be answered. We all know that rare autograph cards from the top names will be valuable. What about the top cards from the midcarders who would still be valuable to a box price level in other sports? If you pull a 1/1 of a rando from NXT UK, I cant say I expect that the value is enough to make it a chase.

In fact, the checklist could end up being a detriment to the viability of the wax price overall. We saw this with Prizm, and though the list of names comprised a landmark accomplishment, it didnt do what I thought it would do for the wax. Instead, people continued to be frustrated pulling low end names from a box that cost $1000 dollars. In the other sports, people rip in groups and by the case, so a one box rip doesnt define a return on a break. In WWE, we saw a lot of smaller collectors try their hands with a single box, and walk away unhappy.

Overall, I love impeccable. I love the design, I love the way the completed cards turned out, and I dont think we have seen any of the main surprises yet. FOTL is an appetizer here, and so far, it looks like a singles buyer’s dream product. For someone like me, who only collects one person, it could be a challenge to find a reason to go to the shop and rip some of this wax. However, that doesnt mean I wont be refreshing eBay like a madman trying to find my singles I need. Im impressed with the way this worked out, much like my initial excitement when this first hit the NFL scene.

I love shiny cards. Ever since I started in this hobby back in the early 90s, I have always gravitated towards sets that feature the Chromium stock that has been a staple of the hobby for decades. When I started collecting WWE back in 2017, there wasnt much of it to go around, with Chrome and Finest not reemerging in the market until 2020. As you can imagine, most of my collection focuses on high end shiny examples from the recent boom. Much to my pleasure, Select is the next in line for that lineage, trying to capitalize on a market that has slumped with the hobby downturn over the last few months.

First, lets dive a bit deeper into what Select is all about, because for most WWE collectors, the releases of Prizm, Revolution and Select were very unfamiliar territory. Back when Panini America first took over the major licenses in NBA and eventually NFL, the focus on Shiny products hadnt reached the fever pitch it is at right now. Topps had been EXCEPTIONALLY successful with Chrome style products for their flagship and bowman lines, so it shouldnt be shocking that Panini tried their own hand at the wheel.

Prizm was created as a flagship answer to Topps Chrome, while Select almost exactly mirrored Topps Finest’s content and target market. Over the years, sets like Optic and Spectra have taken this even further, with fringe products like Obsidian gaining steam along the way as well. This might be the first year of WWE Select, but the actual product has been around for almost 10 years.

To me, Select has always been a better looking set than Prizm. For whatever reason, that hasnt driven the same amount of importance with collectors, as its clear that Prizm’s status as the flagship Panini set has overridden many of the flaws it has in its construction.

Select has always had a better design, better content, and a better price per box. The WWE release is representative of that approach as well, but it has taken things to a new place because of the new status of the market.

As a result, it should be no surprise that Select WWE has had the outpouring of support and acclaim from collectors that it has had. There are a ton of the elements that made Prizm and Revolution fun and exciting, while exhibiting very few of the drawbacks. I want to go through a few of those thoughts here, because I am enthralled by this product.

Exceptional Photo Usage

When I started seeing the first auctions come across, the first thing that caught my eye were the choices made with the photography in each level of base. WWE usually wants their superstars displayed with official renders, available in an online database that is curated multiple times per week. If you see a match card graphic on WWE TV, the photos in that database are used. Its a huge part of what makes the WWE presentation what it has been for decades.

Topps used that database a lot as we saw in photos for their sets, but Panini seems to have made it a point to make the action sit at the forefront of their brands. As someone who literally SHOUTED WITH ALL CAPS at Panini about their posed photos on NBA and NFL cards for 10+ years, this development is nothing short of incredible.

The good thing about a license like WWE is that visual documentation is a big focus for their business model, which for other niche licenses might not be the case. There are tons of photos to pull from, as WWE has had ringside photographers on the payroll since the 80s and 90s. Panini Select seems to have built each card with care, as photos were chosen to showcase the best of each superstar they depicted. Even better, the ones that broke the borders of the cards, and presented a unique visual engagement made things even better.

As someone who lives by the photo on a card, I could not be more in love with the way Select was incorporating this element into the set, and it made collecting it that much more fun.

Unique Relic Content

Both Prizm and Revolution were built without a relic element to the product, something that Select is almost dependent on. This means that there were two paths that could be a part of the plan – either the more plain relic content that Topps was relegated to in the final years of their license, or the more dynamic relic content that Panini seemed to have negotiated as part of their license deal.

Topps tended to be very conservative with their relic content, as I believe it was likely dictated to them by the WWE. They used cut up pieces of mat, ladders, chairs and table pieces, and in some very special circumstances – gear provided to them (see Fully Loaded 2020).

Panini decided to go a bit more towards their brand style for NFL and NBA, using the colorful shirts that are popularized through almost half a century of WWE merchandising. Although these pieces of memorabilia dont seem to be tied to a TV event, they create a unique collectibility to the cards that are built with the pieces embedded.

Player worn content is a controversial subject in the hobby, because it represents a divergence from Game Used relics in hobby packs. Instead, cheaper jerseys are worn for a quick second at a signing and cut up for cards the same way a game used piece would have been cut up in the original years of the memorabilia card era.

We havent gotten confirmation on which realm these relics come from, but its likely the latter. The difference here is that WWE has never had these types of things as a main focal point of a product. Even though the relics are likely not from a TV taping, the colorful changes in relic content breeds a ton of fun chasing down the unique pieces.

Similarly, for the first time in WWE card history, the 1/1s seem to be built with specially cut WWE logo relics, something that has become a staple in the mainstream sports card chase. These cards have shown to be stunning centerpieces, and present a chase like we havent had in WWE cards before.

With the success of Select’s relic content, it opens up potential high end product lines for the license that wouldnt have been possible without this new approach.

The Massive Parallel Adventure

When looking at product configuration for Chrome stock products, parallels drive as much value as any other part of the set. This is a VERY foreign concept for people who have lived in the bubble of WWE cards for their entire collecting life, as it used to be the autograph content that determined value.

With Select, there are three base card levels, and a retail variation to boot. Each base variation has complexity in the parallels that make up the checklist, leaving about 40-50 cards needed for many supercollectors (like myself) to chase for top stars.

This is excessive for a number of reasons, but also a driver for focus on a long term chase that hasnt been available in WWE as of yet. Prizm may have had 20 parallels to collect, but this can be double that. Making this even more complicated is that some stars are only available in certain tiers, and others only in the retail configurations. This is a chase that may take some collectors years to complete, especially for the rarer cards that may not surface at all.

For some, this wide array of targets is more of a drawback, but with so few WWE products on the market, and even fewer chrome style products, this is a needed piece of the puzzle to keep the chase going when delays could hamper frequent releases to bog down the calendar.

A Deep and Well Conceived Checklist

When Prizm was released, I mentioned that it would be a landmark product because of the checklist. I feel like Select was conceived in the same vein and offers a huge amount of variety across the major WWE TV brands and the legends that populate it’s history.

The mix of current talent, rookie talent, and HOF / Legend content is exceptional, and its shocking some of the names that Panini was able to include in a product that comes on the heels of a leviathan like Prizm.

New talent like Roxanne Perez and Nikkita Lyons have their first Panini cards, alongside vets like Ken Shamrock, Terry Funk and Michelle McCool who havent had WWE cards in a few years. Combine those with the first Panini shiny cards of Macho Man and others left off the Prizm checklist, and I have seen a lot of happy collectors.

The Cool Factor

So much of what makes us happy as collectors is that cards can look really cool. Prizm had aspects of that with some of the pieces of their set, but its nothing like what Select offers. Tie Dye, Tiger, Zebra, and other fun parallel pattern designs seem to get more collectors engaged, and the relic content adds a new layer of connection to the mainstream hobby. These things drive interest, and interest drives both fun and value.

Select just feels like a cool product that focuses more on the things collectors want to see and chase, and that isnt easy to accomplish. Tastes are subjective, but its hard to find people that say “Oh well, Select sucks and doesnt deserve the hype!” People might say that the product isnt what they collect, or isnt for their focus in the hobby, but few have said its a bad product with bad value and a bad design.

I do believe that there are still some WWE collectors who dont get what drives the increased value across products like Select or Prizm, but I also feel like this is the first time where I havent seen those people trying to dominate the conversation with negativity. Exposure to this new era of WWE collecting has been a tumultuous experience for many, but this product seems to excite a number of the previous generation of WWE collectors as much as the new generation.

As things progress with Panini’s WWE license, I would hope the above mentioned elements of the product continue to be a focus going forward. Although its unclear if Panini will remain free of Fanatics’ consolidation plans, its very clear that the success they have found with Select has been nothing short of refreshing.