Being a part of this hobby has ultimately gotten more expensive, regardless of how the market has performed the last few years. Despite a regression in the mid double digits since the heights of 2021 and 2022, everything has held well above where we started with the pandemic era. I love to see the way the hobby has adjusted to this new normal, as it has become one of the most interesting narratives of this boom period. Every day, something is done a new way, a new idea is brought into play and becomes an inflection point, and business models change regularly because of new mindsets.

One thing remains the same, unfortunately – the cost of wax is way too fucking high.

Back when the boom started, the main choke point was access to wax. Demand was so high, supply could not come even close to keeping up, leaving wax prices to the wolves and creating an speculation bubble with every single product to be released. It was so nuts, that we saw people fighting with Walmart and Target employees over the blasters and rack packs they were trying to stock.

Things have settled down in terms of demand at this point, but the prices have stayed at the levels where artificial scarcity can still create a mad rush for the products that still drive the top valued cards in the hobby. Products like Topps Chrome, Prizm, Bowman, National Treasures, and Flawless have seen how this steady demand can impact the way collectors engage with the products, fostering mass bitterness and resentment over the way things have changed.

In this situation, many collectors understand that a rising tide floats all boats, but they dont care. They dont care because the higher the cost, the higher the risk. With higher risk comes more devastating losses, and that means a hobby that was once fun, isnt anymore. Although there have been some improvements to the checklists, and card technology as a result of the higher prices and high demand for top value wax, the main concepts are unchanged. Which means that many collectors are forced to pay higher prices for the same exact stuff they would have gotten years before the boom.

This challenging engagement model has required the supporting peripheral businesses of the industry side of things to get creative. Things like Group Breaking have become such a widely accepted part of the hobby experience that the card companies are building their own live break platforms to support it. Other ideas that look to offload risk by spreading the cost of participation amongst a group of people have been somewhat successful too.

Funny enough – the one thing that hasnt changed is the wax. Its still opening packs. Its still box breaks. Its still risk, even if the cost is spread through more bodies. So, then, what does one do when the wax is still the bottle neck in the whole thing? Well, you make your own.

Here is where the conversation gets interesting, because there is more history in this part of the hobby than people probably realize. First, lets talk about the process, because that’s really important. To create your own product, you need packaging, you need distribution and retail, and you need cards. Most people dont have the means to create their own cards, but there is a never ending supply of cards to use for that part of the process. That’s where this phenomenon takes hold, as repacking the cards available into new products has become the new hot thing in this world.

Looking at the history of repacks, its something that has been around much longer than many collectors likely expect. Companies like Leaf have done repack products as far back as I can remember them being a company. Other shops and dealers have done it as well, somewhat of a side hustle to supplement business coming into their hands. However, those really arent the products that are drawing the ire of the hobby, mainly because they didnt have the platform to deliver it the way that some of the big breaking channels on Whatnot and Fanatics live are doing now.

To start, there are some good things that come out of these products, although they are not my favorite approach to a fix of the many issues we face. Creating a tertiary market for cards outside of the normal sales channel is a good thing for the people who actually do rip the wax at the end user level. For a long time, many people have needed to benefit from the creation of a product. All levels needed to make money – manufacturer, distributor, dealer and collector. Giving another outlet for the end user to make money beyond traditional methods is a good thing. Selling to repackers has become a thing, especially at shows, which means that collectors arent the only beneficiaries from a new large scale buying scheme.

Additionally, repacks are a way to create products that span multiple years, multiple sports and multiple media types. For collectors that just like having fun with cool looking cards, these repacks can offer a lot of cool opportunities to get top cards from products that are generally unavailable at their level.

Lastly, repacks can give a boost to shops who may be struggling to compete at a level where allocation of sealed current product is a battlefield. We just got done hearing how Fanatics will be approaching their relationships with shops and dealers, and its not something that tells me the access to higher amounts of sealed cases will be plentiful in the future.

You might be reading this, and thinking, “well, those good things arent all that important to me, especially considering the negatives.” To which I say that I absolutely agree. The idea of putting your own product together isnt really the negative. Its the conflicts of interest that exist in these situations where so many people have called out issues, or even more importantly the regulation of the distribution channels they are using to sell them.

Lets go back to the list of doing your own product – cards, distribution and packaging. Packaging is the easiest, because of how many businesses exist to package goods for retail distribution. I’m going to skip over that for now. The part of packaging I want to discuss is the actual construction of the products themselves. Really, it comes down to a single word that will be a common thread through this whole scheme, and that word is “trust.” Most of the people who are selling these repacks fall under the umbrella of a breaking channel on a live breaking platform. Most of these people run barely incorporated business models, and I dont even want to think about how many have actually set up their operation correctly in the eyes of the law. I posted a few weeks ago about the 24/7 card casino, and that makes this whole market segment fall into a very different area of our society.

It comes down to one question – do you trust these breakers to give you what they promise, considering how much money you are giving them to provide it?

For a lot of people (and I mean A LOT), the answer seems to be yes. They will fork over thousands and thousands of dollars to each of these parties, despite a history of issues with scams, a history of issues with shipping, and a history of issues with customer service. Remember, Backyard Breaks is probably one of the biggest channels out there, but they also have some of the most heinous accusations and video evidence of wrong doing out there. More importantly, the platform they are using doesnt seem to have any control over their streams. If there are conflicts, there is no official 1-800 number you can call, and the process is definitely handled on a case by case basis. That’s fucking scary.

Going further into the trust arena, most of the bigger channels break 24/7 on multiple streams, so there is no way to track what is actually coming out of a product. Unlike an official release, where we have checklists to understand what a product contains, odds that showcase how frequently a card can be pulled, and serial numbers to track specific cards out of the product – NONE of this really exists at the repacker level. Whatnot requires the repackers to tell what the ceiling and the floor is for their packs, but the enforcement of that is seemingly much less than transparent.

I equivocate this to handing a bookie some money to place a bet on a game, and then trusting he is going to tell you the result of what happened with that bet. Its hard for me to make that leap, but for others, it might not be. That’s where this whole thing has come into focus as an area where many collectors have started sounding alarms.

Breakers run a business, which means they need to have an eye on margins and profit to ensure they can cover their overhead of fees, personnel and the actual products themselves. To think they arent trying to maximize that as much as possible is naive, which leads to the conflicts of interest that are mentioned above. Because there is no regulation, we have to trust that they arent fleecing their customers to enhance profits and margins by cutting corners. Even more importantly, we cant trust the gamblers who buy them, because many dont seem to track anything. They just put money down and expect returns.

Over the last six to twelve months, the profitability of this format has become exceptionally higher than many of the wax products the cards come from. It allows a renewable source of cards to be bought at shows, from breaks done on the channel, and eBay. Ive even heard of repackers going to local card shows, and cleaning out entire tables of desirable cards at high values because they know how much profit can be obtained with the proper platform and format.

I even believe that as Fanatics takes control in 2026, there will be a growing hunger to pick up cards that come from previous eras, as many shops will be put into spots they have never been in before, especially those who put many of their eggs in the Panini basket over the previous ten years. Fanatics is looking to standardize their presentation across the hobby, and given that they have such a large distribution as it is through Topps and their retail stores, plus a breaking platform, and now Fanatics branded shows, its only a matter of time where necessity among existing parties will need to play catalyst for innovation.

Im so sure this is going to happen, that Im willing to bet there are things going on now that I cant even fathom becoming a staple of the future era of Fanatics control. Repacks are the most recent fad, but one that has staying power because of all the things I mentioned above. As the hobby migrates out of a competitive manufacturer licensing situation and into a exclusive manufacturer situation, Im not as curious as to what will change, more focused on how much the primary marketplace will continue to adapt.

Right now on Whatnot and Fanatics live, the seeds have already been planted in their Casino formats, and only a select few are already on the bleeding edge enough to see a path forward where their business will be in 2 years. That’s a lifetime from now, and also an insecure feeling considering most of us have been around for a lot longer than that.

When I started this site back in the mid 2000s, I did so as a counterpoint to the all rainbows and no rain approach of the existing hobby news sources. I felt that the print magazines like Beckett and Tuff Stuff rarely covered topics that didnt make the hobby look like everything was a utopia of collecting, and it inspired me to use my english degree to write about cards. That venture has now lasted 17 plus years of coverage, and Ive seen a lot of things change over that timeframe.

One thing that has remained constant is that hobby news coverage has proven to be more frustrating than informative, with more and more focus on making money for a platform than just covering the news as it happens. I get it though, not many people have altruistic enough tendencies to want to dedicate HOURS worth of work on a piece for no monetary return. Instead, they need to ensure they have revenue, advertisers, and an audience that all enjoys their work at the lowest possible news denominator so that it all can be easy to digest no matter what level of understanding the reader has.

Most of the people on Twitter and IG fancy themselves more advanced and as a result, derivative content that speaks at a base level of understanding seems to be worthless to the people that have the loudest voices. Content that delivers more pointed takes and deep dives into specific areas of the hobby that most longtime collectors appreciate is harder to market, and therefore harder to fund. That begs the question – is there a place for both the base level and advanced level in hobby news? Lets go a bit deeper.

First we have to look at the type of people who have a platform to deliver hobby news given their existing audience. Funny enough, Beckett still exists somehow, and even though their platform has been reduced with a shift away from periodicals in a Barnes and Noble, they have become a checklist delivery device and product sell sheet recount machine. Beckett has always had one of the largest platforms in the hobby, and one of the platforms I have rallied against since the inception of this site. Beckett used to give VERY unrealistic expectations of what the hobby was capable of delivering in value, and I hated that they were the welcome wagon for many new collectors coming to the fold. Honestly, seeing who the welcome wagon is these days, Beckett was better than I thought.

Aside from Beckett, you have people like Geoff Wilson, whose Sports Card Investor persona online has become a lightning rod for criticism as the new point of entry for a number of new collectors who have joined since the boom of the Pandemic. There is one thing that Geoff has figured out, and that style is more important than substance. He figured out, rather ingeniously, that actually knowing what you are talking about is less important than making your content look good. As a result, he has propped himself and his company up as the new face of the hobby, despite many people calling out that this is a terrible idea due to his lack of in depth coverage of some of the major issues out there, and cringeworthy behavior when criticized. It doesnt help that he co-authored a recent book called “Sports Card Collecting and Investing for Dummies,” as most of us think he is the dummy, not the teacher.

I mentioned above that in depth content is what most collectors feel is missing from this space, and Ben Haines (aka Eric Whiteback) tried to step into the shoes that Geoff Wilson tried to fill, while going a completely different direction. The problem is, the platform created by his social media content is just as controversial, mainly because of the way it is presented and monetized. Collectors want a coverage model that speaks to them at their level, and they want someone to deliver it who has been around for long enough to know the grifts when they are evident. The issue is that very few collectors out there are entertaining enough to fill this role, and the time it takes to deliver the content is akin to another job. Most of us have families and jobs, and thats why people like Haines can fill a void – but not without some personal reward in the mix.

Haines recently sold his account to FuckJerry, the aptly named group responsible for the ill-fated Fyre Fest that failed so miserably, it became a meme. There are theories that Haines was hired to run the Topps social media account, a factoid unconfirmed at the moment. This brings me to the next group of news delivery, the manufacturers themselves. For ages, there was UNPRECEDENTED access to the companies that made the cards, something that is unique to this space. Since the boom, a multitude of people have needed that access, so its become less of a back and forth with the actual collecting base. Similarly, the manufacturers have always had a need to focus on the positive aspects of their product for obvious reasons, so their press is predominantly biased for their business needs exclusively.

After burying the lede for so long, lets get to the new player in the game, CLLCT media. This new hobby coverage outlet was formed by Darren Rovell and some partners from Fox Sports, ESPN, and other professional sounding places, aiming to be the first ever pro-journalist run hobby news platform. If you are unfamiliar with Rovell, he is a smug former ESPN reporter on the business of sports, and everything you need to understand about him is covered in this takedown piece that Deadspin posted years ago. Over the course of the Pandemic, Rovell has gotten deep into collecting, and frequently covers his experience on Twitter. He now feels that he wants to start the ESPN of cards and collectibles, and many have wondered how this was going to play out.

CLLCT launched their site and content this week, with articles, videos and podcasts, clearly leading into other media channels that they are looking to bridge. With seed money of four million dollars from investors, they have established an office and are building a studio to accompany a snazzy new website to act as their hub of coverage. This all goes back to the question I aimed to answer at the top of the article, mainly if something like this is really necessary?

Lets separate that from a monetary return here, because this industry and hobby have EXPLODED to a point where there is money to be made in creating a space like this. That doesnt necessarily mean that we want it to exist, or need it to exist, but rather it will exist because there is money available to be made. In fact, that’s always been the problem many collectors seem to abhor, people looking to exploit their interest in the name of making money. Although Rovell definitely feels like he wants to do it for other reasons as well, its almost a moot point. As mentioned above with Geoff Wilson, having good looking content is more of a step towards credibility than accuracy. Hobby participants have always been accustomed to approaches that never put the look and feel up front, and it creates a vacuum where hobbies like Video Games and Cars have entire TV channels to support their experience.

Here is my take on this whole thing. I believe you can absolutely buy your way into credibility in this hobby, as much as everyone would like to think it isnt possible. Collectors love shiny new toys, regardless of their true value to the narrative. CLLCT seems like they have they have the money to expand the conversation to suit their monetization, and also provide some level of storytelling that the hobby has missed at some level.

Additionally, Rovell has an undeniable following, and its clear to me that he does have a platform to increase the number of eyes on cards and collectibles. That is a good thing, even if many long time collectors want to gatekeep the type of people who those eyes belong to. From my perspective, expansion of the hobby is always a good thing, even if the archetypes of new participants dont even come close to matching the archetypes of old. We need to serve more than just one segment of people in all aspects of the hobby, and though the collector segment might be the most vocal, they are definitely not the most populous or most well defined persona in the entire space. Most people identify themselves as collectors, but still have a need to occupy other aspects of what makes the hobby grow. Rip and flip, investing, collecting, all have roots for most. The difference is, a lot of them dont fancy themselves an influencer or content creator.

When we get a year down the road, Im interested to revisit this conversation, because its a controversial one, and its a topic that changes almost weekly. Seeing new entities try to wedge their way in can definitely ruffle feathers along the way, and that always creates a dialogue worth following on social media. The good thing is, there are already a ton of content creators who are committed to delivering a positive coverage experience for hobbyists, and I hope they continue to exist in their space too.

Its been around two years since a box of WWE cards sold for 1000 a box. The last time it happened, the collective mainstream and wrestling hobby absolutely lost their shit. We are talking full meltdown mode, bickering in the community that has lasted to this day, and a market crash that continues to be one of the most controversial topics in the entire history of wrestling cards. There are a lot of reasons why Prizm WWE, which debuted at 1200 a box should have been 1200 a box, as well as many reasons why it shouldnt have been.

Despite these reasons, we are back there again with WWE Impeccable, a product that hit the streets last week, and has been making waves on breaking platforms and eBay. I want to break down some of my thoughts on the product and what to expect now that the market has heated up again.

Recreating the Lessons of 2022 Prizm WWE Pricing

Since its release, Prizm has been responsible for more five figure sales than any modern WWE product ever produced. It is also the only product in wrestling card history to deliver a six figure sale. This tells me that at some level, a 1200 dollar price tag was warranted. Impeccable WWE has none of those things and will never have them, but yet we see a four figure price tag was still pushed by secondary market wax dealers as the market heats up for WWE thanks to a historic run for their TV product and a slew of whatnot breakers who have made WWE wax a focus of their channel.

Even more so, for the first time ever, the WWE equivalent product was originally priced higher than its sister football product. Yes – 2023 Impeccable WWE started at a higher box price than 2023 Impeccable NFL. That is a fucking scary proposition, because at this point in the market, no WWE product should ever cost more than the NFL version. Although there is less of the wrestling version, the value spectrum of hits resides in two different pricing universes. Pricing them on similar levels is just insanity.

As if that wasnt scary enough, Immaculate WWE should continue the trend, given that its a better product, with more valuable hits, and aspects of the product that will be immensely popular among collectors. 2023 Immaculate NFL currently sits at $1249 per box, and I fully expect WWE to be more than that. Absolutely horrifying.

This begs the question – why is the price so high?

There are a few main reasons, and also the same reasons why this price wont hold. First, the allocation of Impeccable WWE seems to be down, even though it really doesnt look like Panini is giving us any information that confirms it. Per the discovery document from the WWE/Panini lawsuit, the case allotments are actually higher than 2022.

Ive also heard blame thrown Panini’s way as the catalyst for the pricing increase, with many posts speculating that Panini had made the product exceptionally more expensive to acquire from them. That also is not true, with dealer cost at $391, very similar to last year’s cost. This would drive expectations that box price should end up around $450-550 per box, almost spot on with last year at a 20-30% markup.

So that brings us to the real reasons why this price is up. The first is online dealers like Blowout, Steel City and Dave and Adam’s. At solicitation, they seemingly drew a price out of their ass and posted it on the site without true reasoning other than they felt the WWE market could support it. For the most part, they were correct. Because of the suffocation of WWE wax due to the lawsuit, many breakers and collectors were starving for product, and like Elite, they knew they could easily squeeze a few extra dollars out of their first pre-sales of the product because of that reason. I dont think any of them expected that price to hold, but when you see the sell sheets delivering gorgeous looking cards, its not shocking that there are breakers and collectors who wanted a piece.

This reason leads into the next reason which Ive explained on a few videos now – online breakers are buying the absolute shit out of Impeccable. Back when 2022 Prizm was released, there were no channels on Whatnot delivering breaks like we see today. As of last count, I saw 18 different channels offering Impeccable WWE breaks on their page. Because they can move slots at a much lower cost per collector, they can support a huge case price. Also, with many of them buying product directly from Blowout and DA, its no shock why the online retailers put the price where it was.

Lets be 100% honest. If Blowout put Impeccable out there at last year’s box cost off the bat, it would have been gone in the blink of an eye. The market is hot again. They are a business and their goal is to make as much money as the market can support.

A Gorgeous Set All Around

There is one aspect of Impeccable that has made me a fan since its inception in the NFL back in 2017 – its one of the best looking products Panini makes. Every card in the set looks great with the artistic approach to designing a set that stands apart from the other sets. Its motif is gallery art, and it delivers in spades. Canvas like stock, painted strokes in the background, and themes around watercolor and the beauty of the work.

If anything, there is not much to complain about here, because Panini absolutely has found their path in creating high end products long ago. The addition of jumbo patch autographs and legend focused signature subsets add to the allure of the design, but the cloud of high box price continues to loom over the set since day one.

Last year’s set was absolutely stunning as well, and I think its a big deal when you see how the product has evolved year over year. Even the base cards look tremendous, which is saying something, considering how incredible they looked last year. The base set might have been the best of 2022, and in 2023, it might be again.

The one thing that Panini has never had issues with is photography, and I think that is actually a gigantic improvement this year, as they have designed the cards with more differentiated approaches on the photos included across the many subsets. Just looking at the Indelible Ink subset Kane and Undertaker cards should be a defining example of how a photo can make a card that much better. Base card photos of Zelina Vega, Becky Lynch, Rhea Ripley and others all have amazing shots. This brings eye appeal to an already fun design.

Going back to 2022, there was no bigger attraction than the Impeccable number cards celebrating returns, championships and Wrestlemania appearances. This year, Panini has done a good job on a follow up to these absolutely stunning cards, and they remain some of the most beautiful WWE cards there are. Adding in some additional 1/1s and low numbered examples will hurt set collector approaches, but add huge value to the overall market.

Content Improvements Over Last Year

If you are going to expect people to pay the increased box price, content needs to be adjusted to make sure that the ask doesnt fail. There are elements of this set that are different than 2022, and for the most part, they are absolutely awesome.

I already talked about the addition of Jumbo Patch autos, which were a big plus seeing the way box breaks can shake out. Huge spaces to display the colorful relics that adorn many of the WWE shirts sold on their online shop, and much like Topps Dynasty in Baseball, its fun to watch box breaks online just to see what pops out.

Panini also made it a point to include WWE logos on the 1/1 elegance relic autos, which feature a smaller swatch, but a great design that should make the better ones some of the most valuable cards in the product. This new approach to creating memorable 1/1s for the product is a key development in Panini coming to WWE, and one I am excited to see go further as we get to products like Immaculate. I think using the WWE logo as a chase is something that has created the most valuable cards in the NFL and NBA spaces, as well as all other sports, so its good to have that carry over to WWE.

Major Drawbacks Besides Price Still Exist With the Product

As good as I think Impeccable is from a look and feel perspective, there are major issues with the release, all likely stemming from challenges over the summer with the lawsuit. The most impact comes in the form of checklist and autograph signings, which by all accounts seem to have gone exceptionally well over the last week at Wrestlemania. Outside of that, it seems like a good portion of the checklist was built a long time ago prior to the delays that were put in place, so outside of the addition of CM Punk to the base set, some major names are just not present.

There is no hotter name in WWE than Tiffany Stratton, and she is basically absent from this entire product. Other names from NXT, some key legends like Trish Stratus, and others are missing from the auto checklist as well. Couple that with other issues, and I can see where collectors would be upset.

As with every Wrestling product, redemptions can be a hairy situation. Topps struggled tremendously with them in the last year of their deal, and Panini has not had much of a different experience. When a product is built on hard signed cards, its inevitable that any delay in the signings will result in redemptions. It happened with Elite, and it has happened again with this product too. Here is the thing – Panini has done a pretty good job in filling what they can. Immaculate redemptions seem to be coming back on a really nice return rate, and previous sets have had good performance outside of a few repeat offenders.

If you are holding a 2022 Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Triple H, or Charlotte Flair redemption, your wait times have become basically unmanageable. They arent the only ones either, but they are big enough names that its a problem. Now, would you rather have no cards of those people vs having a redemption? Personally, the answer for me is always “Im patient enough to wait as long as it takes.” For others, that might not be the case, especially given the value of these cards. The good thing is, the redemptions do hold a high enough value that you are able to sell them and buy live cards if you so desire.

The bottom line is that people overreact to redemptions in this hobby as a whole. Its just the nature of the beast. Ive been around long enough to understand what is going to happen anytime the subject is brought up. There are hard line individuals who want rid the products of redemptions, and I think that is just as laughable as any take that is out there, especially if you are part of the anti-sticker crowd as well. Card manufacturers have budget timelines to hit, signing timelines to hit, and revenue targets to hit – their product calendars are designed to support those things because they are a business. As CM Punk famously said on his return, “Im not here to make friends, Im here to make money.”

Given that is the situation, their primary target they work towards is that minimum guaranteed licensing cost that all card manufacturers owe to their licensors. More importantly, the hobby seems to have zero issue with the things going down right now. We all still sell out the boxes, and we pay for the singles. As long as that is the case, there is no incentive to change.

Its also not as simple as the childish call to action “PEOPLE JUST NEED TO STOP BUYING.” Mainly because that is such a fucking stupid way to look at it – we have a better chance of the Eclipse causing the apocalypse than people stop buying. In my experience there are two things that need to be better from the companies, education and information.

The average collector still thinks they are getting actual news from customer service when they call in to ask about their card instead of script to handle the hundreds of people they deal with. Providing real information about signings and autographs will help to inform collectors and deflect calls from an overwhelming customer service agent staff. The second is providing more understanding of how cards get signed, and some of the reasons why redemptions are required.

Lastly, the replacement process needs to improve, and I have said this since 2004. Twenty years later and fucking points and worthless sparkle packs are still the best Panini has to offer. Topps just switches out cards without true understanding of market value. Both are terrible approaches. Until this aspect changes, nothing else matters.

The Verdict

If I have to boil down my thoughts on Impeccable to a final paragraph, I think its harder for this product than any other wrestling product Ive usually taken to here to review. The cost is such a deterrent in terms of the perceived joy of ripping this product. Remptions are an issue, checklist is an issue, but the cards look absolutely awesome, and the content is improved. Pros and cons considered, I think Impeccable is a solid product, but will be blown out of the water by Immaculate. Because we wont see Immaculate until later in the year, I think its something that can easily hold our attention as long as the cost comes down to earth. Wrestling on TV is on fucking fire, and I cant see that as anything but a positive towards the card market. I hope we see as much growth here as anything.