Click Here to View Cart 16: Wrestling Autographs from Japan (Including a Polaroid and a Quadrograph!)

I've had these four cards on my want list for a long time, but they were only available from a wrestling shop in Japan with relatively high prices to go along with a big shipping fee. The shop is called Toudoukan, and it carries a lot of cool wrestling and martial arts stuff. Their English functionality is pretty limited, though, especially when it comes to using the search tools on the site. I usually have to find the kanji characters for what I'm trying to find, search using them, and then look through the pictures. I have a pretty long Wish List saved up there, even after purchasing these four cards that were at the top of my 'needs.' 

I've been working on collecting the full timeline of Command Bolshoi autographs, and 2008 was a year I didn't have. This card is numbered # 01 / 30. I'm not sure why the 2008 print run is so low compared to other years. In 2009 the print run went up to # / 49, then # / 50 in 2010 and the print runs in 2011 and later have been near # / 100. I don't know if print runs have actually increased, because these days you get more hits per box than you did in previous sets. I don't have any history from prior to 2008 outside of a print run of # / 117 in 2003. It would be interesting to see what 2004-2007 looked like.

I have a few of these Cheki (why are they called that?) wrestling photos already, but I hadn't yet grabbed one featuring Command Bolshoi. Now I've got one! This one comes from the 2012 set, and is numbered # 5 / 7. Obviously since these are actual instant camera photos with stickers slapped onto them, you could call them # 1 / 1 cards, but even a print run of # / 7 is pretty rare.

These two autograph cards come from the 2013 set. One is an alter-ego of Command Bolshoi, which I believe is a uniform she wears when guest wrestling with Osaka Joshi-Pro. I'm not 100% sure of the connection between the wrestlers on the quadrograph card. About all I can find is a 4-way match they all participated in at the JWP Kayoko Haruyama 15th Anniversary Show on January 27th, 2013. I think these sets usually get released around January, though, so this might be cutting it too close as a connection that could realistically make it into the 2013 card set. They also all are relatively young wrestlers who started their careers with JWP in 2011 or 2012. I have to wonder if that caption in the middle of the card explains what this is all about. Counter-clockwise from the upper left, the wrestlers pictured are Rydeen Hagane, Manami Katsu, Nana Kawasa, and Rabbit Miu.

The Bolshoi autograph is # 021 / 100 and the quadrograph is # 90 / 99. Along with several other wrestlers I like, Command Bolshoi is actually going to be wrestling in the United States on Labor Day weekend at the Chikara Pro King of Trios event in Easton, PA. That's a bit of a trip for me, so I'll have to miss it. It sure looks like a good time, though.