In spite of my complaints about the cost of the WrestleMania card sets that Topps put out in their Now program, I ordered one for my collection. I guess the official name of this set is Topps Now Countdown to WWE WrestleMania. There were 11 cards in the set, previewing the various matches that were planned for WrestleMania 33.
I've scanned six of my favorite cards from the set, including a few matches that were rehashed at the live show I attended in Cincinnati in April. I watched most of WrestleMania this year, although I missed a little of the beginning of the show. I found it entertaining. Obviously the big names are going to come out for WrestleMania, so there are plenty of my favorite wrestlers on these cards, like John Cena, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, Bayley, and Nia Jax. The print run on these sets was 74 copies.
After WrestleMania, Topps put out a few more cards featuring highlights from the show. I didn't get all of them, but I did grab a couple. Undertaker appeared to retire after his match against Roman Reigns, leaving his gear in the center of the ring before walking out to end the show. I had to get the card for that moment, as Undertaker has been a part of the WWE landscape ever since I can remember. This card did the biggest numbers of the WrestleMania offerings, with 172 cards printed.
The other moments I chose to buy the cards for were John Cena proposing to Nikki Bella, and Bayley winning the Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match to retain the Women's Belt. I guess the proposal was a pretty sappy thing, but this is a big soap opera against a backdrop of competitive violence. The John Cena / Nikki Bella card had 91 copies ordered, while Bayley's card had 97 copies made. In retrospect, I should have ordered the card featuring the Hardy Boyz, but I didn't.
I had a fun time dipping my toe back into the WWE, and I'm glad I picked up these cards. They're a pretty fun way to remember an event that I enjoyed watching.
My buddy has been accumulating all the WWE NOW cards. He said it is the exact opposite of trying to get the baseball versions. He essentially said you are screwed if you don't buy directly from Topps as the secondary market prices are high.
ReplyDeleteI picked up all of the UFC cards, but I couldn't keep up with the pace of the WWE or MLB cards. It does seem like the eBay flippers charge almost as much on the pre-orders for these as Topps does. You don't see the deals for $6.50 or $7.00 on release day like you do on the baseball versions.
DeleteYou're up in the game.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the prompt!
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