Topps recently released their high-end WWE Undisputed product for 2017. It is a hit-centric product with 8 autographs and two relics promised in each 10-pack box. There are 5 cards to a pack, with various inserts and parallels available.
I didn't really want to shell out for a box, but I bought two slots in a pack draft. There were 80 packs opened in the break, and the randomizer gave me slots 15 and 19 out of 20 in the snake draft format. That meant I would probably be locked out of the top picks in the draft, but it also meant that I wouldn't be getting the worst picks. A pack draft works pretty much how you'd expect. Participants pick in turn after all of the cards are opened, getting the entire contents of the selected pack. Once all 20 spots are picked, the draft order reverses for the next round. That meant I got picks 15, 19, 22, 26, 55, 59, 62, and 66 out of 80. I don't have all of the base cards in order, but I put hits and parallels into the proper spots.
Pack 1 - Pick 15
There wasn't much of excitement as far as base cards in this particular scan, but this is a look at the base cards. You can see that the Women's Division has their own checklist, designated by a W- prefix.
The Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs Edge card is part of the Dream Matches insert set. There are parallels for that set, but I didn't get any of those in my selections. With the 15th pick I got my 4th-ranked pack of the break, with a Brie Bella Autograph Relic Green parallel numbered # 21 / 25. Some of the stuff I really wanted but missed out on at the top were Bayley and Asuka autographs, as well as a "Macho Man" Randy Savage Gold parallel numbered # / 10.
Pack 2 - Pick 19
With the 19th pick I got my 5th-ranked pack of the break. I guess I had some different ranking criteria than some of the other participants, but that probably worked out in my favor. In the base cards I got a decent Triple H card and a Bronze parallel of Rowdy Roddy Piper, numbered # 55 / 99.
The hit in the pack was this Autograph Relic card of JoJo, the Raw brand ring announcer. I was probably swayed in my rankings by the face that I saw her announcing live at a Raw show in Cincinnati earlier this year. You see a lot of similar fabric colors and textures across the relics in the set, leading me to wonder if there was a specific event where all of the talent wore t-shirts that were used for these cards.
Pack 3 - Pick 22
With the 22nd pick I got my 15th-rated pack, so I was still feeling pretty good about this break. The highlight of these base cards for me is probably Big E.
The pack's hit was this Silver autograph of Chris Jericho, another wrestler I saw live at the Cincinnati show. He's a long-time favorite and great on the mic. This one is numbered # 17 / 50, and the only real knock is that the pen skipped off the foil at the start of his name, and you can see where he picked it up and started again.
Pack 4 - Pick 26
The scans for this pack came out a mess, with scans of all different sizes. I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, this was my 17th-ranked pack, and I got it with pick 26. It featured a base autograph of Becky Lynch, numbered # 120 / 199, and a Gold parallel of Jason Jordan, numbered # 10 / 10. Jordan was recently revealed to be Kurt Angle's son in the WWE storyline. This was one of those packs that got ranked higher for me because of the parallel included alongside the hit.
The insert in the pack was this Dream Matches card of The Rock and Shawn Michaels.
Up there are the scans of the card backs from that pack, which I got all jacked up because the Becky Lynch autograph has a vertical front and a horizontal back, and I couldn't make the scans match up in even numbers.
Pack 5 - Pick 55
All of my picks were clustered into two groups of four, so it was a long time between my fourth and fifth picks. This was another pack that got a small bump in my mind because of the parallel. In this case, the parallel was a Rich Swann Green card, numbered # 01 / 25.
I also scanned this Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Goldberg Dream Matches insert alongside the hit of the pack, A Bronze Natalya Autograph Relic numbered # 48 / 99. It was my 28th-ranked pack, and I got it with pick 55.
Pack 6 - Pick 59
There's not much excitement among the base cards here. I guess Daniel Bryan has a pretty big following, but I missed out on his time in the spotlight.
There is another Dream Matches card here, featuring Undertaker and Sting. The hit is an Autograph Relic of Alicia Fox. It's a Bronze parallel, numbered # 48 / 99. I had this rated as the 31st-best pack in the break, and I got it with pick 59.
Pack 7 - Pick 62
Pickings were getting pretty slim here in the last quarter of the break, but since I was out before the last 14 picks there was still some value to be found. This pack held a Bronze parallel of Dash Wilder, numbered # 22 / 99.
The hit in this pack was a Silver Autograph Relic of Simon Gotch, numbered # 42 / 50. He is no longer with WWE, having been released from the company in April. That's probably why a Silver Autograph Relic fell so far in the draft. Still, I had this pack listed barely inside the top half of packs at 39th, and I got it with pick 62.
Pack 8 - Pick 66
This pack was a pretty good pull at 66, even though it held my first non-autographed hit of the break. Part of the reason was the Bronze Alexa Bliss parallel shown here, numbered # 98 / 99. Apparently she is one of the big draws in this product, and a couple of her hits went inside the top few picks in the draft, alongside a Goldberg autograph and a Charlotte Flair Autograph Relic.
The hit in the pack was a base Relic of Asuka, numbered # 023 / 199. I missed out on an Autograph Relic and an Autograph of Asuka earlier in the break, but at least I got a relic. Because of the parallel and the relic of Asuka, I had this pack ranked 48th, and I got it with my last pick at position 66.
This draft went pretty well for me. My position in the break meant that I missed out on a few of the top cards, but it also kept me from getting most of the real duds in the break. I really would have liked to get one of the Bayley or Asuka autographed cards that came out of the case, but they went too quickly. I still wound up with some of my top picks, and I think I did better than I would have just buying a box of my own. Obviously I could have bought my own box and hit it big, but I also could have opened a dud. This format kind of averaged those odds out.
