By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: Since 2012, A.J. Lee has consistently been the hottest WWE wrestler among card collectors. Here's a look at 10 of her most popular cards.

Card Show #33: A.J. Lee

A.J. Lee made a surprise return to WWE on June 30, reclaiming the WWE Divas Title from Paige in an impromptu match. She received one of the loudest pops of the night, which has been the norm since she emerged as a breakout star in 2012.

Even since disappearing from WWE TV in April, A.J. has been one of the most popular WWE stars among card collectors. Her cards almost always outsell those of top stars like John Cena, Daniel Bryan, and C.M. Punk.

This list takes a look at ten of A.J.’s most popular cards. A few extremely rare cards – such as the 2014 Topps WWE Chrome Autographed Divas Kiss Card and 1/1 parallels – were excluded from this list, because there just aren’t enough copies available to accurately determine their secondary market value.

(10) 2011 Topps WWE Classic ($8-12). A.J. appeared on two trading cards in 2011, both of which are considered rookie cards by some collectors. This is the more available and affordable of the two, usually selling for $10 or less.

(9) 2014 Topps WWE Chrome Gold Refractor ($20-25). A.J.’s base card from 2014 Topps WWE Chrome has been a popular one with collectors, showing the Divas champion sitting cross-legged on the middle rope. There are several different Refractor parallels to this card; the Gold Refractor is serial numbered to 50 and is a favorite among many collectors.

(8) 2013 Topps Best of WWE Relic ($10-30). Talk about a distant memory. Just over a year ago, AJ Lee was the manager for World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler. This card features a swatch of a blue Ziggler shirt worn by A.J. Single-colored relics usually sell for around $10; multi-colored relics are much more volatile, selling in the $15-30 range, depending on the piece.

(7) 2013 & 2014 Topps WWE Autographs ($45-60). Topps included A.J.’s signature in both its 2013 and 2014 products. The 2013 card features a close-up of A.J.’s face, while the 2014 card shows the same posed shot mentioned earlier in the 2014 Topps WWE Chrome set. Both cards sell in the $45-60 range.

(6) 2014 Topps & 2014 Topps WWE Chrome Divas Kiss Cards ($75-100). These two cards look essentially the same, with the Chrome card featuring a sort of metallic finish. Even though Chrome is a more expensive product, collectors haven’t really distinguished between the two, with both cards selling in the $75-100 range.

(5) 2011 FCW Summer Slamarama Trading Card ($50-70). Of A.J.’s two “rookie” cards, this one is scarcer and considerably more valuable. These cards were given away at FCW events in 2011, and anyone lucky enough to hang onto this card now has in his possession a rare card that regularly sells in the $50-70 range.

(4) 2013 Topps Best of WWE Teddy Bear Relic ($80-120). Topps put together one of the coolest wrestling relic cards ever when it had A.J. pose with a stuffed teddy bear that she decapitated. The card shows A.J. decked out in a “Love Hurts” t-shirt and wearing wristbands of Dolph Ziggler, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan, smirking while holding the teddy bear’s head in one hand and its stuffed body in the other. Inserted into the card is a swatch of fur from the unfortunate bear. While most relic cards were inserted at a rate of one in every 24 packs, the A.J. Lee Teddy Bear Relic Card was much tougher to get, inserted at a rate of one in every 3,000 packs.




(3) 2014 Topps WWE Commemorative Championship Belt Relic ($150-175). Topps introduced the Commemorative Belt Relic cards to wrestling collectors by offering cards of 30 different wrestlers. There were 12,000 total cards produced, some of which were short-printed. No card in the set is scarcer or more valuable than AJ’s Divas Title, which regularly sells for more than $150. One lucky collector snatched one up on eBay on June 16 for $34.95 from a seller who greatly undervalued this card.

(2) 2012 Topps WWE Best in Class Divas Kiss Card ($150-200). Kiss cards, which feature a lip print of a WWE diva, have been around since the early 2000s. They remain extremely popular with collectors, so it’s no surprise that collectors are willing to spend big money to get a lip print from the most popular WWE Diva of her era. This card is much scarcer than the similar card from 2014 Topps WWE, and sells for about twice as much.

(1) 2011 Topps WWE Classic Autograph ($125-150). When Topps released its 2011 WWE Classic set at the end of 2011, A.J. was just another WWE Diva with a cult following. Just a few months later, however, she was the hottest act in all of wrestling, the crazy chick at the center of a C.M. Punk-Daniel Bryan feud over the WWE championship. This was A.J.’s first certified autograph and to date remains her most valuable and most popular.




PWTorch Collectibles Specialist Michael Moore can be reached at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MMooreWriter .

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