By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: In 2004, a struggling trading card company produced the first TNA trading cards – and then went out of business within months.

Card Show #36: 2004 Pacific TNA Wrestling Trading Cards

At one time, Pacific Trading Cards was a major player in the sports card hobby, holding licenses to produce NFL, MLB, and NHL trading cards. But, by 2003, the company had lost its MLB and NFL licenses, and was struggling to survive on NHL, CFL, WHL, and a few non-sports trading cards.

That same year, Pacific hooked up with another struggling company – Total Nonstop Action wrestling, or TNA for short. The two entered into a partnership to produce the first official TNA trading cards – an odd choice given TNA’s small audience and pay-per-view-only distribution.

Pacific’s TNA cards were released in April 2004, according to WrestlingTradingCards.com, and received fairly widespread distribution. They were available at hobby shops and retail giants like Target and Walmart. But shortly after the release of the 2004 TNA set, Pacific went out of business. Donruss/Playoff – which is now owned by Panini America – bought the rights to Pacific’s trademarks, but had no plans to do anything with TNA.

Just months after the TNA cards were released, they were liquidated from Pacific’s warehouse and sold at heavily discounted prices. In April the TNA cards were selling for $2 a pack, 24 packs per box. By the end of that summer, full boxes could be found at Walmart for $10.

Pacific’s TNA cards were pretty bland, especially given that they were coming from a company known for going a big crazy with die-cutting, foil, and acetate cards. The base and insert cards weren’t anything special, and the memorabilia cards were disappointing, containing a swatch of mat with each card serial numbered to 1,525.

But, the 2004 Pacific TNA set certainly had its pluses, some of which are still evident today. This was the first set to include licensed trading cards of future stars like C.M. Punk, A.J. Styles, Abyss, James Storm, and Frankie Kazarian.




The Main Event Autographs set featured the first certified signatures of A.J. Styles and America’s Most Wanted, along with ECW alum Trinity. The rest of the Main Event Autograph checklist would probably generate a loud, “WHO?” even from knowledgeable wrestling fans: April, Goldylocks, Lollipop, and Chris Vaughn.

The TNA Legends & Superstars Autographs subset was incredibly strong, featuring signatures from Roddy Piper, Jeff Jarrett, Terry Taylor, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, and Raven. These cards are still pretty affordable today, but somewhat tougher to find.




In 2008 TNA latched on with the Houston-based TRISTAR, which produced loaded but affordable boxes of TNA wrestling cards. That changed in 2010 with the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair; whereas TNA hobby boxes were once priced under $50, the SRP on the new products was closer to $100.

TRISTAR cranked out two or three TNA products per year from 2008 to 2013, but hasn’t released a TNA trading card product since November 2013.

Given the reportedly shaky state of TNA’s business and rumors of Impact’s cancellation, it is possible that the only TNA cards that collectors may be seeing from now on could be heavily reduced products from past years.

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

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