By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: Brock Lesnar's gridiron aspirations were captured on four rookie cards in 2004.

Card Show #2: Brock Lesnar Football Cards

The 2004 NFL Draft produced one of the best draft classes of the last few decades, headlined by Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Larry Fitzgerald, and Steven Jackson, among others.

Interest in football cards spiked that year, driven largely by Roethlisberger’s rookie season. Collectors and fans were busting packs and boxes like crazy, hoping to get a rookie card of Big Ben or one of the other top prospects.

But, buried in some releases that year was the rookie card of a prospect of another type. Earlier in 2004, Brock Lesnar walked away from WWE. UFC was still a couple years away from becoming a pay-per-view juggernaut, so Lesnar decided to use his freakish athletic ability to try his hand at professional football.

Lesnar tried out for the Minnesota Vikings as a defensive end. He didn’t make it past the preseason, but Upper Deck and Donruss/Playoff (now Panini) both captured his NFL aspirations on cardboard.

Lesnar has four basic rookie cards, plus multiple parallel cards. Donruss/Playoff included Lesnar in its Rookies & Stars and Rookies & Stars Longevity sets. The cards are nearly identical; the Rookies & Stars card has Lesnar on a white background, while the Longevity card has the same picture against a silver foil background and is numbered to 999. Both cards usually sell in the $5-10 range.




Lesnar’s scarcest rookie card is from Donruss/Playoff’s 2004 Honors set. It’s serial numbered to 425 and is especially hard to find because it was included only in retail packs and not those sold in hobby stores. Because of this, prices are incredibly volatile; it sometimes goes for $5, sometimes $30.




Upper Deck produced just one Lesnar rookie card, for its 2004 Sweet Spot set. This card is serial numbered to 999 on the front of the card. This card usually sells for $10-20.




Lesnar will probably be the only athlete ever to appear on trading cards for WWE (Fleer, Topps), the NFL (Donruss/Playoff, Upper Deck), and UFC (Topps). Press Pass also included Lesnar in 2009 Fusion, a multi-sport set that captured Lesnar during his days as an NCAA champion.

PWTorch Collectibles Specialist Michael Moore can be reached at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com.

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt