Collectibles News Report
By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

-- With summer officially coming to a close, retailers are getting ready for the Christmas rush. New toys, trading cards and collectibles have been unveiled for Fall 2014; here’s a look at just a few of them.

Bret Hart is the latest wrestler to offer fans a signed trading card at an affordable price. Bret recently tweeted a picture of the “card,” which is an oversized piece measuring 5-1/2 inches by 8-1/2 inches. The signed card, available at brethart.com, is $20, which is a pretty good deal for Bret’s signature.

Topps has produced certified autographs of WWE legends and hall of famers since 2005, but Bret has never been included in a Topps WWE product. His autographs have appeared on trading cards from Sport Kings and Leaf Canadiana, and those often sell for a minimum of $40.

Bret Hart’s newest action figure is also available in stores now – but it’s not a WWE toy. Bret is featured in the Simpsons Greatest Guest Stars Series 3 from NECA. Other celebrities in the third wave of figures include Stephen King, Penn and Teller, REM, and others. Bret Hart’s Simpsons toy has been selling for around $20-25 online.




-- Kmart’s exclusive three-pack of action figures of the Shield was one of the hottest Mattel WWE toys of 2013. This year, Mattel and Kmart are offering up an exclusive three-pack of another popular faction.

Mattel recently announced a three-pack of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Eric Rowan that will be sold exclusively at Kmart stores starting at the end of September. The three-pack carries an SRP of $29.99 and includes three basic figures of the Wyatts that are similar to the Basic Series 39 (Bray) and Battle Packs 28 (Rowan and Harper) figures that were released over the summer.

This will be the first time all three Wyatt figures have been offered together in one set. Last year, Kmart issued the Shield three-pack just as the first individual figures of the Shield were hitting retail store shelves. The Shield three-pack has held its value over the last year, still selling consistently in the $65-85 range.




-- WWE paid tribute to Joan Rivers on Monday’s Raw, including a famous clip from the "Tonight Show" in 1985. Pictures of Hogan and Rivers regularly appeared in wrestling publications in the mid-to late-'80s, notably on the cover of Wrestling All Stars Vol. 1 from 1985. A copy of that magazine surfaced on eBay after Rivers’s death. That magazine also featured a hilarious teaser for a feature article: “Brutus Beefcake: Sexy hunk or vicious killer?”

A similar photo of Hogan and Rivers was included on card #49 of the unlicensed 1986 Monty Gum trading card. The Holland-made trading cards are notorious for their misspelled names and images taken right from the pages of wrestling magazines. One eBay seller is currently offering this card for $8.88.




-- Michael Sam might not have accepted Stephanie McMahon’s invitation to appear on Raw this week, but he is heavily featured in many of the 2014 trading card sets. Sam appears in a Rams jersey in licensed NFL cards from Topps and Panini, and also is featured in draft pick sets from SAGE and Press Pass.

Sam has maintained a certain level of interest with football card collectors; his cheapest autographs typically sell for around $10, and more scarce signatures from Topps and Panini products have commanded as much as $75.

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

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