SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Brock Lesnar
After his dominant win over Mark Hunt at UFC 200 last weekend, Brock Lesnar was arguably the most talked about athlete in North America. Surprisingly, there was little change in secondary market activity for his autographed trading cards.
There were a few sales of older high end Brock autographs in the days after the fight. His 2009 Topps UFC Autograph – Brock’s first – sold for $162.50 with 30 bids on July 10. The red ink version of that card, serial numbered to 25 copies, sold for a whopping $470 with 31 bids on July 11.
Lesnar’s easiest signature to track right now is his 2016 Topps WWE Autograph, because it is his most current autograph and the card that is most frequently being traded. This particular card was offered exclusively in Walmart packs and boxes and serial numbered to 99 copies.
The first completed sale for one of these cards was May 9, which ended at $119.99. Sales steadily settled into the $70-$80 range and have remained there for the most part. However, following Brock’s win at UFC, many sellers upped their prices to $130 to $200, so be patient if you’re looking to pick one of these up.
Kota Ibushi
The former New Japan Pro Wrestling and DDT star is being positioned as the breakout star of WWE’s heralded Cruiserweight Classic, so that will probably mean more demand for his Japanese trading cards.
Ibushi can be found in several King of Pro Wrestling (KinPuro) sets from NJPW parent company Bushiroad, most for just a couple bucks.
However, his most popular card is a 2006/07 BBM Pro Wrestling Cards autograph. It features a large, bold signature on the front, along with BBM’s logo embossed logo. Recent eBay listings ended at just $9.99 and $26, but it’s unlikely that you’ll find another one that cheap.
Hart, Punk in UD Goodwin Champions
Upper Deck released its 2016 Goodwin Champions product earlier this week. The unique product includes a hodgepodge of athletes, celebrities, mythological creatures, World War II memorabilia, Alice in Wonderland booklets, and more.
Wrestling fans will be most interested in cards of Bret Hart and C.M. Punk in several different subsets; the product also features cards of UFC stars Miesha Tate, Paige VanZant, and Holly Holm.
There are all sorts of different cards to collect of Punk and Hart, including base cards, mini cards, cloth parallels and a variety of autographs. The appeal for many collectors in this set will be the on-card autographs. Companies like Topps and Upper Deck regularly use sticker autographs, but the Goodwin Champions product features signatures directly on the card.
Punk and Hart appear together on a card in the Goudey Sport Royalty Dual Autographs subset. This rare card features on-card signatures of both legendary wrestlers. For the Inscriptions subset, the athletes added a little something extra to their signatures, such as a nickname or saying associated with that person.
Some of the notable people in this set include Punk (“Best in the World”), VanZant (“12 Gauge”), Tate (“Cupcake”), and Holm (“Preacher’s Daughter”). Hart is also featured in this set, but he almost always signs “Hitman” with his signature.
G1 Climax Cards
New Japan Pro Wrestling parent company has just released a new series of trading cards that focus on the upcoming G1 Climax. This is the 19th series of Bushiroad King of Pro Wrestling (KinPuro) trading cards.
This set includes cards of this year’s G1 participants and cards of past winners. There is some excellent design work on these cards, such as a Bullet Club card that shows all of the members wearing Kenny Omega T-shirts, a group shot of Los Ingobernables de Japon and a Minoru Suzuki card that shows all of Suzuki Gun.
There are also gold facsimile signature cards of stars like Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Katsuyori Shibata and Sanada. Preview images of many of the cards are available at KOPW.jp, but you’ll have to navigate the Japanese site.
You may be able to find single cards, packs and boxes from places like eBay or purocentralshop.com, but if not, try checking out Japanese sites like Yahoo Auctions or Toudoukan.com.
Leaf Auctions
Leaf Trading Cards posted hundreds of certified autographs on eBay over the last week. Many of these items are photographs, trading cards and index cards that have been signed and certified by a third-party authentication company like PSA/DNA or JSA.
Leaf is selling several wrestling certified autographs, including Verne Gagne, New Day, Kane, Capt. Lou Albano, Sgt. Slaughter and Outback Jack. These items are listed under the eBay seller ID AITX.
Leaf is also preparing to release 2016 Pop Century Trading Cards in August. Each box will contain four cards, all either autographs or jumbo relics. Leaf hasn’t confirmed any wrestling names for this product yet, but Pop Century almost always includes a handful of wrestling signatures. WrestleMania III guest Alice Cooper will have a signature in 2016 Pop Century. More information can be found at leaftradingcards.com.
WWE Slam
WWE has entered the digital trading card game with WWE Slam, a new app from Topps. Users get 25,000 coins a day to buy packs of cards, and can also purchase additional coin bundles. Users can also trade with others through a fan feed on the app.
During the first week, users can collect Week 1 Exclusive cards; digital cards of Seth Rollins and Randy Savage were given away to each user during the first two days the app was live. Anyone who collects all of the Week 1 Exclusive digital cards will receive an Ultimate Warrior digital card award.
Topps Huddle and Star Wars Card Collector have been very popular digital trading card apps over the last couple years, and Topps recently expanded with The Walking Dead and UFC Knockout apps as well.
If you’re new to the app or have any questions, follow @ToppsDigital on Twitter. I’m also an experienced user of digital trading card apps, so feel free to send me a message through Twitter @MMooreWriter or send me a trade offer on the WWE Slam app (user ID is MiracleViolence).
PWTorch Collectibles specialist Michael Moore can be reached at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MMooreWriter.
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