2015 Topps WWE

Over the last couple of years, I've slowly gotten back into WWE wrestling. I think it's the unique type of fandom that the sport demands that has made it attractive to me. A combination of scripted drama with the possibility of actual surprise is an intriguing one, and for this reason, I plunked down $1.99 at my local Target.


Let's tear in.
Top to Bottom:
42 John Cena

He gets a bad rap from serious fans, but I can't help but like the guy. They say he's there for the kids to have someone to cheer for, but I appreciate what he brings to the ring. His ring entrance music is the best in the business, in my opinion.

7 Big E

Currently representing for The New Day, a group of clowny also-rans that are downright embarrassing to watch. Automatic FF when I'm watching RAW on the DVR.

41 Jimmy Uso

Part of another snooze-inducing tag team. The WWE's tag division is an absolute joke, a far cry from the days of Demolition and the Road Warriors.

55 Nikki Bella

Fitting I get one Diva in a pack, just like you get one Divas segment per show. Nikki is the less attractive of the Bellas. Fact.

66 Rusev

This guy never disappoints. The Russian schtick is enjoyable, and I love it when he gets enraged and starts shouting in rapid Russian (or Bulgarian, possibly, his true heritage). Looking forward to another match with Cena, though that storyline looks as if it's gone by the wayside at the moment.

Crowd Chants 6 "This is Awesome!"

Fun idea for an insert, but I wish I had gotten someone with a little more pop.

Hulk Hogan 6 Faces Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania IV

What's that, two inserts in this retail pack? Can't go wrong with that. Hogan rules.

So I have to say I think I'll be buying more of these. I like the use of the 2015 Topps baseball design, and with a small set, I think completion won't be all that difficult. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to the Cheap Heat podcast.

1991 WCW Wrestling

This was a free pack handed out at the entrance to the card show I reported on at Thorzul Will Rule. I believe that in 1991 I was probably at the tail end of my wrestling interest period. These WCW cards, I believe cover some of the territory during which the classic AWA and NWA franchises folded and morphed into the Ted Turner WCW enterprise. I could be all wrong on this, but that's OK, it's just wrestling.

Let's tear in.

Top Turnbuckle to Bottom Rope:
147 Doom (This is actually a tag team made up of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed. I remember "The Natural" Butch Reed from his WWF days, but have no memory of this team-up. They have Sting in a headlock. This is from the days before Sting changed his persona into a Crow ripoff.)

87 El Gigante (Back copy: "Those who disbelieve the existence of biblical Goliath will lose all skepticism once they lay eyes on El Gigante.")
55 Flyin' Brian (Hometown: Cinicnnati, Ohio)
111 Steiner Brothers (I remember these guys, big time. Rick Steiner was portrayed as being quasi-retarded, and he always wore his Michigan singlet and head gear into the ring. And this is what Scott looked like before he devoured a 55-gallon drum of steroids in one long, hectic weekend and changed into Big Poppa Pump.)

99 Ricky Morton (Ht: 5'9")
32 Sid Vicious (I think he got to the WWF eventually. Words to live by: "I'm no blonde, prima donna cutie pie.")
141 Doom (Again. "...you don't want to square off against these two without medical insurance.")
95 Tommy Rich (The back of his card lists his favorite hold as the "Thesz Press." I guess that would make him a disciple of wrestling pioneer Lou Thesz. It's embarrassing that I would know that.)

78 Dutch Mantel (You're going to have to wait until next Card-vent to see this one.)
125 Fabulous Freebirds (Michael "P.S." Hayes' hometown is listed as Badstreet, USA. What a crock. I was doing some reading on wrestling this summer, and some research indicated that Haku was probably the meanest wrestler of all time. He reportedly gouged out the eye of Jimmy Jack Funk during a backstage brawl. More on this here, if you're so inclined. Tonga Fifita (his real name) and Bad News Brown could have shown these two what real tough guys were like.)

22 Lex Luger (Who doesn't remember this guy?)
154 Jim Ross (Commentator, and apparently still at it.)

Not a bad stroll down Memory Lane. To get this I bypassed a rack pack of 1990 Donruss, and I must say that this sure beats getting that Ed Whitson Diamond King for the millionth time.

If you want in on a cheap group break, check this out. Spots are still available.

WWE Heritage III

Rarely is being out of the loop considered a good thing. This is one of those cases. I felt a few fits of nostalgia after dayf opened a pack of these, and towards the end of my latest trip to Target, I couldn't help myself.


I literally know who 0% of these guys are. My wrestling knowledge only comprises the meat in a sandwich of which all of the cards in this pack make up the bread. That is a horrible sentence, but what I'm trying to say is that my WWF awareness began around Wrestlemania III and ended shortly before Papa Shango and Doink the Clown came to prominence. I'm guessing these are the years 1987 to about '90 or '91. So in lieu of any actual constructive analysis of the wrasslers, I'll just comment on what the photos appear to depict.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
84 Bruiser Brody

Eyes: Crazy
He looks like a precursor to Cactus Jack, mentally unstable, possibly borderline retarded, put into the league to scare the shit out of little kids. Honestly, when I was little a friend of mine owned a VHS tape that was just a mish-mash of various wrestling stuff, possible set to music. It had its fair share of shit-your-pants-scary matches like a whip match that gave each of the opponents a bullwhip and was fought out in a ring with no ropes (tangling), but the segment that kept me up at night was the one about the Moondogs. Holy living eff! These guys came into the ring with large bones that could only have been human femurs, and they were chewing the marrow out of them.

Brody appears to restraining his left hand from delivering some sort of open-palm cobra throat punch.

88 Jack & Gerry Brisco

Gimmicks: None
Appears to be two guys who wrangled their junk into place and then hoped against hope that it wouldn't make an accidental appearance. (Thus the launching off the middle rope, not the top, for safety's sake.)

47 Jimmy Wang Yang

Facial Hair: Fu Manchu
Appears to be an Asian version of the Brooklyn Brawler. Has created an entire new American socioeconomic class category called "Asian White Trash" (soon to appear on your 2010 census form).

33 Ron Simmons

T-Shirt Slogan: DAMN
Appears to be in the same vein as blaxploitation actor Fred Williamson. Probably uses the term "honky." Old enough to be my grandfather.

17 Trevor Murdoch

Enjoys: Getting really close to bald men.
Appears to be a mixture of Bob Backlund and Harley Race

Grade: F
This pack fails miserably on so many, many levels. First of all, I pulled what must have been the five worst cards in the entire set. Secondly, the cards pulled only represented two of the years of Topps design, 1987 and 1980. I was hoping to get more a look of how this set incorporated the old designs, but that failed happen as well.

Let me fill your set needs!