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.

Royal Rumble 2009 CONTEST: Gettin' Out the Repack

I thought it might be time for me to come in from the bullpen to relieve dayf and timrooks, who are both kicking ass on this blog as of late. Since I'm pretty sparse with my posts here, I thought we'd have a fun contest today. If you're a wrestling geek like I am (anybody? *crickets*) you should know that tonight WWE (formerly WWF) will hold their annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The Royal Rumble match is my favorite gimmick match in wrestling. It's a 30-man battle royal, where you have to throw your opponents over the top rope to the floor to eliminate them from the match. Last man standing wins. But the twist is this: the match starts with just two men in the ring, and another wrestler enters every two minutes afterward until all thirty men have entered. It allows for some creative scenarios to unfold instead of the usual horrendous clusterfrick that occurs when thirty large, muscly men are all trying to fight at the same time. Plus, you get the anticipation of counting down from ten seconds every two minutes...the buzzer sounds...and someone else's theme music hits. Who will it be this time?

Anyhoodle, here's what I'm going to do. I bought a 10-pack repack box from Sports Authority last weekend, and I've grabbed five packs that total 30 cards:

-2006 Topps Opening Day (7)
-2006 Fleer Ultra (5)
-2006 Topps Series 2 (6)
-2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition (5, with one disqualification bringing it to 4)
-2006 Upper Deck Series 1 (8)

I'll number the cards in the order that they're pulled and ask you to choose a number from 1 to 30 and leave your number in the comments to this post. Each number can only be chosen once. I'll cut this off at 9:30 PM EST, which is roughly the time that the Rumble match should start. Your number corresponds to the wrestler that enters the Rumble at that numbered slot. If your guy wins the match, you get a prize! The prize will be an assortment of cards from the team of your choice. Pick wisely...

P.S. I'm running late with this, so scans will come later.

2006 Topps Opening Day

1. Barry Zito - The $126 Million Dollar Man will have a tough road to victory today!
2. Alex Rodriguez - Uh-oh, it's the villainous A-Fraud!
3. Jason Bay - Hailing from British Columbia, it's the Canadian Clubber!
4. Danny Sandoval RC - 31 major league games in an 11-year pro career? Your wrestling gimmick is Mr. Coffee, as in cup of.
5. Nomar Garciaparra - Who needs a wrestling name when your birth name is NOMAAAAAHH?
6. Tadahito Iguchi Rookie Cup - Watch out for the mysterious green mist sprayed by the devious Iguchi.
7. David Ortiz (front)/Dontrelle Willis (back) Funny Photos - How appropriate! Big Papi has clamped a bear hug on Rafael Furcal. There is no escape!

2006 Fleer Ultra

8. Shannon Stewart - I forgot that he played for the Twins. I hereby dub thee "Twinkie".
9. Jake Peavy - Also known as "Ace", a nickname he can borrow from 1980s mainstay Bob Orton.
10. Julio Lugo - Um...Lex Lugo?
11. Robinson Cano Rising Stars - Switch it to Kano and he can go with a Mortal Kombat gimmick.

12. Brad Radke Gold Medallion - He was just elected to the Twins Hall of Fame, so we'll go with Goldenarm.

2006 Topps Series 2

13. Jason Lane - I guess he'd take to the ring with a hockey mask and machete.
14. Jason Vargas - Jason and Jason? Sounds like a tag team.
15. Moises Alou - Would be the Hitman, the second-generation star from the great Alou family.
16. Jon Lieber - Translating his last name from German, he will wrestle as "Loverboy".
17. Chris Young - At 6'10", he is the Tower of Doom.
18. Jamie Moyer - Now 46 years old and still plugging away. Rip Van Vader.

2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition

19. Todd Helton - Went from Tennessee to Colorado. Rocky Top is a no-brainer nickname.
DQ. Nomar Garciaparra - You can't enter the Rumble twice! I started posting and realized that I'd forgotten to account for the extra Funny Photos card in the Opening Day pack. So Nomar must go, having already popped up in the first pack.
20. Jim Thome and Pat Burrell Hot Tandems - I normally wouldn't permit a tag team to enter as one, but the Philadelphia Phantoms can be very persuasive. E-C-Dub!

21. Carlos Delgado - El Hombre.
22. Lyle Overbay - Hails from Washington state, just like Ted Bundy and Green River killer Gary Ridgway. I'm thinking of a serial killer gimmick: Lyle Wayne Overbay.
(Leave it to Fleer to put "draft" and "prospects" in the name of a product, and then give me a pack that has neither of the above.)

2006 Upper Deck Series 1

23. Luke Scott - LUUUUKKKKEEE! He is a proud gun owner. I say Cool Hand Luke.
24. Jason Marquis - Snooty Frenchman Marquis de Jason? Oui!
25. Brian Lawrence - Attended Northwestern State University of Louisiana, whose mascot is the Demon. His nickname is self-evident. Just don't confuse him with the KISS Demon, played by Jeff Torborg's son Dale.
26. Carlos Zambrano - The hotheaded Big Z is a force to be reckoned with.
27. Aaron Rowand - A dark horse in this match could be scrappy cruiserweight "Crash" Rowand!
28. Kirk Saarloos - The Sar-loose Cannon?
29. Bob Gibson Diamond Debut - WOW! A surprise entrant at #29! Hit the deck, it's Hoot the Headhunter!

30. Robert Fick - Sure, he used to be a valuable and versatile hitter, but I look at him and see "Third Bushwacker".

Wow, I have wayyy too much time on my hands. Tell you what...If you're especially curious and impatient, I'll live-blog the Rumble match on my Orioles blog. Updates should start some time around 10 PM. Now get those guesses in, you pencil-neck geeks!

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.

TNA Impact!

TNA (as in Total Non-Stop Action) strives hard to be an alternative to WWE in the world of pro wrasslin'. I couldn't tell whether it succeeds or not because I don't get Spike to catch their weekly Impact broadcast. But I do recognize a ton of old-time WWE cast-offs and a few of my other favorites so I went for a pack when nothing else jumped out at me.

This is the second TNA Wrestling set following Pacific's effort in 2004 or 2005. That one was a pretty straight-forward one most notable for the inclusion of some Hall of Fame autographs like Roddy Piper and Harley Race. It also featured the first card of some guy named CM Punk.

Here's what TriStar has to offer:

3

37. Team 3D
The tag team formerly known as the Dudley Boys appear to still be kicking around. It doesn't look like their gimmicks have strayed much either.

 

MI-8. Kevin Nash's Tattoo

Muscles, Ink is one of a handful of base set subsets that feature different numbering. Kevin Nash's tattoo? I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if you collect the set that you can make some sort of Frankenstien's monster?

 

16. Hernandez

The way the photograph looks, it almost looks as though this guy is going to land on the ropes. For his sake I hope he made it.

 

33. Black Reign (28/50)

Wow! A parallel set that doesn't even have a name. The pack tells me to look out for parallel cards numbered to 1, 10 and 50. Sure, there's tons of similar sets out there but at least give them a name, like Gold, Platinum or Gumbo.

 

26. Mankind Abyss 

5. Tomko

I thought I saw Tomko running the Tilt-a-Whirl at the fair a couple years ago. Apparently not.

 

BS-2. Thoughts by Kevin Nash
The "BS" is supposed to stand for "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash. I think it might mean something else. Seriously, this is one of the ugliest card designs I've seen. The TV screen borders take up half the card, Nash looks ridiculous and the inset photo shifts the attention to Nash, not the guy he's 'talking' about.

MI-3. Petey Williams' Abs
I'm gunna build me the first monster with a six-pack!

Uggg. From knockoff gimmicks to gimmicks I was bored of five years ago to lame designs to meaningless parallels, this pack was garbage. However, there's enough big-name autographs in the set that I may grab another pack or two at some point but I'm definitely not going to go out of my way for this one.