Preview: 2013 Tristar TNA Impact Glory Wrestling

Scheduled Release Date: 11/13/13
Box Configuration: 20 packs per box, 6 cards per pack
SRP: $83-85

 

 

Box Break:

3 Autograph cards

1 Relic card
2 Parallels
1 Short Print card

 

 

What to Expect:

A typical Tristar TNA product, because TNA is not as well-known as WWE it seems like Tristar goes the extra mile to bring a high energy product with each release. With the name “Glory” and the red-white-blue designs the set is very Patriotic, which obviously was the target of the designers and they did a nice job working it all in nicely. There will be plenty of focus on the big names like Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy and Sting. The product will be limited to 75 cases (1,800 total boxes).

 

Each box will include three autographs of which one will be an on-card autograph and one will be a multi-autograph card #/199 or less. With the relics it can be either a mat relic or event-worn clothing card. Some of the relic cards include ring mat cards are from the June 2^nd 2013 Slammiversary pay-per-view or a Hulk Hogan shirt relic from the July 4^th Impact show.

 

Some of the additions from Tristar to spice things up are Jeff Hardy Facepaint cards, the cards will contain a piece of paint from Jeff Hardy’s face (Similar to the Sting Facepaint cards a few years ago). The first TNA autographs from Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson are also a big sell, who were part of recently TNA storylines before Bellator pulled them from TNA’s license. There will also be the return of the Jeff Hardy Art cards.

Each 24 box case will include 4 Hot Boxes (9 or more autographs each) and 2 Printing Plates, at least one plate will be autographed.

 

 

My Thoughts:

I have lost interest in wrestling, I may watch a show with the kids now and then but I don’t know any of the story lines so I am in a tough spot when it comes to my thoughts on the product. I love the Patriotic design, it flows nicely. From the images that I have seen the cards mostly close up shots of the wrestlers, which I like because action shots can be difficult to use due to the sport.

 

 

Pros:

Hot Boxes

Some On-card Autographs
Wrestling Legends On The Checklist
Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson Autos

 

Cons:
Some Sticker Autographs
To Be Fair, It Is TNA

 

 

Rating:

Skipping the argument that TNA is a lesser known league, I am still pulling for this set. I like the design, the big names are prominent and Tristar obviously knows how to build a set. With a ding to the sticker autographs I still think that this set can easily be 3 ¾ out of 5, almost teetering on a 4 out of 5 even.

Preview: 2013 Tristar TNA Impact Live

Schedule Release Date: March 27, 2013

Box Configuration: 6 cards per pack/20 packs per box
SRP: $70/box

 

 

Box Break:

2 Autograph cards
1 Multi-Autograph card
1 Event Worn Memorabilia card
2 Parallels
1 Short Print

 

 

My Thoughts:

Tristar offers the best value for your buck, when you pull 4 hits from a $70 box you really feel like you got something special. The downside is that when you talk wrestling, TNA is the redheaded stepchild to WWE, where Topps puts out a number WWE sets each year Tristar limits their TNA products to one, maybe two, per year.

 

But, for the TNA collector this set is perfect. It is limited (only 2,400 boxes being printed total), all of the autographs are hard-signed, relics are limited (#/199 or less), parallels are very limited (#/50 or less), the newest wrestlers are included (MMA fighter King Mo and Chavo Guerrero Jr.) and you have a solid chance of pulling big hits like printing plates or Impact Live redemption. One of the coolest things is the TNA Impact Live redemption cards; they can be redeemed for tickets to a live TNA event.

 

The base set is made up of 109-card checklist, which includes base cards and 8 subsets. Some of the subsets include thoughts on wrestlers by Jeff Hardy or Dixie Carter, Then & Now shows wrestlers as kids and now and Original Art which is original sketches by TNA wrestler Sam Shaw.

 

If you are a TNA fan, or even a fan of old school wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Sting or Kurt Angle, this is an obvious purchase. There are booklet cards that contain up to 12 autographs as well as Impact Inscription cards that contain an autograph and an inscription by the wrestler. There are also multi-relic cards that contain up to 4 relics.

 

 

Pros:

4 Hits per box
3 Parallels & Short Prints per box
Hard Signed Autographs
Lots of autographs
New wrestlers
Very limited
Reasonable price

 

 

Cons:

It Is TNA

 

 

Rating:

 

 

As far as TNA sets go, this is a solid set and I would easily give it at least a 4 out of 5.

 

 

 

Early Preview: 2012 TNA TENacious Wrestling

Over the next two months we are primed to see 3 new wrestling sets hit the shelf. First up is Leaf’s Original Wrestling, a set that I reviewed in early May. This will be followed up by TriStar’s TNA Impact TENacious in Mid-August with Topps’ 2012 WWE Wrestling hitting in September, a set that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. TriStar will offer an early-release of TNA TENacious on August 1^st at the National Convention but it will not be available to everyone else until August 15^th. Boxes are currently pre-selling at $70 for a 20-pack box with 7-cards per pack.

The set is dedicated to TNA’s decade of wrestling and will extremely limited, roughly 1,800 total boxes. Each box will contain 4 hits, 3 autographs and 1 Celebrity Signature card or a memorabilia card, there will also be 3 short-print cards consisting of a short-print and two numbered parallel cards. The one-per-box short print may include one of the following (among others); a Jeff Hardy “Art” card, a Celebrate Sting card, a TNA Arrivals card or a Hulk Hogan: The Immortal Speaks card.

We will also see Brooke Hogan’s first card and TriStar has decided to spice the set up by using celebrity autographs. Each celebrity included have had some connection with TNA, most appear to have appeared in matches or at PPV events. The list is pretty impressive and some celebs that have been announced: Brian Urlacher, Toby Keith, Chris Rock, Dennis Rodman and Tito Ortiz and each of the celebrity cards will be limited to #/5 or less. The huge downside with the Celebrity Signature cards is that they are cut-signatures, a serious disappointment. You would have thought that between TriStar and TNA they could have caught up to most of these celebs and sat down with them to sign 5 on-card autographs or even 5 stickers.

2012 TriStar TNA Reflexxions Hits The Shelf

In the latest TNA release Tristar has gone a different direction in comparison to previous sets, instead of using action shots for the base set Tristar has decided to go with staged/studio shots for a majority of the base cards for the Reflexxions release. There are only 240 total boxes made and you will see plenty of limited numbered parallels. I watched 8-10 box breaks and saw quite a few 1/1, #/10 or #/25 pulled from the boxes. Also it appears that at least one of the two top packs (left side and right side) will always include an auto or memorabilia hit and in a few boxes I saw both top packs produce hits.

Each 20-pack box will run $70-80 and contains 7 hits including 3 autographs, 1 Event-used autographed Mat Relic card or memorabilia card, 1 foil card and 2 parallel cards. The 99 card base set is broken down in to a “Base” set and 5 sub-sets, each based on a theme. The sub-sets: “Ultimate Sunday”, a football theme; “Fast Traxx”, a car theme; “Be My Valentine”, TNA Knockouts; “Steiner’s World”, Scott Steiner’s review of wrestlers and “Lending A Hand”, a set about wrestler’s charity work. I think this is an interesting route and it introduces collectors to the wrestlers more than just their personas.

The foil cards consist of both foil and artwork cards, the foil are just foiled versions of the base cards and are numbered #/40 or less and the art cards are based on Jeff Hardy’s original artwork. There are also redemption cards for the original artwork created by Hardy.

The autograph checklist is pretty solid and includes the main-stays of TNA like Hogan, Sting and Flair, new wrestlers and up-and-comers along with the TNA Knockouts. Eric Bischoff is included on the list, along with his son Garrett too, apparently this is one of Eric’s first autographs. There are also dual, triple, quad and six-signed autograph cards and all autographs are numbered to #/99 or less. The downside is that besides the autographed Ring Mat cards all autographs are sticker autos.

Tristar included Event-used ring mat autograph cards for the first time and these seem to be drawing some pretty good attention. If you do not pull an autographed Ring Mat card then you will pull an Event-worn memorabilia card and to make it even cooler, all single memorabilia cards are autographed. There are also dual, triple and quad memorabilia cards too. I like that Tristar actually has the checklist on their web site that actually lists the checklist showing where the specific memorabilia item came from or when it was worn. For example, Hulk Hogan’s black t-shirt pieces came from the shirt he wore at 1^st Impact in 2010, Rob Van Dam’s t-shirt came from the 2011 Bound for Glory (where he beat Jerry Lynn).