The Big Red Mayor

Glenn Jacobs, better known as Kane to wrestling fans, has earned himself a new title. In addition to being a 3 time World Champion and 12 time World Tag Team Champion, he now has added the title of Mayor to his list of accomplishments after winning yesterday's election in Knox County, Tennessee.

No longer will he respond to the Big Red Machine, but instead as “Mr. Mayor”.

Paige's Injury Gets Me Wondering

When a favorite athlete retires there is usually a bump in their prices but what about when someone gets hurt and can no longer perform and forced in to early retirement?

There was a time when Tommy John surgery or microfracture surgery were career enders, but in just a couple of years medical field has advanced to help save those athlete’s careers but there are still some injuries you can’t come back from no matter what.

Two weeks ago at a WWE house show Paige, real name Saraya-Jade Bevis, took a kick to the back by Sasha Banks which dropped her to the canvas and the match was halted. Initially it was assumed to just be a stinger, a pinched nerve and can cause various side effects like numbness or pain down the back or arms, but because she had neck surgery in October 2016 that required screws to be inserted in to her neck the WWE determined that it is safest to end her career after additional medical review.

Now in a case like Paige’s where her wrestling career is over, is she still collectible? Do you think there will be a rush on her limited autographs?

The Deadman's Hat

In September Topps will be releasing a new WWE product called 2014 Topps Road To Wrestlemania, which seems odd that they would release it half way between Wrestlemania events. Some of the biggest names to appear in the 30 years of Wrestlemania will make an appearance in the set like Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, John Cena, Triple H and more.

 

While the return of Hulk Hogan and Trish Stratus to a WWE product will probably lead the charge for most collectors the one card that I would prefer over all is the dual relic of the Deadman. Limited to only 22 the card includes a hat relic and pants relic. Sadly the WWE decided to have Brock Lesnar defeat the Undertaker at last month’s Wrestlemania XXX, ending his streak at 21 wins, personally I believe this was a huge mistake on WWE’s part. By far this is one of my favorite WWE relic cards ever.

Preview: 2013 Topps Best Of WWE

Scheduled Release Date: 10/2/13

Box Configuration: 24 packs/box, 7 cards/pack

SRP: $45-50

 

 

Box Break:

1 Autograph or Mat Relic

1 Swatch Relic
1 Silver Parallel
12 Bronze Parallels
33 Top Ten Inserts

 

 

What to Expect:

This set is designed for set builders who love WWE Wrestling, the base set consists of a 110-card checklist and there are 4 parallels for each base card; Bronze (1:2 packs), Silver (1:box), Gold (#/10) and Printing Plates (1/1).

 

You also will be pulling two hits, one will be either an autograph or mat relic card and the second will be a relic swatch. Some of the swatches are from photo shoots so there may be some interesting relics in the set; Topps has released the image of one of these swatches, a teddy bear relic from a photo shoot with AJ Lee.

 

A new addition to the insert lineup is the Top 10 inserts. Topps allowed fans to vote for the top 10 in 10 categories, 100 cards total. Categories like Top WWE Champions, Top Trash Talkers and Top Finishers. The Top 10 are also tiered with cards 8-10 on the specific category checklist the easiest, cards 5-7 are more difficult, cards 2-4 harder and card 1 a short print so putting together a complete Top 10 for a certain category will take some effort to find all of the cards.

 

 

My Thoughts:

The set is based on various story lines over the last year but I have not watched a wrestling match since late 2012 so I am out of date on what is going on in the WWE world but I do like the design with the black borders and a decent action shot along with the specific date of the storyline on the front of the card. If I was a regular wrestling fan I would be all over this set. When you consider you get 2 hits and 13 parallels for $50 you really get your value from a hobby box.

 

 

Pros:

2 Hits

Cheap Price
Easy Set to Build

 

 

Cons:

Sticker Autographs

 

 

Rating:

This set is a solid wrestling set; it covers the past year’s story lines and will make any wrestling collector happy. It is easily 3 out of 5 because it has a nice design and interesting relics and you cannot complain about the $50 price.

 

 

Smackdown

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for WWE Friday Night Smackdown which will air Friday July 1, 2011

But, if you don't mind finding out how the matches go keep reading.

The night of wrestling started with some NXT matches and then some Superstar matches before getting to Smackdown. There was a women’s match followed by a 6-man match which showcased the Usos against the guys who used to be part of NXT.

The matches really started with a championship match between Randy Orton and Mark Henry with Randy Orton winning by count-out after Christen sabotaged the match by playing the Big Show’s entry music. I guess Mark Henry and The Big Show have an issue and it was enough to draw the World’s Strongest Man’s attention away from the ring long enough for the ref to hit a 10-count.

 

Then came Daniel Bryant and Ted DiBiase Jr with Bryant winning by submission when he placed DiBiase in a to a triangle choke hold.

 After some talking with General Manager Teddy Long in the back about having a title shot Christen is instead forced to fight Sin Cara and only if he won would he have a title shot. So Christen takes on Sin Cara and after a wonderful visual match with this amazingly athletic Mexican Luchador, Christen closes out the match with a pin.

 A little intermission followed by Kane vs Wade Barrett. I was hoping to catch Kane’s entrance where he makes the ring explode with fire and I was quick enough to get a good picture. Kane went on to win the match.

With Christen winning his match against Sin Cera and Randy Orton winning his match against the #1 Contender Mark Henry, Christen demanded that the agreement get signed giving him a title shot against Orton so out comes the table, lawyers, Teddy Long and the whole shebang to get both wrestlers to sign the agreement.

 Doesn't Christen's lawyer look the The Ragin' Cajun Jim Carville?

So the contract gets signed by both wrestlers when out comes Sheamus, my favorite current wrestler, and upends everything, tears up the contract and then lays a beating on both Randy Orton and Christen and then walks away leaving the ring in shambles.

So everything gets cleaned up and Teddy Long decides that Orton and Christen should just "Get it on" and makes them wrestle for the title belt right there in a "Street Fight" rules match.

 Christen grabs the belt and starts to run away with it, and I find it funny that people were calling out "Randy he is running away with the belt" like Orton would hear them and run after Christen. So Orton grabs Christen and brings him back to the ring.

The match goes back and forth with each wrestler using the belt to conk the other wrestler on the head before Orton lays out Christen for the win and retains the World Heavyweight Championship Belt.

Afterwards Randy Orton went around the ring talking to fans, which I thought was pretty nice of him to do. He spent a good 10 minutes talking to people and shaking hands.

Considering this will probably be my only visit to a corporate suite we took some pictures around the room.

It was a fun night and a nice going away present for our nephew who is going back to live with his dad after a year with us. I told my wife that if UFC, Strikeforce or WEC comes to Phoenix I will personally go to her office and beg the person who selects who gets the tickets for the corporate suite.

Another Night of Wrestling

My wife called me this afternoon (well Tuesday afternoon now that it is Wednesday morning) and told me that she had a surprise and to get our nephew ready to go out. She gets home carrying a bag with a pint-sized WWE t-shirt for our nephew and tells me that she was given 3 tickets to the WWE Smackdown tonight in Phoenix (They tape 2 Smackdown shows on Tuesday and Wednesday and then edit them together and show them on Friday nights). Remember, she is in a position where she deals with many travelers who come in to town for training and she will set up for outings and events and as a perk she will be given tickets to local events on occasion.

 So we hop the metro rail and head downtown, get in to US Airways Arena and are escorted to a private escalator heading up to the corporate suites. We were totally surprised when the lady at the door asked us to come with her (we snuck in water bottles and thought we got caught) but apparently this is just a service they offer to people in suites. So we ended up in the corporate suite overlooking the ring with amazing views; a private waiter, private bathroom, big screen plasma tv, leather seats... it was a trip of a lifetime. I honestly never expected to ever be able to sit in one of these suites so it was a treat for us all.

 I will post up pictures of the matches including two matches for both Randy Orton and Christen, a surprise visit from Sheamus (my favorite wrestler) and a sweet picture of Kane and the exploding cornern ring posts.

Monday Night Raw Followup

The kids had a blast at WWE Raw last night. Unfortunately John Cena really got hurt last week so his match was scratched, it was supposed to be Cena and Orton versus The Miz and Wade Barrett. But WWE made up for it with a surprise Triple Threat Cage Match for the #1 Contender for the WWE Championship with Shamus versus Randy Orton versus Wade Barrett vying for the position to take on The Miz at Royal Rumble at the end of the month.

Some if the highlights of the night:

CM Punk talking about how he "hurt" John Cena, Wade Barrett came out and the two got in to it a bit before the Nexus came out. I guess this is a new storyline where CM Punk is trying to take over the Nexus group.

R-Truth vs Alberto Del Rio. R-Truth is one of the favorites of my kids so I have to add him to the list of highlights, he did loose but an entertaining match.

Shamus vs Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett Triple Threat Match. It was ultimately won by Randy Orton after the other two had plenty of opportunities to win but never got to the floor.

After the match finished and the cage was raised The Miz came out with his friend, not sure what his name is, and started spouting off. Michael Cole stepped up on the ring to support The Miz and needless to say Randy Orton went back in to the ring and beat up The Miz, his buddy and Michael Cole. Does anyone else notice that Orton’s RKO looks an awful lot like Stone Cold’s Stunner?

 

Honestly I had more fun then I thought I would. I occasionally watch wrestling with my kids so I know some of the wrestlers but seeing it live makes you feel more involved even when I was watching the matches with wrestlers I didn't really know. The tickets we got may not have been the best seats but we had a nice view and could see the entire arena plus they only cost $20 each and when you need 6 tickets even at $20 it adds up. To save on additional costs the tickets double as a free boarding pass on the light rail so the whole night for the family was not to expensive and we all had fun.

Heading to Monday Night Raw

Tonight we are taking the kids to Monday Night Raw so I wanted to make a quick post before we leave. John Cena is the guy my kids root for so I will be posting up some of their favorite John Cena cards.

Umaga RIP

UmagaAuto
Originally uploaded by Jumper48

It has been reported that former WWE wrestler Umaga, real name Edward Fatu, has passed away earlier Friday evening following his second heart attack. Over the last 3 years Fatu had been connected with growth hormones and this past Summer was released from WWE after failing his second drug test and refusing to go to rehab. It is pretty sad to look through a list of wrestlers who have died over the last 10 years, too many of them are dying of either drug related or heart problems and most are under the age of 50. Obviously there is a connection here.

While I will not say that there has been a mass influx of Umaga cards showing up for auction, there has been a significant amount posted in the last 12 hours with his autographs leading the way. Currently a 2006 Heritage II autograph card <link> is closing in on $40 with 2 days left.