The Giant In Mini Form

One of the most accomplished wrestlers ever was Andre the Giant and over his nearly 30-year career he also became one of the most famous wrestlers too. You can even say it was Andre who made Hulk Hogan who he is because of their WrestleMania III match when Hogan defeated him with the “Body slam heard around the world”.

Andre began wrestling at the age of 17 in 1963 but it wasn’t until the early 1970s that he began to make a name for himself while he was in Japan. His first card, his rookie card of sorts, was included in the 1973 Wrestling Annual #6 magazine. In 1974 he had cards in the Yamakatsu set and in 1978 he appeared in the Amada Kings set.

The 1978 Amada Kings release was made up of regular sized cards as well as minis and I believe Andre appeared on at least four cards. This is one of those cards, and it is the mini version. The card was $7 and was part of my COMC order, the reason it was relatively cheap is because the bottom left corner is clipped.

You may not have noticed but the guy about to be suplexed by Andre is fellow WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki.

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?

A Couple Of Wrestling Errors

In the early 1980s, when I first really started to watch wrestling, the Junkyard Dog was one of my favorite wrestlers. At the time there were virtually no wrestling cards besides the 1985 Topps WWF set so picking up any JYD cards during his wrestling days is very limited. I do have a number of his 1985 Topps cards and his 1987 Hostess but this was the first time I came across his 1986 Monty Gum Super Wrestling Stars card. I guess not including “Juneyard” in my search kept this beauty from showing up.

After I came across the JYD Monty Gum card by accident I looked to see who else was on the checklist and I found this amazing Hulk Hogan & Muhammed Ali card. I remember Thunder Lips fighting the ultimate meatball in Rocky III, not Ali. Maybe I am remembering the movie wrong.

Three Signatures Up

Topps’ newest wrestling release, 2017 Topps Legends of WWE, contains one of the more original triple autographs. The triple auto card is of Mick Foley’s three personalities of Dude Love, Cactus Jack and Mankind and it is neat that Foley signed each personality differently. Yes, please!

Goldust Kiss Cards? Yes Please!

Yesterday Dustin Rhodes (AKA Goldust) posted a picture of himself doing kiss/autograph cards for a future Topps wrestling release. How freaking cool is this?

Vader's Heartbreaking Announcement

Last night the 61-year old Leon White, also known in the wrestling world as Vader announced that he has serious heart problems and has been told he doesn’t have much longer to live (he says two years or less).  He has not said there is one specific reason but two different doctors have said that his lengthy athletic career may be a contributing factor.

 

He got his start playing football and was a two-time All-American during his time at the University of Colorado and was drafted by the LA Rams, where he played in the 1979 Super Bowl. After damaging his knee he turned to wrestling, which would seem like a worse option for someone with knee problems, but he won titles in various wrestling outfits spending most of his time in WCA and WWF/E with his final time in the ring in 2015 in the TNA.

 

I got back in to watching wrestling in the mid-90s until about 5 years ago and Vader was always fun to watch but really he was more entertaining than wrestler due to his size.

 

Even though he spent two years in the NFL and made it to the Super Bowl he still didn’t have any football cards, which isn’t odd considering he played Center. He does have plenty of wrestling cards with his only official autographs through Leaf’s Original Wrestling sets.

R.I.P. Chyna (Joan Marie Laurer)

This morning the wrestling world was rocked with the announcement that former WWF/E star Chyna, real name Joan Marie Laurer, had passed away. The time of her death is still undetermined because she posted on Instagram on Sunday but nobody has heard from her since until a friend got worried and went to her apartment last night and found her already deceased, she was 45 years old.

In the late 1990s she made her way in to the WWF during the Attitude age and was one of the early WWF/E Divas. She is probably best known for her time with Degeneration X alongside Triple H and Shawn Michaels. She made an appearance in TNA in 2011 but that was short lived and she left wrestling for good.

After she left wrestling her personal life has been in an upheaval and included drugs and adult videos and it has been rumored that her death is due to an overdose.

For as big of a star as Chyna was in wrestling in the late 90s and early 2000s she has almost no base cards beyond some 1998 and 1999 Comic Images and 2001 Fleer. She does have two official autographs, one in 1998 Comic Images and one in 2011 TNA Signature Impact.

Wrestling With Some New Autographs

A follow up to the wrestling autographs kick I have been on recently. Last week I posted some Roddy Piper cards and today I will cover the rest.

First up is Dwayne Johnson, the Rock…Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?

Surprisingly the Rock does not have any official autographs in wrestling but he does have an autograph in the 2002 Inkworks Scorpion King release (#A1). He is a personable guy and does sign autographs for fans so it is pretty easy to find reasonably priced TTM/IP autographs. This card is from the 2013 Topps WWE release.

Next is the Hulkster. Hulk Hogan has a ton of official autographs over the last 5 years. What I noticed is that he doesn’t have many modern cards with TTM/IP autographs which leads me to believe he doesn’t sign to often for fans anymore. The 1991 Classic WWF release is my favorite card for old school autographs.

Now for the big guns; Rowdy Roddy Piper. This is my second Piper autograph, I actually got this one before the 2015 Sportkings Vault card that I posted about last week. I was very iffy on this card, I went back and forth checking and double checking the letters thinking it was signed “Rowdy Roddy Piper” before I realized it is personalized. Not sure what the first line is but after some deciphering I realized that he signed it “Rowdy Roddy”. This too is from the 1991 Classic WWF release.

 

A double shot of the Macho Man Randy Savage, these cards were a big coup for me. Savage was a guy I just had to love, the way he talked and acted was just so cool. Hell, I still imitate him to give my kids a laugh.

The Macho Man has no official autographs and has only since begun appearing in WWE sets again in 2014, prior to that he has WWF cards through 1995 and WCW cards through 2000. There is a conspiracy connected to his banishment from WWF/WWE between 1995 and 2014 but that is for another day.

When it comes to Savage there is no real “perfect autograph” specimen. If you look at what he signed it changes quite often with the only constant being the “M” These cards are from the 1991 Classic WWF release and a 1999 WCW sticker release. I now have 4 1991 Classic WWF autograph cards; Ricky Steamboat and these three.

If you are looking for a Macho Man autograph prices range, just do your homework. Another safe option is one of his Slim Jim 8x10 promotional photos. These were given out by Macho Man at conventions so you know they touched his hands and you can find them regularly around $50.

 

I am still on the hunt for a wrestling autograph White Whale, a Junk Yard Dog autograph. JYD died in 1998 before autographs became popular and so his only autos are TTM/IP and there are not many around and those that show up are much higher than I can pay at this point.

R.I.P. Rowdy Roddy Piper

I was extremely saddened to find out that Rowdy Roddy Piper passed away over night from a heart attack.

As a kid when I first started watching WWF regularly Piper was one of the ultimate bad guys. His Piper’s Pits rants were hilarious and usually someone ended up getting attacked. He was inflammatory, offensive and just a plain ass and you loved to hate him for it.

It is funny how time, and an understanding that wrestling is fake, changes a person’s feelings about these athletes. Over the last couple of month’s I have picked up a number of autographs from 1980s wrestlers and Piper was the next on my list but now with his passing the prices are already shooting up in to the stratosphere. Fortunately he was such a popular figure in the wrestling world that he has quite a few options for official autographs ranging from Pacific TNA releases through this year’s 2015 Topps WWE release.

The Sheik Has Arrived

Going back to a post I did on June 1^st where I had shown some of my recent wrestling I had stated that I am on the hunt for an Iron Sheik autograph but it had to be the right one with his full wrestling name, well I finally picked one up.

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, also known as The Iron Sheik, has appeared in a number of Topps and Leaf releases in the past 5 years and he does have official autographs in these sets but the problem I had is he usually signed just “Sheik” and I wanted his entire moniker. Fortunately he signs often for his fans and this is when “IRON” will usually be added so while I like his Leaf Originals autograph cards I went searching elsewhere.

 

I was in a bit of a quandary, I wanted to find a card I liked, signed with “IRON Sheik” in a way that I liked. This has been at long search, well over a year, for the right card for my collection. I finally found the perfect card, a 1985 Topps WWF Iron Sheik #2 signed in silver ink pen and when the dealer dropped the price to $14.99 plus $3.00 shipping I hit the BIN and finally I could smile.

 

The card was authenticated by PSA and encased and I was wavering on whether to remove it or leave it encased but the Post Office made the decision for me when the card came in and the case had a crack across the face which was not in the original picture. There was a documentary about Vaziri last year called "The Sheik" where he talks about how following the Iran hostage crisis people used to threaten to kill him all the time even when he was out and about, maybe my mail carrier is just holding on to her anger from the 1980s and took it out on the case.

Here he is, the Iron Sheik himself free from his plastic casing.

Some Wrestling Autographs

Some wrestling autographs to make it in to my collection

From the WWF I finally picked up a Rickey “The Dragon” Steamboat autograph. This is a 1991 Classic WWF which he signed with a silver paint pen. Steamboat doesn’t have any official autographs, none that I can find, so I was forced to go elsewhere to find an autograph of one of my favorite wrestlers from the 1980s. These 1991 Classic cards are typical flimsy cardboard from the junk wax era but due to the nice photography used by Classic they make an ideal autographed item.

Next up is Jerry Lawler. The King has been connected to various wrestling leagues, mostly with WWF/WWE, for decades. I first remember him from his feud with the comedian Andy Kaufman in the early 1980s. At the time I didn’t like him but he has grown on me over the years. Lawler has been associated with the WWF/WWE for about 20 years now and has made the switch over from wrestler to commentator in the last decade.

Lawler is a guy who will happily sign for fans and there are literally hundreds of his autographs available for a reasonable price. This card grabbed me because it truly represents him as his persona “The King” and I like blue, it seemed like an obvious selection for me. It helps that the seller tossed in a signed 3x5 autograph card.

What brought me over to liking Lawler is he is an accomplished artist, he has even had his work included in to Topps WWE releases. He has done actual sketch cards as well as complete inserts. His authentic sketch cards inserted in to packs of Topps WWE run hundreds of dollars if you are lucky enough to find one.

Another 1980s baddie who’s autograph that I recently picked up is Nikolai Volkoff, real name is Josip Peruzovic. He actually is from Yugoslavia and defected to Canada in 1967, eventually making his way to WWE predecessor (WWWF) and winning various titles as Bepo Mongol.

When he returned to the WWF in 1984 he came back as Volkof and was teamed up with The Iron Sheik as foreign heels, the people everyone hated. As a red blooded American kid in the 1980s I hated Volkoff but it is fun to look back now to those opening match antics and laugh at what was done. Peruzovic is a good guy and enjoys his fans. He works for the City of Baltimore and volunteers for the city’s athletic kid’s league.

He has quite a few official autographs through Leaf and Topps but because he is so happy to sign for fans you can find plenty of TTM/IP autographs at reasonable prices. This card is from Topps 2006 Heritage WWE release.

In all I spent $25.05 shipped for all three cards, an amount I was happy to spend for fond memories from my childhood. I am still on the hunt for an Iron Sheik autograph, his official cards tend to $15-30 and he doesn’t sign in person to often so the hunt is slow going.

George Steel(e)?

One of my favorite wrestlers growing up was George “The Animal” Steele. His ongoing feud with Macho Man Randy Savage over Miss Elizabeth were epic. The matches usually ended up the same way, with Steele winning Miss Elizabeth would get his attention and Macho Man would snatch the win from the child-like Animal.

 

George Steele, real name Jim Myers, is a highly intelligent man, which you probably would not ever figure if you saw his wrestling persona. He has a Master’s Degree in Science from Michigan State University, he was a high school teacher and he coached both football and wrestling while he was a teacher and he is currently a motivational speaker.

 

After all this you would assume that even at 76 years old he is awfully busy, so busy he doesn’t sign his name correctly. Looking through the 2012 Leaf Wrestling Originals it appears that he has left off the “e” at the end of Steele. I have looked at his signatures over the years and he has at times signed with the “e” at the end while other times he just adds a loop on to the “l”, which appears to be the case here.

 

His signatures are definitely better than Sid or One Man Gang’s signatures in the set, though both of their signatures are better than Chris Johnson's autograph and Teddy Bridgewater’s new autograph.

Preview: 2012 Topps WWE Heritage

Schedule Release Date: November 28, 2012

Box Configuration:  9 cards per pack/24 packs per box
SRP: $65/box

 

 

Box Break:

2 Hits (Autograph or Relic card)

24 Ringside Action subset cards
24 Inserts

 

 

My Thoughts:

Topps did an amazing job recreating the original 1985 Topps WWF set and 1985 O-Pee-Chee WWF Pro Wrestling Stars sets. The Heritage set takes elements from both the Topps and the O-Pee-Chee (Canadian release only) sets and built on them in to one complete release. The modern set is significantly larger with a total of 273 cards (110 base cards, 55 Ringside Action subset cards, 60 inserts, 30 Allen & Ginter minis and 18 stickers) compared to the 1985 Topps set 88 cards (66 base cards and 22 stickers). The O-Pee-Chee set was released in two series, the first had the same exact 66 base cards and the second series had 75 new cards that were unreleased in the U.S.

 

The card design is nearly exact as the originals with the same white border, black divider and yellow or red splash with the wrestler’s names. The current incarnation uses a yellow splash for the modern wrestlers and a red splash for the old-school fighters. The checklist is made up of 43 current wrestlers, 12 modern-era wrestlers and 52 “vintage” wrestlers.

 

Some of the inserts, like Ringside Action and The Legend Speaks, are based on the O-Pee-Chee Series 2 release (including card design) but Topps put in a nice collection to make the release modern. The new inserts include Fabled Tag Teams, Family History and Andre the Giant Tribute. Toss in Allen & Ginter minis (does Topps really need to insert a mini insert in to every product?), Sketch Cards (courtesy of Jerry Lawler) and autographs and relics and there is a nice collection of cards that will be pulled from each box.

 

I started watching wrestling in the early 1980s; I still remember it used to come on Sundays at noon right after the USA Cartoon Express… damn I feel old. This release brings me back to the days as a kid when I would watch Junk Yard Dog or Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat take on The Iron Sheik or Nikolai Volkoff. Back during the days when good guys were always good and bad guys were always bad, now you never know how someone is going to act when they come out.

 

The autograph list has not been completed yet but a couple of wrestlers have been announced including Vader, Paul Bearer, Mean Gene, Papa Shango, The Godfather and Kama Mustafa. In case you are keeping track Papa Shango, The Godfather and Kama were all characters played by Charles Wright. That would be an interesting collection to put together.

 

One thing I want to point out is Jerry Lawler’s sketch cards; he is quite an artist and if you have a chance to take a look at his work you will be surprised. There will be 10 sketch cards, all 1/1, but Topps is also including Portrait versions (reproductions of the original sketch cards) of each card with the insert checklist.

 

 

Pros:

Stayed true to original

 

Reasonable price

 

Jerry Lawler sketch cards

 

 

 

Cons:

The autograph checklist is still weak

 

Not sure if autos are sticker or on-card

 

More Allen & Ginter minis forced in to a Topps release

 

 

 

Rating:

I would call this a 3 out of 5 release. The pricing makes it affordable for collectors to put together a set and with 2 hits per box you have a chance to pull something nice at a low price. It is also something that old school wrestling fans will dig.

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.