A Surreal WrestleMania Weekend

I always love WrestleMania weekend! This year, things are different for so many reasons. They split the card between 2 nights, the action was pre-taped, and obviously there won't be any spectators due to the 'ongoing global situation'. Thanks go out to @adamwilbourn and @WhatCultureWWE for coining that term(if you haven't checked out their content, you really should click here. While I still think it's nice to have some form of escapism in this time of quarantine, it's more than a little surreal to imagine two long nights of empty Performance Center matches that are meant to represent the biggest wrestling show of the year. I didn't watch night one yesterday and I won't be watching live tonight either. I live in the middle of nowhere and have monthly internet data limits so I can't justify the bandwidth(and time) necessary to watch the full show. I'm definitely interested in several of the matches though, so I'll be following along on Twitter and whatever YouTube clips are posted of the big moments. Until I can find all the highlights I'd like to see, I can always fill the void with some Topps Road to WrestleMania cardboard! Similar to recent PPV themed releases, the set is comprised of two sections: the base set(depicting various highlights from the last year) and the roster.

I'm always happy to add an Alexa Bliss to the collection! This roster card was probably my favorite pullfrom the 2 fat packs I opened. 'Five Feet of Fury' opened the main card last night, challenging for the Women's Tag Titles alongside partner Nikki Cross.

I'm happy to say, they picked up the victory, winning the titles for the second time!

The base set has multiple parallels available. This one happens to be foilboard which came one per pack for me(not sure if that is the official odds for fat packs). The series of matches between Rey and Andrade have been top notch. Sadly, neither of them will be having a WrestleMania moment this year. 

Ripping the fat packs was a fun break and flipping through them and reading/re-reading the backs will help with my wrestling fix for the short term. I liked it enough that I ran a quick eBay search to see what else the product had to offer. Last night, I stumbled on a low priced relic auction that was about to end so I tossed in a low bid and ended up winning. 

Bro!!! I love Matt Riddle, he's really entertaining, has a unique in-ring style, and he's hilarious on the mic. I decided to use my eBay Bucks and after shipping, this only set me back $1. That's not the only card from his set that I discovered and now need to add to my collection. The Fiend has a roster card which I think is the first piece of cardboard for the character(besides Topps Now issues). As much as I want to bring home a copy of that, I wasn't willing to pay the prices I found on eBay. So, if anyone out there has a copy they'd be willing to trade, I'd love to make a deal. I've got my fingers crossed that he defeats John Cena in their Firefly Fun House match tonight. Thanks for reading.

Return of the Demon King

As I sit writing this, I'm watching the final Monday Night Raw before WrestleMania. Along this Road to WrestleMania, I had hoped that one of my favorite performers would make his return from injury. Finn Bálor has been out of action since right after Summer Slam last year. Sadly, though he has returned to action at live events across the country, he hasn't returned to WWE television. My hope now stands that he will make a triumphant return to television one week from tonight on the Raw after the Show of Shows. While I hold out hope for the return of a favorite, let's take a look at the last few nights he appeared prior to injury - as told in cardboard.

That's quite an entertaining entrance.

The back of my first Topps Now WWE card tells the story of the night.

The celebration of the first Universal Champion, separated shoulder and all.

From the top of the mountain, back to square one in less than 24 hours.

Here's hoping one week from tonight that the road back to the Universal Championship begins for the 'Demon King'. Thanks for reading.

The Road to WrestleMania Took Me to Target for My Birthday

I intended to write a WWE post on Royal Rumble Sunday, but for many reasons, that just didn't work out. In the early stages of 2017, I've actually busted more wrestling product than anything else(so far). So , I happened to be in Target a few days before I finally got my hands on some retail 2017 Topps Baseball and instead of finding blasters, and hangers, and value packs(oh my) I found my first 2017 pack of this instead:

I don't usually pick up too much of the Road to WrestleMania product, but I always grab a few of these value packs to have a sampling. I got home and ripped right into it, slightly less disappointed than I would have been since I still hadn't found any new baseball on the shelf(or pegs).

I didn't realize until I took the picture of the pack(a split second before opening it) that you cold clearly see that Triple H was the first card in the pack, and there he is. These are not part of the base set, but rather a separate WM insert, of which there were several in the pack. These three just happen to be a few of my favorite performers in the business right now, so I thought I'd scan them.

Hey look, there they are again! I particularly love the Ambrose from Money in the Bank since it shows him moments after cashing in the briefcase and winning his first World Championship.

Here are a few more base highlights. I'm not her biggest fan, but that is quite an awesome photo on that Charlotte Flair card!

Here is the promised Undertaker career retrospective insert. The Cena has slightly higher odds as they fall only 1:3 packs. These are both nicely designed cards that showcase two,of the biggest names in WWE history from really early in their respective careers. There was one more 'card' in the pack. It was a coupon for $0.50 off any Road to WrestleMania product purchase. This of course gave me a reason to go back to Target so I could pick out another pack. All told, my first pack of a 2017 WWE product was solid.

Fast forward to Thursday. I was out of the house early and had some time to spare before the start of my shift, so I figured I'd treat myself to a discounted, Birthday pack of WWE cards. When I arrived to the card aisle, someone had lined up the only three value packs of this product neatly on top of a 2016 Topps factory set. I took a quick glance at them and grabbed the one which I could clearly see had The Rock's WM card on top. I used my coupon and paid for the pack. Since I still had some time before I needed to be at work, I decided to rip the pack in the car.

There's my second Undertaker insert and the WM Rock that I knew was in there. The KO was also a nice find since he too is one of my current favorites.

Turns out it was a Sting hot pack! I pulled the base and bronze parallel of the card highlighting his WWE Hall of Fame induction. Then there was more Ambrose and Triple H. Next up, Charlotte channeling her father, The Nature Boy! I scanned that last one just because it had Mick Foley on it. I was digging another solid pack, then I flipped to this:

I was in shock. Bray isn't one of my favorite characters, but he has great skills on the mic and is fairly popular. I noticed right away that unlike many Topps autos these days, this was not a sticker-graph. The on-card signature paired up with the design really makes this card pop. I was feeling pretty good about that pack choice and finished flipping through the few remaining cards. Then I went back through the entire stack one more time. It was on the second time through that I turned the autograph card over.

WOW! I literally did a double take. I had just pulled my first 1/1! Now, I've got two or three printing plates of former Durham Bulls in the collection, but I didn't pull those from packs. Once I stopped staring at the serial number, I decided to check the odds on the pack.

The odds of a red auto parallel are 1:40,284.That was some crazy pack picking/ripping mojo! I fully expected that since the packs had been laid out in a row that they had already been 'searched' for hits, but fortunately this slipped through. Yay, Happy Birthday to me! Thanks for reading.