Longtime Wrestling Collectors Could See a Massive Change Once Panini Takes Over License
Most WWE collectors have enjoyed a dark corner of the collecting universe ... until now
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Panini announced the acquisition of the WWE trading card license for a record deal, set to take effect around Wrestlemania season in 2022. For the first time ever, sets like Prizm and Select will feature the stars of the squared circle, something that took most of the wrestling card world by surprise.
Since the ‘80s, Topps had been involved with WWF/WWE cards, making sets over four different decades across multiple different brands and platforms. Although Topps had established a loyal following of collectors over the last decade, it wasnt until 2020 when collectors finally started catching on, driving vintage wrestling cards into the value stratosphere.
During the pandemic era boom, classic superstars like the Rock, Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin all saw record prices for their cards. This phenomenon seemingly led Panini to want to invest in this niche, undiscovered market that has huge potential for growth. The WWE has a billion social media followers, and Panini has a horde of collectors loyal to their brand, which they hope will combine for greatness. Some are already predicting this launch of another brand to match the fervor created when UFC launched recently. Others are just hoping they can hang on for the ride.
Like UFC, prior to the explosion seen with the new Panini license, most WWE collectors have enjoyed a dark corner of the collecting universe. This corner existed without much attention to disturb low price points for singles and boxes, and a vibrant community to support it. Most modern autographs could be had at a fraction of the price seen for cards in the major sports or even UFC now. This experience remained cheap and fun even in the face of booming prices for just about every other collectible on the planet.
Up until this point, there have been two major subgroups that exist in the hobby. Funny enough, modern WWE card collectors and vintage wrestling card collectors could not be more different, something that Panini will hope to bridge. For the most part, Vintage has been focused on transcendent superstar names who trigger a nostalgic response in the fanbase. These cards have varied exponentially in value, mostly due to the fact that so many of these cards didn’t survive in good condition. High grade examples have driven the market, with true scarcity delivered in grade rather than in serial number.
On the modern side, the market has been exclusively driven by rare cards of female talent, something that shouldn’t be surprising given the target audience being 35-year-old straight white males. Grading in modern wrestling cards hasn’t caught on the way it has across most of the hobby, likely because modern WWE cards rarely cross the $1,000 value markers that have been a regular occurrence in the major sports.
Both areas of the collecting base will likely be dwarfed by the incoming horde of collectors looking to get in on the ground level for another Prizm launch, especially with the insane numbers cards have realized over the boom period. This is where things could change drastically for wrestling collectors already established in the hobby. For a long time, products in WWE rarely were considered super premium, with the most expensive box being $220 in any given year. Topps pushed things a bit with the first release of Transcendent in 2019, but it failed to gain the type of traction that a lot of people had hoped.
The expectation focuses on increased interest from investortype collectors driving up the speculation market, with legacy products like Prizm and Select driving box prices to a place where most existing collectors would be priced out. Obviously, this doesn’t sit well with a lot of collectors, leading to a general freak out on social media and facebook groups.
Similarly, Panini’s approach with the market seems to be vastly different than how Topps has approached things, leading to some speculation around big name signers finally getting their place in the sun for the WWE licenses.
Due to a huge number of limitations on WWE’s main attraction name list, autograph checklists in Topps products have been largely scrutinized and heavily panned in some cases. Legend content is reserved for high-end sets, and only recently have names like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon started signing cards. Superstar names like the Rock and Batista, two people who have become gigantic blockbuster leaders in Hollywood have never signed for Topps or have never signed at all. The prevailing hope is that those days are over, as long as Panini is willing to invest the money to make it work. With growing uncertainty surrounding the Fanatics takeover in 2026, there are major concerns that they could be hedging those investments until their finances shake out more clearly.
Other issues that Panini will likely run into is relic content, as Topps has either been prevented or unwilling to use the new “player worn material” strategy to increase their relic stash. If Panini can better equip their sets with relic content that is prevalent across their entire empire, collectors may finally get a taste of what they have been missing for years with Topps.
Main peripheral areas like Topps Now and On Demand products have already been brought up as a likely miss for Panini’s fledgling programs that haven’t had as much success in the hobby market. Digital cards and NFTs seem to be a giant question as well, given that Topps Slam has been such a popular app for so many years. With the WWE recently announcing their own NFT platform, it is yet to be seen how Panini plans to execute this phase of their planning.
Overall, Panini is poised to make a splash in April, as they do each time they launch a new brand. The concerns that the small community has already voiced will likely be drowned out by the Prizm fan crowds chasing down shiny new objects for their collection. Long term, especially past 2026, when Panini’s NBA and NFL licenses are lost, breeds a giant amount of uncertainty to the group of collectors that plan to stick out the change, and it goes without saying that this isn’t limited to WWE. Hopefully the new hotness remains hot the way UFC has experienced, and those collectors who have giant collections see the windfall they were hoping for when the boom first started.
For a more detailed breakdown, check out www.wrestlingcardcentral.com and @SCUncensored on Twitter.
Trading Card Round Up
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