Then, Now, and Forever

 Happy Royal Rumble weekend everyone!

Then, now, and forever. That's what the WWE states and the end of the signature of every one of their programs. Last fall, Topps released a set using that same name. This is basically their version of an update set for WWE. You get ten packs, plus one relic card for $20.

The base cards use the same design as the baseball set. Of the two big "rookie cards" included in this set, A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura were the two I wanted the most. I got the A.J. card but no Nakamura. I'll settle for Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper cards I suppose.

As is the case with the WWE sets, a good amount of legends are included. I like the fact that they went way back with the Peter Maivia card all the way up to more modern legends like DDP, Yokozuna, and Vader, who was always one of my favorites to watch back in the day.

Cards for the NXT stars are also thrown in to the mix and there was one of these every other pack (at least from what I can remember ... it's been about a month since I opened this). Of the NXT cards included, these are the four people that I enjoy watching the most on that show and it's really cool to see Austin Aries in a WWE card set.

These are bronze parallels that I believe were seeded everyone other pack as well. Basically, if you didn't get an NXT card in the pack, you got one of these. 

Rivalries is the main insert of the set and one of these came out of every pack. I like the design on these but a lot of them are already dated. Plus there were some pretty lame ones like Lana vs. Nikki Bella.

Tribute cards to The Rock were also included. This was an insert set carried across all the WWE brands this past year. Also included but I didn't scan it was a Triple H tribute card.

The box promises one relic card and here it is. What could be inside? Something good? Something bad?

It's a Jimmy Uso card. Not exactly what I was hoping for but then again, I've been spoiled the last two WWE blasters I've opened with really good pulls. I supposed it's time I got a lame one. At least it's a big orange patch and not a standard white patch.

This was a fun, quick break but I think it'll be a while before I invest in a WWE blaster box again. Next time, I'll get packs from the card shop.

You've Got Mail #23: Cardboard Collection

I have 18 drafts sitting on my blog currently, 10 of which are trade posts including this one. As I mentioned a few posts back, I'm planning on getting through these so I can get my drafts folder down to a manageable level.

This particular trade arrived back in early March (yes, that's how far behind I am on trade posts) from Colbey of Cardboard Collection and had all kinds of neat stuff inside.

I'll start with this. This Joe Morgan manu-relic is really cool (it's also really, really thick). I wasn't expecting this at all.

Here's another nice card, a framed Gypsy Queen parallel of Johnny Bench. I love getting cool Bench cards in trades and this definitely ranks up there with the better Bench cards in my collection.

From one catcher to another, here's a Devin Mesoraco RC that appears to be some sort of burnt orange foil version (or perhaps that's just how the card scanned in). The background just makes Mesoraco pop off the card.

Some inserts cards from Topps sets from earlier this decade of Tom Seaver and George Foster. These two were on the late 70s Reds teams that not many people talk about today. Foster had a monster season in 1977 and Seaver had a number of good seasons with the Reds into the early 80s.

Some more framed parallels, this time Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce. Frazier now belongs to the White Sox and it's still strange to see him in that uniform. Bruce was nearly shipped off to Toronto at the beginning of spring training but is still with the team and is having a nice start to the season.

O-Pee-Chee! You can never go wrong with these! Look how young Johnny Cueto looks too! He looks like a kid fresh off a high school diamond.

Some Heritage. I can always dig Heritage, plus it's a Raisel Iglesias rookie card! He should be one of the best spots of the Reds rotation this year and he pitched a heck of a game as the emergency Opening Day starter.

Wrapping up the Reds portion of with some Panini Cooperstown. I've definitely become a fan of this set. I think it's the best set you can do without the licensing, especially considering a lot of the pre-war players that are included.

Moving on to football, there was a good smattering of Bengals cards. These were the highlights. I like the Geno Atkins card from the Topps Valor set

Finally, I'll cap this trade post off with some wrestling cards. It's rare that I get wrestling cards in a trade as collectors are few and far between so I got really excited when these showed up. The Heritage cards are a throwback to their debut card set but I really, really liked the WWE Platinum set that the top four cards are from. I could have scanned the whole batch, but these were the best.

Thanks for the great trade Colbey! I know you said you didn't want anything in return but I'm setting aside Panthers cards for you as I come across them to eventually send as a token of thanks.