2011 Topps WWE Box Break

I know I'm a little late to this party, but in the spirit of tonight's Wrestlemania, I decided to pick up a hobby box of 2011 Topps WWE. The box was a relatively low $50, and is guaranteed to contain one autograph and one relic, which is a fantastic value. Here's what I pulled.

First, the big hits:

Auto: Brie Bella

At first, I wasn't very thrilled with this at all, but then I looked on Ebay, and saw that I could make back at least anywhere from half to all of my money back, my opinion changed. I have it currently on everyone's favorite auction site, so we'll see what happens.

Relic: Heath Slater

 This one, too, was an underwhelming hit, at first. Then, I looked at the back of the card, which identifies it as being worn at the November 29, 2010 Monday Night Raw. All of the sudden, I realized that this was an actual Raw-worn Nexus shirt from 2010's hottest wrestling angle, and this INSTANTLY became a MUCH cooler card. Not only that, but with the magic of Youtube, I can go back and watch this very swatch being worn.

VERY cool.

There were also blue parallels, serial numbered to /2011. I actually got quite a few good ones, including those pictured here. If anybody wants my extras, let me know and I'll mail them to you free of charge.

Topps wouldn't be Topps without gold parallels. These ones, however, are serial numbered just to 50. An impressive number, but apart from the fact that Duggan is a hall-of-famer, I wasn't too impressed with either of these. Is Lucky Cannon even with the company anymore? I'm too lazy to look it up.

I also got three cards each of the  Electrifying Entrances, Catchphrases, and Prestigious Pairings. The first thing I noticed when comparing the top two sets pictured, is that it seems like the Catchphrases cards actually show more of the entrances than the set that is about entrances. Also, when has Rey EVER said "Dial up the 619"? That being said, apart from Khali and Eve/Gail Kim, all of these are keepers.

Lastly, I REALLY dug their Heritage insert set.  I got six cards, which feature a Legend and reference the 1962 baseball design. My favorite, BY FAR, is the Shawn Michaels, which features a photo from their legendary Wrestlemania 25 match. Actually, the Undertaker is featured TWICE on these six cards: With Michaels and Kama Mustafa.

The best part of this box, though, was that I was able to put a full 110-card set together. There are a relatively few wrestling collectors out there in the blogworld, so potential trading partners are limited. I'm still trying to put the 2010 set together. Maybe I should have just gone hobby box with that one, too.

I was very happy with the contents of the box. When you consider that you get a full base set, 24 serial-numbered parallels, a relic and an autograph for just $50 dollars, this is seriously one of the best values out there. I might not have loved everything, but overall, this was a great job by Topps. I'll be sure to pick up another box when 2012 comes out.