Sponsored Blaster Box Break: TRISTAR 2010 TNA New Era

There’s been buzz about this release ever since it was first publicized.  Say what you will about the TNA product on television, but this release contains autographs from some of the biggest names in the history of wrestling.  Hulk Hogan was the driving force of the WWF for decades while Ric Flair was doing the same thing over in WCW.  Now they’re facing off in the same federation and TRISTAR is striking while the iron is hot.

Those two cards aren’t the only ones available in this release though.  The Jeff Hardy autographs in the set should prove to be popular as will RVD’s autographs.  There’s a large autograph checklist though and the majority of the 55 autographs don’t have the amount of name recognition that the average WWE wrestler does.  I know that I’d be tempted not to rip the card in half if I were to pull a Bubba the Love Sponge autograph.  He’s not a wrestler and doesn’t belong in this set no matter how good of a friend he is to Terry Bollea.

I doubt that there will ever be a market for wrestler “rookie cards",” but if there were, this would be RVD’s TNA RC.  TRISTAR did a great job with the quick turnaround of this set.  Hogan, Flair, RVD, Hardy and Mr. Anderson haven’t been in TNA all that long, but they got them into this set and did a good job of it.

The cards look very nice and the photography is great especially when you consider that a lot of these images were taken from the big TNA Monday night special and the show where Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair made their debut with TNA.  The time period between those shows and the release of this set wasn’t long at all.  You’ve got to give TRISTAR plenty of kudos for that.  They definitely struck while the iron was hot and it is paying off.  The cards have improved by leaps and bounds since the first TNA set.  I still don’t know of too many people who are a fan of the glitter, but it’s TRISTAR’s thing so I don’t mind them sticking with it.

Each blaster box contains 24 cards and that includes one autograph card.  So, you are basically paying $20 or whatever the blasters sell for at retail for just the one autograph card.  These are unnumbered retail versions of the autograph cards.  That seems pretty pricey for what you get in a box.

TRISTAR continues to deliver fun autographs on their cards.  The card of Mr. Anderson reads, “Mr. Anderson… Anderson!!” which is what the wrestler yells into an old school microphone lowered from the ceiling as part of his entrance.

On the downside of things, the stickers are once again on stickers.  I can understand it for this set since there was a quick turnaround time, but there’s no way that there should be sticker autographs on future sets.  All that TRISTAR has to do is send a representative or two down to Orlando on a Thursday night with cards to be signed and they’re all set.  It’s really inexcusable.  On-card autographs would really bring these sets to the next level.

Technorati Tags: TNA Wrestling,TRISTAR,box break,TNA The New Era

A Quick Heads up

I know that I don’t have a ton of wrestling fans reading this and I think there’s even fewer wrestling card collectors, but since there are some of you out there I just wanted to pass along a little heads up.  I got word today from TRISTAR that they would only be able to send out a blaster box due to the quick sell out of the new TNA New Era product.  I have a feeling that this might be a product that follows in the steps of Topps’ UFC sets as far as price after release goes.  There’s an amazing list of autographs to pull out of this product and I see it as being something that picks up in popularity as box breaks start to show up online and people see the Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair cards coming out of it.

I’m very appreciative that TRISTAR is sending something over to review and I should have that blaster box break in a couple of days.  I was always planning on buying a box for myself, but I know that I won’t be able to do it right at the release so I’m glad that I’ll have some cards to show off here on the blog.  I just hope that the box prices haven’t climbed too high once I am able to pick up a box.

Technorati Tags: TNA Wrestling,TRISTAR,2010 TNA New Era,Hulk Hogan,Ric Flair

TNA 2010: The New Era

TRISTAR will be releasing their next TNA set on April 28th and it looks like they’ve got a big winner here.  They were already doing a good job with the TNA sets and it looks like the quality continues to improve while the TNA roster gets better by leaps and bounds.  In fact, this past weekend I ordered my very first TNA Pay Per View and was very happy with what I saw.  The Ultimate X match featuring the Motor City Machine Guns and Generation ME was easily the match of the year so far in any federation.

One of the big selling points for this set is that there are over 30 different Hulk Hogan cards available.  This includes the base cards, relic cards, autograph cards, autographed relic cards and an Obak insert.  This set definitely has Hulkamania.

The base cards look great with excellent photography.  I count 11 cards in the base set with Hulk Hogan’s name on them so if you are a fan of the Hulkster then this is the set for you.  There’s a lot more than that though.  This set has content as recent as TNA’s big move to Monday night which included the return to wrestling of “Mr. Monday Night,” Rob Van Dam.  That’s a huge coup for TNA as the WWE had been trying to lure RVD back for a while now.  He did rejoin them for one night, but that would be it.  Jeff Hardy’s first TNA card is in this set as well with a picture from the Monday Night Special where he made a brief appearance.  Some other notable new additions are Scott Hall and Syxx-Pac, Shannon Moore, Mr. Anderson, Generation Me, The Pope, Desmond Wolfe and THE Brian Kendrick.

The two per box Obak cards should be very popular.  I loved the Obak set and can’t wait for these cards.  Hopefully they don’t prove to be too popular since this is a set that I’ll want to chase.

Each box contains one memorabilia card numbered to 1, 25, 50 or 199.  There aren’t any bums in the relic set.  The single relic set includes Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Sting, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson and Syxx-Pac.  There’s a dual relic card of Beer Money Inc.  Triple relic cards feature three Hogan swatches; Hogan, Flair and Sting (pictured) or the members of The Beautiful People.

Who wouldn’t love pulling a Hulk Hogan autograph out of one of these boxes?  Autographed cards are numbered to 1, 5, 25 or 50.  There are single signed cards of just about every member of the TNA roster.  Some of the highlights are Hogan, Sting, Angle, Kevin Nash, AJ Styles, RVD, Samoa Joe, Velvet Sky, Christy Hemme, Daniels, Daffney, Jeff Hardy and Ric Flair.

There are some nice dual autographed cards highlighting business partners such as Hogan and Dixie Carter, allies like Hogan and Abyss or bitter enemies like Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson.  The Hogan/Angle and Hogan/Flair cards should be two of the more sought after cards from this set.

There are also triple signed cards as well.  There are four different cards with one featuring former nWo members Hogan, Nash and Syxx-Pac another with the current members of The Beautiful People, the third features The British Invasion and the last one features some of the more popular ladies of TNA (Tara, Christy Hemme and Traci Brooks).

Last, but certainly not least are the quad signed cards.  There are five different cards including the one pictured here that Beckett called the greatest wrestling card ever produced.  I think I’ve got to agree.

The other quads feature the current members of The Beautiful People along with former member Angelina Love.  The Hogan/Jarrett/Angle/Foley card should be popular as well, but not as popular as the pictured card.  There’s a card of TNA Knockouts Taylor Wilde, Sarita, Hamada and Awesome Kong and the final quad is of Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Ric Flair and AJ Styles who have been the subject of many main events lately.

There are 6 different single event-used, autographed cards.  Along with the pictures Ric Flair, you can also pull Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, Sting, AJ Styles and Velvet Sky.  No bums there and these cards look great.

You can find the checklist and more details about the set on the official website.  Thanks to the generosity of TRISTAR, you can expect to see a preview of the set right here on the blog close to the release day.

Technorati Tags: TNA Wrestling,Hulk Hogan,Ric Flair,TRISTAR,new release information,Jeff Hardy,RVD,Rob Van Dam

TNA 2010: The New Era

A NEW ERA HAS ARRIVED:
TRISTAR ANNOUNCES UPCOMING RELEASE OF NEW TNA WRESTLING TRADING CARDS AS TNA MAKES HISTORY TONIGHT ON SPIKE TV WITH MOVE TO MONDAY NIGHTS

All-New, Exclusive-Licensed Trading Card Set Features Legendary Pop Icon HULK HOGAN

HOUSTON, March 8, 2010 – As TNA Wrestling begins a new era with “TNA iMPACT!” moving from Thursday nights to Monday nights beginning tonight, Monday, March 8 (9:00-11:00pm ET/PT), TNA’s exclusive trading card licensee, TRISTAR, announced the upcoming release of an all-new trading card release, entitled “TNA 2010: The New Era.”  The new product is scheduled for release in late April 2010.

“TNA 2010: The New Era” Trading Cards will hit stores worldwide in late April, featuring TNA’s many new talent additions this year, namely legendary pop culture icon Hulk Hogan, one of the most recognizable celebrities in the world.

Hogan is the subject of numerous cards in the new product and is featured prominently on the product packaging.  “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, who debuted with TNA on the company’s first-ever Monday live “TNA iMPACT!” on January 4, 2010, will have his first-ever TNA trading cards in the set.  Plus, special cards of Jeff Hardy, Scott Hall, Mick Foley, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle and many more.  "The Icon" Sting, who has signed a new contract with TNA and will be at tonight’s historic broadcast on SpikeTV, will be featured as well.

“With Hulk Hogan’s arrival, “TNA iMPACT!” has delivered its highest-ever ratings and is growing its fanbase,” said Mandy Fuerst, TRISTAR’s Vice President of Operations.  “As a new era dawns in TNA with iMPACT!’s move to Mondays, we look forward to showing the TNA fans that TNA trading cards are a great way to collect their favorite stars.  Collectors recognize the quality and value of these cards with all of the autographs, serially-numbered parallels and event-used memorabilia cards.”

Among the cards to be most highly sought-after in the new product are a limited quantity of trading cards featuring Hulk Hogan’s hand-signed autograph, as well as cards including a swatch of the shirt that Hogan wore on his first-ever live appearance on “TNA iMPACT!” on January 4, 2010.

The new set of high-quality, glossy cards showcases never-before-seen photos, with parallel editions of each base card featuring serial numbering.  What can TNA Wrestling fans and collectors look forward to in “TNA 2010: The New Era” Trading Cards?  Highlights include:

• Special card subsets including
  • “Hulk Hogan: The Pop Icon”
  • “The Nature Boy” (Ric Flair)
  • “Dynamic Duos
  • “Monday Night Magic”
• TNA Debut cards of newcomers Flair, Hardy, Hall, Eric Bischoff, Jimmy Hart, Mr. Anderson, D’Angelo Dinero, Desmond Wolfe and many more.
• TNA Autograph cards with hand-signed signatures from 60+ different TNA stars. Dual, triple and quad autograph cards!
• TNA Authentic Action event-used memorabilia cards, featuring clothing right off the backs of top TNA stars, including Hogan, Flair, Foley, Angle, Kevin Nash, AJ Styles, The Beautiful People, Sting and more! Look for dual and triple event-used memorabilia cards, plus event-used memorabilia and autograph combo cards.

The TNA 2010: The New Era Trading Card checklists, as well as all the product details, will be available online next week at www.TNAWrestlingCards.com.

My Take: I just got finished watching the big TNA move to Monday night and it was a good show.  I like the current TNA roster a lot.  They’re not bogged down with geriatrics like they were when the Main Event Mafia was dominating the show.  The additions of Jeff Hardy, RVD and Shannon Moore should compliment an already great roster.

As usual with TRISTAR products, this set will be all about the fun autograph cards.  Each set keeps getting better as far as design and photography goes.  I’m excited to see what’s in store with this set.

Technorati Tags: TRISTAR,TNA Wrestling