After a few years of a boom period for independent wrestling card releases, 2024 was a bit of a down year for indie wrestling cards, while Panini, Upper Deck, and now Topps dominated the wrestling card headlines, but 2025 is starting off strong with a few new indie wrestling card releases, including the recently reviewed All ‘Echh’ Lite series two.
One new independent set that I recently picked up is the first trading card release by We Love Wrestling (WLW). The first series of WLW wrestling cards was just released in January, and I bought a set when I attended We Love Wrestling & Horror Slam Present “Motor City Massacre” last month. Ahead of their show in Livonia, Michigan in February, I was excited to see WLW had produced their first set of trading cards, especially since they’re based out of my home state of Wisconsin, so I’m excited to shed a light on them and their talent.
Series one of We Love Wrestling trading cards includes four holographic cards, two dynamic duos cards, and nine WLW roster cards. They sell individual cards for $5 each or the entire set of fifteen cards for $25, so of course I bought the whole set. And I’m glad I did, because by buying the whole set, I got cards of several wrestlers I saw at the recent WLW/Horror Slam show, including “Death Proof” Tommy Trainwreck, who’ve I’ve seen wrestle live multiple times and is a standout talent among deathmatch wrestlers, high-flyer Aaron Ashura, WLW Tag Team champions Twist & Flip, and a holographic card of WLW’s third (and current) Pure Heart Champion, Bobby V.
It’s a cool, new independent wrestling card set by a cool, relatively new independent wrestling company. I’m happy to support them, and I hope they continue to grow and create many wrestling card sets to come.
Another new independent wrestling card set I recently acquired is the sophomore release of Atomic Legacy Wrestling (ALW), formerly Atomic Revolutionary Wrestling, based out of Orlando, Florida. ALW’s first set of wrestling cards, which I reviewed in October 2022, was a big hit among independent wrestling card collectors, with it’s stellar photography and full-bleed images, a rare feature in mainstream wrestling cards, let alone independent cards, so a second series was hotly anticipated, and it doesn’t disappoint.
The new ALW trading card set comes with 27 wrestling cards, as well as “a test print card numbered to five or fewer or a dynamic duo card numbered to two or less.” Sets can be purchased for $30 each, or if you buy two or more sets, the website has a coupon code for $10 off.
Once again, this set was designed by ALW star and former Heavyweight Champion Ryzin, and produced by ring announcer and commentator Pete Lynch, with photographs provided by Leo Angulo, with Distracted by Wrestling, and Erin Hardin (aka Celluloid Sickness Photography).
Speaking of the photography, it’s a genuine highlight of this set, like last time around, with a level of clarity and brightness you just don’t see in most wrestling trading card sets, independent or mainstream, and while the graphics on the front of the cards are minimal, they’re extremely sharp. While I may not be familiar with all of the talent on the ALW roster, seeing them presented on wrestling cards of this caliber definitely makes me interested in who they are, plus there’s still a few names even I know, such as Leva Bates, El Ridiculoso, and deathmatch wrestler North Korean Assassin. There’s also one wrestler who fans of “Black and Gold” era NXT should be very familiar with, 17 year-old Izzy Moreno. That’s right, Bayley’s “super fan” Izzy began training in 2023, and her trading card is this last numbered in this ALW set.
Overall, this is just a beautifully designed set of wrestling cards, and an excellent example of what independent wrestling cards can be. So far, with wrestling card releases like All ‘Echh’ Lite series two, We Love Wrestling series one, and Atomic Legacy Wrestling trading cards, 2025 is looking to be a big comeback year for independent wrestling cards.
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