I collect a number of things other than pro wrestling trading cards and toys. I collect comic books, I collect anything related to retired baseball player Jose Canseco (the most pro wrestling of all baseball players), and I collect Garbage Pail Kids, the long-running series of Topps’ “gross out” parody stickers/trading cards that debuted in 1985. My various arenas of personal collection don’t overlap too often, but when they do, it’s a very special occasion.
Excluding his failed attempts at a boxing and MMA career, Canseco never stepped into the squared circle, but I’ve previously written about when pro wrestling and comic books collide — see When pro wrestling inspires non-wrestling comic books, parts one and two — and in addition to this, when handled properly, pro wrestling and Garbage Pail Kids (GPK) can be a match made in heaven. Few official, as in Topps and/or WWE licensed, examples of a wrestling and GPK partnership exist, but the ones that do have become highly collectible, and valuable, items of interest, and one very recent parody set is perhaps the best work of pro wrestling/GPK influenced art that I’ve seen, so far.
A personal favorite piece of wrestling/GPK art that I can’t exclude is a painting my daughter commissioned for me several years ago by an artist named Forrest Robinson. This piece is a one of a kind GPK-style portrait of me, wearing my NJPW Lion Mark baseball shirt, getting choked out by a vascular, Hulkster-esque figure, and it remains on display in my office/collectibles cave.
As for the first GPK wrestling card that I’m aware of, in 2007, Topps released Garbage Pail Kids All-New Series 6, which included card 16A, Hacked Hogan. For those that don’t know, GPK sets always include an A and B version of each sticker/card, so 16B is named Russel Mania (get it?), but features the same illustration of a familiar bandana-wearing, mustachioed wrestler tearing the skin off his chest, exposing his ribcage. While this is an official Topps/GPK set, WWE had no involvement in the making of this card, so the parody element of the card, which pokes fun at a certain wrestler’s recent (at the time) scandal, is a little more pointed.
It wasn’t until March 2019, 12 years later, that Topps and WWE partnered up and released the first official WWE x GPK set. This was a 13-card set, sold as a complete set for $29.99, and made available to order on Topps.com for 30 days. The WWE x GPK set was printed to order, and at the end of the 30-day run, they sold and printed 1,028 sets, making this a relatively low print set. The GPK art in this set is decent, if not great, and since this is an official WWE licensed product, the parodies are pretty tame, with names like Savage Randy, Gigantic Andre, and Slick Ric, but due to the relative rarity of this pre-COVID trading card set, prices of individual cards, especially graded copies, can sell for up to ten times the retail cost of the full set.
For such an initially low run set, the WWE x GPK set has continued to garner interest, and demand, in additional WWE x GPK releases. After the release of the WWE x GPK card set, Loyal Subjects produced a line of toys replicating several of the WWE x GPK trading cards, including Unraveled Warrior, Seething Steve, and the previously mentioned Savage Randy and Gigantic Andre. These toys can be purchased for less than $20 each, on average, so these are relatively inexpensive collectibles for fans of the WWE and Garbage Pail Kids, but for collectors with more disposable income, Topps included a premium version of the 2019 WWE x GPK card set in their most exclusive product of the year.
In 2021, Topps released 2021 WWE Transcendent Collection, a super premium set of cards, limited to just 50 boxes total, that included the full base set of WWE Transcendent cards, 50 WWE autographed cards, and several other premium WWE collectibles, including a one of one oversized WWE x GPK original art card, created by Garbage Pail Kids artists Bret Engstrom and Joe Simko. Some of the art cards will be familiar to those who know the 2019 WWE x GPK set, but being that the 2019 set only had 13 cards, and this one had 49, a far wider array of WWE talent received the GPK treatment in 2021 WWE Transcendent. However, if you weren’t one of the 50 lucky ducks who could afford a box of 2021 WWE Transcendent, good luck getting your hands on one of these art cards. There’s just two of them currently listed on eBay, a Sgt. Slaughter for $10,984.99 and an Undertaker for $79,499.99 (or best offer).
There hasn’t been an official WWE x GPK collaboration since 2021 WWE Transcendent, and since the WWE license now resides with Panini, instead of Topps, 2021 WWE Transcendent could be the last official WWE x GPK release for the foreseeable future, but in recent weeks, a brand new set of pro wrestling and GPK-inspired cards has seen the light of day.
I recently opened a pack of All “Echh”Lite trading cards, and it’s just about everything I could’ve wanted from a pro wrestling and Garbage Pail Kids-inspired set of cards. First things first, All “Echh” Lite is not an officially licensed set of cards, but in a way, I think it’s almost better that way. Garbage Pail Kids are, at heart, a set of parody stickers. The name itself, Garbage Pail Kids, is mocking Cabbage Patch Kids, one of the biggest toy fads of the 1980s, so it’s only fair that this set is a parody of Garbage Pail Kids.
Also, since AEW has nothing to do with All “Echh” Lite, the wrestler parodies and puns aren’t quite as lame as what may come in an officially licensed product. Sure, some of the jokes are still groan-inducing, but it’s a fun set, with more of a PG-13 twist than WWE x GPK.
The original Garbage Pail Kids were controversial because they were wax packs of stickers advertised to kids that portrayed smoking, alcohol, violence, and blood, among other bodily fluids, and thankfully, All “Echh” Lite remains faithful to the rebellious spirit of the source material. All “Echh” Lite doesn’t use any actual AEW names, but the talent who serve as inspiration for each card is very clear, and not unlike GPK’s Hacked Hogan, fans should easily spot the references. For example, All “Echh” Lite pays tribute to the most famous GPK of all, Adam Bomb, with its own version in Combustible Cole.
All “Echh” Lite trading cards were created by Canadian artist Mad Mod Poet God, real name Terry Gordon. Each pack of cards comes with the full 10-card set, plus a sticker version of one of the cards, and either a hologram or a sketch card randomly inserted in each pack.
In my pack, in addition to the base set of ten beautifully illustrated and colored cards, I received a Furious Friedman sticker and a Combustible Cole hologram, an ideal fit for my Adam Bomb collection.
If you want to order a pack, you must send the artist a direct message on Instagram @madmodpoetgod and pay via PayPal. My pack cost $14, including shipping to the United States, and my only regret is not buying more than one pack.
At the time of this writing, packs of All “Echh” Lite trading cards are still available for purchase from Mad Mod Poet God, but you better act fast, while supplies last, because collectors like me are going to snatch up any pro wrestling and GPK-inspired collectibles like these while we can.
RELATED LINKS