On New Year’s Day 2025, Topps announced what many wrestling collectors have been expecting, “IT’S OFFICIAL: Topps and WWE have reunited for a long-term trading card partnership.”
WWE’s previous trading card contract with Panini was expected to end this year, despite the popularity of WWE Panini trading cards, which has resulted in the controversial inflation of retail trading card prices, as well as some staggering secondary market sales, such as the record breaking sale of a card of The Rock for $126,000.
Some wrestling collectors were surprised the WWE/Panini relationship lasted as long as it did, being that in September 2023, it was reported that “the WWE terminated Panini for breach of contract,” then Panini sued WWE, although that was all eventually settled out of court, which allowed Panini to release more than another year’s worth of WWE trading cards.
Panini is seemingly wrapping up its line of WWE trading cards with a rash of high-end products, such as 2024 Panini National Treasures WWE, which retails for $649.95 for ten wrestling cards, and the soon-to-be-released 2024 Panini Flawless WWE, which is currently on pre-order for $2,499.95 for ten wrestling cards packaged inside of a replica Money in the Bank briefcase, and is expected to be the final set of Panini WWE trading cards for the foreseeable future.
Another issue many wrestling card collectors are now speculating about are unfulfilled Panini WWE redemption cards. For those not already in the know, trading card companies will often include redemption cards in packs of trading cards, which are essentially “IOUs” for trading cards, usually autographs, which the owner can redeem for the card promised. The issue is it often takes months, if not years, for these redemptions to be fulfilled, which has resulted in an unknown backlog of autographs to be signed and redemption cards to be fulfilled.
For example, in April 2023, I pulled a redemption card for an autograph of Brock Lesnar, which was fulfilled a few months later. In another example, I pulled a Cody Rhodes redemption card back in January 2023, and it is yet to be fulfilled, two years later. I also have a redemption card for a 2023 Bob Backlund autograph card, but I wonder how likely it is that it will be fulfilled, and I question the ethics of making redemption cards for Backlund or other talent of advanced age and/or poor health.
The unfortunate truth is redemption cards are a standard part of the trading card hobby, and have been for quite some time, so it’s not just Panini that utilizes redemption cards, and Topps will surely continue this practice with WWE cards, as it does with their other sports cards products.
Controversies and arguments aside, over the past couple of years, Panini released some beautiful and exciting wrestling cards that helped energize a trading card genre that was relegated by most to the bargain bin, and hopefully Topps now sees WWE trading cards for the valuable product that it is.
There’s a lot to be excited about the new Topps WWE trading card partnership. For one, the history between Topps and WWE spans decades. As a matter of fact, 2025 will mark the 40th anniversary of Topps’ first set of wrestling cards, the iconic 1985 Topps WWF. Call it a rookie card at your own peril, but 1985 Topps WWF included (some of) the first mass produced trading cards of Hulk Hogan. Then two years later, Topps released 1987 Topps WWF, which includes the rookie card of Bret Hart, as well as other early cards of Hogan, Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, and other legends from the golden age of 1980s WWF.
After 1987, Topps and WWF parted ways for a number of years, until the release of 2005 Topps WWE Heritage, and from that point on, Topps was the exclusive creator of official WWE trading cards through 2021, when Panini acquired the trading card license.
All of those years of Topps WWF/WWE trading cards means an enormous archive of photographs and set designs to draw inspiration from.
Something else Topps WWE fans have to be excited about is the grand return of the Topps WWE SLAM: Card Trader app. Before Topps officially announced their new partnership with WWE, the Topps WWE SLAM: Card Trader Twitter/X account posted on December 27, 2024, “Topps WWE SLAM will be back and better than ever in early 2025! Get ready to experience the official WWE digital trading card app like never before on your quest to build the ultimate WWE Superstar collection!”
Topps WWE SLAM was/is a digital trading card app, but not to be confused with NFTs, SLAM users don’t actually own the digital cards in their collection, they just exist on the app. It’s a challenge to summarize the appeal of SLAM and and other digital trading card apps, but I previously wrote about my difficult relationship with digital trading cards in an essay titled “To BUNT, or Not to BUNT,” which you can read in my 2024 essay collection Things You Never Knew Existed.
The Topps WWE SLAM: Card Trader app was archived in 2021, ahead of WWE’s contract with Panini, and SLAM fans have been hoping and praying for its return ever since, so I’ve already regained access to my old SLAM account in anticipation of the return of Topps WWE SLAM, which should hopefully have new digital trading cards very soon.
All New Years Day, Topps was busy sharing sneak peaks of new 2025 Topps Chrome WWE trading cards, drumming up excitement for its new partnership with WWE. Topps hasn’t yet released a price, but it has stated that the new cards will be available January 31st, at 12:00 PM EST, and I can’t wait to see what Topps (owned by Fanatics, a retail partner of WWE selling all its merch) and WWE do next.
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