I’m an unabashed fan of every AEW wrestling card product released by Upper Deck, but my sentimental favorite is 2022 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe. Released in the fall of 2023, I’ve opened more packs of 2022 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe than any other AEW Upper Deck set. As a matter of fact, the crown jewel of my wrestling card collection is a 2022 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe Gold Sting Precious Metal Gems. This is one of the few one-of-one trading cards I’ve ever pulled (and graded), and it’s the first, and as of now only, Gold Precious Metal Gems of Sting, which makes it that much more unique and special.
When Upper Deck announced that AEW Skybox Metal Universe would be a biannual release, meaning there would be no new set in the calendar year of 2024 (the 2022 set was released in 2023), my heart sank a little, but I continued to enjoy the AEW Upper Deck releases to follow, and still occasionally opened more packs of 2022 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe, so when the set finally made a comeback, and 2025 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe finally hit the shelves of card shops and online retailers, I was beyond excited to open new packs of AEW Skybox Metal Universe.
2025 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe was officially released in early August 2025, less than two years after the release of the first AEW Skybox Metal Universe, and while I already purchased some packs to open for my own pleasure, Upper Deck recently sent me a sealed hobby box of packs to open and review for Slam, so I’ve gotten the full AEW Skybox Metal Universe experience, and boy oh boy, I’m glad it’s back.
Just to start, no other AEW card set looks like Skybox Metal Universe. While the 2025 base cards are reminiscent of the 2022 base cards, with the metal and foil details and iconic Metal Universe logo stamped on every card, it stands out as a strong new entry in the AEW Upper Deck line of cards. 2025 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe also features some of the most desirable parallels and inserts of all wrestling cards. There’s the Precious Metal Gems, as I previously mentioned, but there’s also Jambalaya inserts, a plethora of autographs, and 2013 Metal Universe Retros, which are a new inclusion for 2025.
In addition to this, these cards are affordable. A hobby box of fifteen packs of cards is currently available for $130, and a blaster box of five packs of cards are about $30, so collectors shouldn’t have to go into debt if they want to open some wrestling cards, and I think that’s an important distinction in the current trading card economy.
So, what did I get in the box of 2025 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe I received from Upper Deck? Here’s some highlights.
In the first pack of cards, I pulled a Ring Heroes insert of Julia Hart and an E-X Century insert of Buddy Matthews. The Ring Heroes are pretty cool, in that they’re designed to look like the cover of a comic book, but the E-X Century cards, which are new this year, are really awesome. Each card features a pretty complicated die-cut, acetate design that really pops.
In the second pack of cards, I pulled an Uno Dos Trios insert of Buddy Matthews, Julia Hart, and Brody King, and a Blast Furnace insert of Hangman Adam Page. I know from opening other packs of 2025 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe that the Trios card is one of the more common inserts of this set, but it’s very vibrant and colorful, so they look good. Blast Furnace is another new insert this year, but the funny thing is, I already pulled an Adam Page from a blaster box, so I would have rather gotten somebody else this time.
In pack number three, I got a Chopped insert of “Switchblade” Jay White and a Prospects card of Komander, and while I like that AEW is starting to recognize things like prospects in their latest sets, it seems a little odd that the wrestlers they’re recognizing as prospects have been wrestling for AEW for quite some time now.
Pack four included an Energ-Eyes (pronounced like “energize,” I assume) insert of Anthony Bowes and my second E-X Century insert, this time of referee Paul Turner. I know some critics of AEW cards don’t care for the inclusion of referees, but I still appreciate it.
Pack five included a Ring Heroes insert of Cope and a Mariah May Prospects insert. In this case, I guess we can think of it like, Mariah May got “traded” and is no longer an AEW prospect, but she still did some great work there. Her Hollywood Ending match with Toni Storm was a bloody classic for the ages. A real work of art.
In my sixth and seventh packs of the box, I pulled a Jon Moxley Ring Heroes (even if he’s currently more of a villain), a Matt Menard Blast Furnace, an Uno Dos Trios insert of Sting, Cope, and Darby Allin, and another Trios insert of the Young Bucks and Jack Perry, but this one was a gold parallel numbered out of 333.
In packs eight and nine, I pulled an Energ-Eyes of Nicholas Jackson (looking extra douchey in his photo), a Big Bill Blast Furnace, a Trios insert of Bishop Khan, Brian Cage, and Toa Liona, and a Bryan Keith Prospect.
Having opened more than half of the box, my observation so far is that I’m pulling a lot of great looking cards, but I’m pulling a lot of the same inserts, so I’m hoping for more diversity with the rest of the packs, and of course a big hit would be nice, too (fingers-crossed).
In my tenth pack, I pulled a Queen Aminata Chopped insert, and my third E-X Century card. This E-X Century was of Tony Schiavone, and it was a purple parallel numbered out of 52. Each box of 2025 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe advertises “at least one numbered card in every box (on average),” and so far I’ve pulled two, which is better than average, so I assume won’t pull any more numbered cards in this box.
Pack eleven included a Chopped insert of Bryan Danielson, and an Anna Jay Copper FX parallel, which looks really great and briefly fooled me into thinking it was a gold one-of-one, and pack twelve included an Energ-Eyes insert of Hikaru Shida and a Jon Moxley Smooth card. I really like the sort of stark simplicity of this card, and hope I pull at least one more in this box.
In lucky pack number thirteen, I pulled a Mariah May Ring Heroes and my hit of the box, a 2013 Metal Universe Retro of Hikaru Shida. This is a comic illustration card, so Shida is drawn like a comic book character. I think it’s a truly awesome card, and the fact that I previously pulled a 2013 Metal Universe Retro of Kris Statlander out of a blaster box makes me want to chase down more of these for my collection.
With two packs to go, I pulled a Trios insert of Nick Wayne, Christian Cage, and Killswitch, and a Hangman Adam Page Copper FX. Want to hear something funny? I already pulled one of these in a blaster box too, which makes for two duplicate Hangman inserts pulled out of a blaster and a hobby box. What are the odds of that? And in my final pack, I pulled a Samoa Joe Chopped insert and a Prospect of Mark Briscoe.
Overall, 2025 Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe is a great looking set of cards, with some beautiful new inserts, and I’m thrilled that it’s back. The hobby box I opened included a lot of the same types of inserts, and I even pulled a few dupes of insert cards that I got from a blaster box, but I’ll definitely be opening more of this in the days to come, and building out my growing collection of Upper Deck AEW Skybox Metal Universe.
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