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PREVIEW THE NEW TNA WRESTLING / TRISTAR TRADING CARDS
By Ross Forman

The first TNA Wrestling trading card set of the Hulk Hogan regime – fittingly called, The New Era – has been, without question, the most talked about pro wrestling release ever.  And it finally will be available in trading card stores this week, and in mid-May in mass retail outlets, such as Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, etc.

The 100-card set from Houston-based Tristar Productions, Inc., includes, “The Greatest Wrestling Card Ever Made,” according to trading card expert Chris Olds of Dallas-based Beckett Media.

The Greatest card features authentic signatures of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sting and Kevin Nash.

“I’d like to tell you that I mentally cued up Ric Flair’s famous theme song from ‘A Space Odyssey,’ but my initial reaction was more like ‘Wow!’ or a certain two-word chant made famous by wrestling fans in Philadelphia,” Olds said.

“Hogan, a household name, combined with the guy many wrestling purists consider to be the greatest traditional ‘wrestler’ ever, Flair alone is huge. Throw on Sting, one of the more memorable personalities in the WCW days, and you have three biggies -- and a Sting is a guy who has been vital to TNA getting to this point as well. All three are among the ‘top’ autographs in wrestling, not including rarities like Andre The Giant. And then you throw in Nash, who is a memorable guy who has worked with them all.

“It’s just a big deal card-wise.”

Olds does not set card prices for Beckett, “but I was talking about the cards with our price guide analyst for wrestling, Bryan Hornbeck, and we’re convinced that the quad will conservatively be a $300-400 card to start – and that’s not really knowing how scarce they might be,” he said.  “If they are tougher finds, it should fetch more.”

Olds said that Hogan autographs can fetch $100 and up, while Flair’s lone autograph from last year was as much as $250.

The value of The Greatest card, “really just depends on how many they make,” Olds said.

TNA 2010: The New Era features cards of all the stars, including Jeff Hardy and new TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam.

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“With the tremendous changes that TNA has made since January, the new set from Tristar really does a good job reflecting all of that transformation,” Olds said. “Nearly all of the new additions are seen on the checklist with updated photos and autographs from many of them. A roughly three-month turnaround on a card set is a pretty strong accomplishment considering all the logistics of signing deals, getting autographs signed, selecting photos from that short time-frame, getting cards printed and packaged.

“Consider that Rob Van Dam’s card shows him from his debut on March 8 — and will be in collectors’ hands on April 28. I’m not sure many sports sets have that kind of turnaround.

“In all, it’s perhaps the strongest release Tristar has had so far with its TNA sets – and the obvious big inclusions are autographs from Hulk Hogan and the first certified autographed wrestling cards of Ric Flair, a guy who had never signed for a card company until Panini got him for a non-sports celebrity set just last year.”

Many other TNA stars signed cards, including all members of The Beautiful People, Hardy, Van Dam, Shannon Moore and even Bubba The Love Sponge.

“With cards these days, a majority of the attention definitely rests with the autograph selection. The Hogan-Flair-Sting-Nash quad autograph (card) is a biggie, but there are a lot of other interesting triple- and dual-signed cards,” Olds said. “My favorite of the bunch might be the Hogan-Flair dual, but there are several (others) worth noting, (such as) the Hogan combos, Sting-Flair, Flair-Styles, and so on.

“Lacey Von Erich’s first trading cards are in here as well – and her first autograph card is the only autograph card for the entire Von Erich family, which as we all know has quite a history in wrestling. Although she’s still relatively new, a longer-term wrestling fan can appreciate that history.

Olds, 33, is a longtime Hogan fan who formerly worked for the Orlando Sentinel sports department.  His favorite cards from the TNA 2010: The New Era set are the dual Hogan-Flair card (No. A2-22) and the TNA Debut card of Lacey Von Erich.

Here are Olds’ additional thoughts from Olds on the new TNA trading card set:

Thoughts about the set’s design & photography:
“The design is relatively consistent with recent releases, perhaps slightly more simplified to showcase the photography of Lee South a bit more. The sets always have a good mix of action and studio photography that capture the energy and the personalities pretty well, though this one might rely on a bit more action than others Tristar has made.

“Mr. Anderson’s standard card (No. 16) really stands out to me as a strong image, if not the best photo of the bunch that captures the character. Other strong cards are Matt Morgan (No. 35), The Beautiful People (No. 49), and ODB (No. 55), which has an almost revealing image of her in action with Tara.  Another memorable photo is Von Erich’s card — simply because she’s applying The Iron Claw to her opponent.

“The design of the autograph cards is very clean with the signature showcased along with studio photos. They’re simple, but get the job done, which collectors definitely appreciate.”

Thoughts about the base set:
“It’s a set that’s loaded with a bunch of new faces and most of the past familiar ones as well. It’s perhaps a little overloaded with Hogan and Flair, but I understand that need this time around.

“When Bob Carter has his own card, you can tell that Tristar got a lot of people involved with TNA in this one, which adds to the charm of the set. That’s also something that collectors who get autographs through the mail can appreciate as they try to add some variety in their collections.

“TNA has a lot of younger, or lesser-known talent, but it’s a good thing to see them all represented on cards because cards are one way that fans can learn who they are and what they’re about.”

Thoughts about the inserts (autographs, relics):
“Tristar was the first company to release certified autograph cards with multiple wrestlers on them with its first TNA set a few years ago. That’s something Topps didn’t do with its WWE sets until Just last year and Fleer didn’t do in the past. The autographed memorabilia card in wrestling hadn’t been done much before Tristar, either. This set’s autographed combos are exciting. Sure, some critics will say, ‘but they’re old’ about some of the veterans, but for wrestling collectors who haven’t had a whole lot of higher-end autographed combo cards, they are here and Tristar has made them.”

Thoughts about having autograph- and relic-cards in the same set from, arguably, the two biggest names in wrestling history, Flair & Hogan:
“Tristar owner Jeff Rosenberg called Hogan’s addition to TNA alone, ‘a shot in the arm’ in terms of marketing power and name-recognition – the ability to have a face on the box that everyone recognizes, not just wrestling fans.

“That was late last year, before Flair was in the fold, and Flair just adds to that on the collectibles side, perhaps more so than the wrestling/TV side to tell you the truth. From a collectibles standpoint, this could be one of those landmark sets for wrestling collectors. The draw of a Hogan-Flair autograph card will probably get some non-wrestling collectors to buy it, just to see if they can find one and make some money re-selling them to those who want one.”

How does this set compare to all wrestling sets:
“The product as a whole, without the autographs, is pretty standard for Tristar-TNA releases. They’ve been consistent. But considering the turnaround for getting all these new faces in, it’s a set that’s interesting in a lot of ways not reflected in the ‘value’ per se.

“The autograph checklists, presuming that the big names aren’t super-tough pulls, is as strong as any in past from a hobby perspective, though there will inevitably be boxes that don’t deliver the biggest names.

Impressions of the Obak cards, which are numbered 91-100, and a throwback to vintage baseball cards of the early-1900s:
“It gives a touch of ‘something else’ and a different style in the product. Ultimately, they’re not a necessity for the product, but they add to the mix. Perhaps it’s a tease toward a future retro-styled wrestling set from Tristar?”