With the NXT release, we see the first Panini release that didn’t initially sell for a vastly increased price. This one seems much more in line with the previous Topps releases, although it does not include chrome cards, so that may explain part of it. This release features many of the newer NXT talents, including some fairly recent name changes, as well. The base set also contains a subset highlighting Main Roster wrestlers who got their starts in NXT.
Compared to some of the other recent releases, this one contains a fairly modest number. A complete base set is 125 cards, while a box contains 24 packs with 8 cards per pack. There are also a few insert sets, along with an assortment of possible parallels. Each box also advertises one autograph and one memorabilia card.
The 2022 release of 206 looks very much the same as the previous two years. They changed up the available backs a little bit for wave 1, but many of the old favorites are still present. At first glance, it seems to have a fairly healthy print run of 11,243 packs, but the release has changed this year. Last year, each wave had 50 base cards, but this year has doubled that number up to 100. It will be interesting to see if that’s the new normal, or if people just hadn’t noticed.
This series includes some rarer advertising backs, as well as card where the front appears to be a wood grain, but has the standard backs. There are also a few unannounced image variations which were not included on the checklist. There are some big names, both past and present on this checklist, but one of the headliners is probably a hobby darling from early in the year, in Wander Franco. He may not be as highly sought after currently, but this is still another rookie card for him. A box is advertised as one pack containing ten card, two of which are guaranteed to be parallels.
As the second Panini WWE release arrives, we see the market from the first one dropping quite a bit. Even these first appeared for preorder at a greatly inflated price, only to drop very quickly. As the economy worsens, it seems obvious the card market is likely to follow.
On the surface, this seems like a fairly straight forward release. You have a 150 card base set, but this comes along with nine parallels related to the background images. Luckily, the back of the card lists the type of parallel to make it easier to identify each type. There are only a handful of inserts sets possible, but each of those also comes in five different parallel designs. There are possible also possible autographs, but unlike the Topps releases, these hobby boxes do not guarantee any hits.
This is the premier release with Panini taking over the WWE property. The hobby release prices were much higher than similar Topps WWE products from recent months, sometimes even ten times as much. Is the product really worth it? Even this retail product was found at a much higher price than normal retail products.
It will be interesting to see how this product does over the long term. It seems pretty unlikely that collectors are building sets from $1k hobby boxes, but I guess anything is possible. This release features a 200 card base set, along with many parallels and inserts. This blaster box features six packs with four cards per pack, and no guaranteed hits.
Once again, Topps Heritage heralds in the pending baseball season, even if this year is different from normal. This release pays tribute to 1973 Topps with cards in that style, as well as buybacks and other homages to that year. The base set contains 400 cards, with an additional 100 SPs running 401-500, as well as various variant SPs within that base run.
While the prices on many releases have been skyrocketing, and Heritage is up, it still comes in at a mostly reasonable range. Part of the reason for this is likely that Heritage isn’t really a hit driven release, so it’s not as popular for group breakers. Each box does guarantee one relic or autograph, but the autographs are much rarer to receive. A box contains 24 packs, with 9 cards per pack.
