2012 Topps WWE Heritage

Did not go after a box yet but picked up some hot packs. Bought two relic jumbo hot packs and an autograph hot pack. Pretty happy with the results.

Daniel Bryan Relic (one of our favorites)
Zack Ryder Relic
I.R.S. autograph

There are some nice autos in this series and we are pretty happy getting an older star like I.R.S. Who can forget the tag team Money, Inc., couple of great heels. Check out more info about this set by wrestlingtradingcards.com. Check out Amazon to pick some up.

2012 Leaf Originals Wrestling Addition

We added this puppy to our collection, winning an eBay auction. What can we say, we loved Jake the Snake and his recent appearance of the Art of Wrestling's podcast inspired us. Check out Amazon for some buying options.

Bam! It's Bernie - WWF Wrestling Legends Minimalist Series

Photo courtesy of Bam! It's Bernie

Found a cool designer on Etsy doing some great wrestling designs, Bam! It's Bernie. At first he had some minimalist designed posters featuring Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Macho Man Randy Savage, & The Ultimate Warrior which all looked great. Then from the posters came the t-shirts. We love t-shirts.

We had to get our hands on a Macho Man shirt. Bright orange color, cool design, sure to be a head turner. We ordered it pre-sale and happy to report the shirt came relatively fast and in perfect condition. The shirt has a nice material, not hard, not gritty. We hope to see some more cool things from Bernie (mind if we call you that , or should it be Bam!), so make sure you support this designer.

Bam! It's Bernie for his designs and give him a follow on twitter.com.

WWE: CM Punk - Best in the World

Photo courtesy of Amazon

It came out in October, but we just got. This is probably the best doc we have seen from WWE. There are a couple of reasons why.

MUSIC: CM Punk hand picked the music to use. this is real punk music, not those generic studio tracks the WWE likes have. Soundtracks can make or break a movie.

STORY: This is real life, underdog, should not have made it, from Indy Wrestler to being Champion of the World. The doc starts out in the early backyard wrestling life, through the Indies, Summer of Punk, Punk almost leaving WWE to being on top of the world. They covered it all.

INDY WRESTLING: Lots of great footage. Not sure WWE has ever done this before, showing so much indy footage. CM Punk in IWA, ROH, wrestling with Colt Cabana, Chris Hero, Samoa Joe, there is just tons of footage. We haven't checked out the extras yet but I am sure we should be pleased.

This would make a great gift as the holidays are upon us. So pick one up today.

Finished All AOW Episodes

It happened. We did it. Back in September we started catching up listening to the AOW podcast. Last week, we finished listening to all the episodes. That was a lot of wrestling. Thanks Colt.

2012 Leaf Originals Wrestling

Love wrestlers from the past? Love collecting autographs? This new collection put out by Leaf is just for you. A hobby box is a little pricey (seen it for around $70-$80), but the 5 cards in the box are guaranteed autographs. The sketches are a little caricature like, but they are autographed.

Instead of a box, we opted to go after some pieces on eBay. Bought the Iron Sheik (who doesn't love Sheikie Baby?) and made an offer on a 12 card lot which was accepted. For the lot, were after Heenan, and the Steiner Brothers. Santana and Shamrock were nice gets as well. We are really enjoying these cards checking out all of our favorites from the past. So many cool wrestlers are included in this collection. We may still pick up a box and try our luck. These would make great gifts.

For more info, check out a cool site we found, WrestlingTradingCards.com. Leaf 2012 Wrestling Originals info. Check out Amazon for some buying options.

Kenny Omega vs 9 Year Old Haruka

In Japan, they like some odd entertainment. This however is great. Kenny Omega has talked about working with 9 year old Haruka, how they trained for the match and how impressed he was with Haruka. Awesome video and Haruka looks like a future star. Huge props to Omega who shows just how talented he is to pull off a match with a 9 year old girl.

Smackdown - Hershey, PA Encounter

We would like to share a story with an encounter we had after a Smackdown show and I will be telling it as the driver (a little foreshadowing). The show was in Hershey, PA on June 21, 2011. It was a good show and had nice seats. The Hershey Arena is a small, intimate setting which made the experience even better. After the show is where we ended up with an encounter.

Like most arenas, traffic after shows turns out to be bumper to bumper trying to exit the parking lot. Our car was in the far left lane, already merged over with stop and go cars ahead. As I looked over to my left, I noticed an SUV coming up side by side with us, trying to get ahead of me. Normal reaction would be a little anger, however, in the passenger seat was Wade Barrett staring back at me. So with a laugh and a nod, I decided to let them ahead of me.

Now, right there makes for a nice little story, but with some quick thinking, we turned this into a great a memory. So with Wade Barrett in front us, he was stuck in the same traffic we were. I wanted an autograph, thought it be deserved for my nice driving gesture. I had a pen and had my ticket stub. I threw the car in park, jumped out and went up to Wade's window. He sort of just looked over and with his window up I mouthed, "can I please get an autograph? I did let you in back there..." and gave a smile.

Without saying a word, Wade rolled down the window and took my ticket to sign. As he was signing, I look to the back seat and there was Daniel Bryan, sort of laying back there looking back at me. When Wade handed back my ticket, I went to Daniel with my ticket and pen extended to him with a, "please?" Daniel did the same as Wade, no words, rolled the window down and signed. Now as Daniel was signing, I look tot he driver who was none other than, Cody Rhodes. I run around the front of the car to Cody's window who already had his window down. Without a word or a look, Cody signed the back of my ticket for me. I thanked them all and jumped back in my car.

This whole time, traffic had not moved anywhere. Shortly after getting in my car and celebrating my meetings, we see a guy run up in between the cars to get a peek at who I was getting autograph from. I see Wade sort of decline the guy to step back, there was a break in the traffic and Cody drove off crossing all four lanes to the right and they were gone. I couldn't think of any better way to wait out traffic.

Barbershop Window: Wrestling Apparel

Photo courtesy of www.barbershopwindow.com

Photo courtesy of www.barbershopwindow.com

We have heard about Barbershop Window (we'll call them BShop for short) through various channels (most notable on the Art of Wrestling podcast and as seen on TMZ) and have wanted to place an order for a while. These guys do great tee shirt designs, great looking, clever, funny and stylish. Well last month, BShop ran an anniversary sale where if you purchased one tee, you would receive a free BShop logo tee. We can't resist a good sale.

BShop has a nice selection of tees with great designs. From current wrestlers, featured Indies and references from the past, BShop covers a wide range of designs. We were tempted with a Mr. Perfect shirt, a Miami Dolphins inspired BShop shirt (got to check it out here), & Rick Rude shirt. However, we went with a Shirt featuring an Indiana Jones like character press slamming another wrestler with the phrase Indy Wrestling scrolled across the top.

The packages came, perfect condition, the right sizes, and correct designs. The order took about 3-4 weeks. Now this seems long but the site explicitly states their turn around time, so it was not a surprise to us. The length of time sort of adds to their small business, semi-underground club feel. Has the are of something that is not mass produced off an assembly line. One think we would like to see is the ability to choose a shirt type. We love our tees just as BShop, so we know of the wide range of physical shirts out there.

Support these guys so they can keep doing great work. We love the shirts we got and hope to order more in the future. Visit their site, www.barbershopwindow.com.

WrestleMania 29: Here We Come!

We...are...going...to WrestleMania! Our calendars are marked for the weekend of April 5, 2013. Individual tickets have not gone on sale yet, so we went with a travel package. The weekend is going to packed with wrestling related activities. There are different level of travel packages. Check them out at WWE.com.

We opted for the Silver, three night hotel stay (sorry Raw, we need to get home). If we were loaded, would love to have a tour of WWE Headquarters. But very happy with our package which includes two sessions to Axxess, Hall of Fame Ceremony tickets and 100 level seating for WrestleMania. For the hotel, it will be 1 of 4 hotels (which we find out later which hotels those will be) and public transportation to the events.

Travel packages are only available through October 31, 2012, so get on it.

Topps WWE 2012 - Part 2

Alright, so we couldn't resist, wanted to search out another autograph. We saw two options on eBay. One auction guaranteed an SP Auto in one pack and a Relic/Diva Kiss in the other. By the way, from our experience, whenever a hot pack gives options with what you can get, it is most likely you will get the low end of what is advertised. the second auction guaranteed a HOF Auto in one pack and a Relic/Diva Kiss in the other. HOF was tempting but went to bid on the SP. The SP list has multiple Mick Foley changes, Triple H and Booker T so took a chance. As you can see we came up with Hunico. I think we may be done with 2012 and be happy with out Miz printing plate because we have not done that great. R-Truth relic is nice but nothing special.

Check out Amazon for buying options.

Topps WWE 2012

Yes, we like collecting wrestling stuff and yes we still like cards. So when WWE 2012 by Topps came out we had to try our luck and buy some product. Hobby boxes were boasting two guaranteed hits, 1 Shirt Relic and Wrestlemania Mat Relic or Autograph so we were hoping for some nice hits.

What We Bought?

• 2 Hobby Boxes pre-ordered from Dave and Adam's Card World
• 3 Jumbo Hot packs from eBay
• 1 Jumbo Hot pack, case hit guaranteed

How Did We Do?

• Between the two hobby boxes we got two base sets complete. This should be a given with a hobby box but is not always the case.
• Hobby box one yielded the expected Shirt Relic hit (Big Show) and Wrestlemania Mat Relic (Chris Jericho).
• Hobby box one also had an extra hit, 1/1 Printing Plate (The Miz)!
• Hobby box two yielded a Shirt Relic (Mark Henry) and an Autograph...of Alicia Fox. Autograph is cool, but was hoping for a bigger name (sorry Divas).
• So after the two hobby boxes, we were still jonesin for more hits and took to eBay. Found a user selling three Jumbo hot packs and won all three auctions
• Jumbo hot pack one gave us a Shirt Relic of...the Big Show, doh! Yes, same card we already had.
• Jumbo hot pack contained a Shirt Relic of Albert Del Rio. Not bad, we sort of like him.
• Jumbo hot pack three produced another Chris Jericho Wrestlemania Mat relic, what!? But wait, this one is different. It is a parallel with a black boarder. No complaints here.
• Still not satisfied, back to eBay we went. This time we bought a Jumbo pack with a guaranteed case hit. Opening it up, we were hoping for a Triple H auto or a Diva Kiss. Got neither, ended up with a black boarder Sheamus parallel. At least it was a bigger name and not a Curt Hawkins. We actually like Curt but won't bring in the money a Sheamus would.

Overall we are pretty happy but were hoping for a bigger auto card. Who knows, we may take a dive back into the well if we get the itch again.

Check out Amazon for buying options.

Daniel Bryan: Hugs

Bryan Danielson, or should we say Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan), was involved in hugs (or lack there of) well prior to his current Kane/Anger Management bit with the WWE. These pre-match antics with El Generico (@ElGenerico) are pretty great. Gives you a true feel for the ROH fan base.

WWF Wrestling Buddies

Remember WWF Wrestling Buddies? With the release of WWE's new Brawlin' Buddies, it brought back memories of our childhood when we had Wrestling Buddies. Tonka came out with the four original Buddies in 1990, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, & Ted DiBiasi. The Ultimate Warrior was our favorite at the time. Hey, when you are a kid it is all about the entrance and the gimmick, right?

Merchandise was great in the 90's and the Wrestling Buddies were really cool. Everyone had one and we used to beat the crap out of them and each other using them as weapons. The good old days.

Later on some other wrestlers were sold, Big Boss Man, Jake Roberts, & Legion of Doom. So wanted the Legion of Doom ones when they came out. And if you are like us and did not get everything you wanted as a kid, luckily we have eBay to satisfy our inner kid.

Now the WWE is trying to bring back the success of the originals and have released Brawlin' Buddies through Mattel. The four wrestlers in this series are Jon Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, & Rey Mysterio. This seems pretty weak compared to the four original Tonkas. Now, we know wrestling is different, it is a different time, but these Buddies have nothing that really standouts besides Mysterio and his mask and green color. Hopefully these do well and there will be a Zack Ryder, Kane, or Brodus Clay Buddy released to bring some personality back to the toys.

Check out Amazon for buying options.

ECWA: 45th Anniversary

Photo courtesy of ECWA

This post won't be about results, good guys beating bad guys (or vice versa), but rather about the independent experience. It is that small arena, intimate setting, where you hope to see guys give it their all to entertain the crowd experience we are looking for. Just like walking into a minor league baseball stadium, you hope to catch a glimpse of a star of tomorrow. Take in a memory where you can look back and say, "I knew him back when..."

ECWA recently had their 45th anniversary show, September 15, 2012. The organization is the oldest independent professional wrestling company in the United States. We had a great time at the show. So at a minor league baseball game, they have some crowd participation activities. ECWA brought that to the wrestling arena. First was a giveaway to date a wrestler. Pretty cool idea in which the lucky lady gets a free meal and transportation on her night out with an ECWA wrestler. The next event in which the audience got involved was a lumberjack match where random fans were chosen as the lumberjacks. This concept is really great to get fans in on the action. There were 12 (maybe 11 as one seemed to be a plant) chosen to surround the ring, got involved with tossing wrestlers back in the ring and even carried a heel to the ring from the back. Overall the show provided everything a wrestling fan needs, heels, babyfaces, comedy, crowd work and even a storyline reveal.

Now the actual wrestling. Besides the lumberjack match which was the comic relief, there was some great displays of wrestling put on. As wrestling historians, we loved seeing Tony Mamaluke (@newyorkwrestler). If you remember Tony was part of the FBI from the ECW days, which brought back some good memories. Tag team championship match, Fusion DS (@STBDamianDragon & @SaigonXspecial) vs The Sons of Blackheart, aka The Midnight Sensations (@TMSShields & @RockwellCPR), was a good length, some good spots and had an intriguing story line twist which we mentioned earlier with the unmasking of The Sons of Blackhearts to reveal they were really The Midnight Sensations. Don't get us wrong, other great performances were put on throughout the night but want to move onto the main event.

Greek God Papadon (@greekgodpapadon), who is the top guy in the ECWA, gives you the feeling that this guy will get called up to the majors at some point. He has skills on the mic, works aggressively in the ring and has a great persona. As a performer, he is cocky, arrogant and oozes a disdain for the fans. But before the show he was out front, selling his shirts (pretty nice looking, yeah we picked one up), interacting with fans and seems to be a pretty nice guy. Papadon was ranked 223 by PWI which seems way too low. We are hoping we can look back and take some pride in knowing we saw Papdon wrestle before he was huge. Papadon ended the night losing his championship belt to Chris Wylde (@TheChrisWylde) who held his own to make for an entertaining match.

We enjoyed our night at ECWA and they are doing independent wrestling right. It was a great, fan friendly atmosphere where families can share a night out together. Make sure you support independent wrestling.

Joey Ryan: Legalize Sleaze

Photo courtesy of joeyryanonline.bigcartel.com

Joey Ryan has finally brought something exciting to TNA. The blurry line of an independent wrestler, getting on national television, showing up and causing chaos. Whether or not Ryan has a contract (all signs show Ryan is still a true indy), it doesn't matter because this is something new, different and from a cool personality.

For those who first saw Ryan on TNA's GutCheck segement (getting rejected), Ryan has been wrestling for over 12 years. He was done work for PWG, ROH, Ring Ka King and others. The guy has the charisma that reminds you of what great wrestling is all about.

So enough background. TNA rejected Ryan and then Ryan takes to social media and self promotion. He runs promos on his youtube channel and twitter proclaiming that he deserves to be in TNA. 87% of TNA fans agreed by voting on TNA's website and the 87% has become a symbol for Ryan's fan base.

When not promoting himself, Ryan pops up on TNA wrestling getting into it with Al Snow. The interruptions have escalated to a match with Snow to get a contract. Dirt sheets are claiming that Snow (the one judge who said yes to Ryan) was thrust into the feud after Taz was ruled out for a match with Ryan due to his existing back problems. Taz and Ryan had some great heat but since he cannot wrestle, Snow was put into the spot to have a match. Fine by us, whatever gets Joey Ryan on TNA television.

Support @joeyryanonline and check out his merch at joeyryanonline.bigcartel.com.

A Documentary About Extreme Championship Wrestling

ECW, ECW, ECW! That chant still holds something something to us at Atomic Leg Drop. The mere mention of it brings back that feeling of just seen something you have never seen before. ECW was extreme, revolutionary and the alternative to the big two.

Two film makers, Kevin Kiernan and John Philapavage, have started a KickStarter project to get their documentry of ECW released. Watched the trailer and it looks awesome. The footage is from the 90s all the way up until today including footage from the Extreme Renuion show in Philadelphia. Raven, Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Shane Douglas and more favorites are showcased. In the write up we didn't see two notable names, Sabu or Paul Heyman. If these guys aren't in the film, that would be a little disappointing.

These guys have over 50 hours of wrestling footage and interviews so this should cover some great stuff. If you have any sort of fond memories of ECW (prior to it being bought by the WWE), this seems like a must watch. And it looks like it will happen as they seem to have hit their goal on KickStarter. looks like if you still want to donate, you can get in on some pretty cool swag.

SugarSlam III: Batter Royal

Photo courtesy of bakeanddestroy.net

We found something that combines two of our favorite things, pro wrestling and dessert! We bring to your attention SugarSlam. In what is its third year running (how did we miss the first two years), SugarSlam is a professional wrestling themed baking competition.

Cookbook author, cake competition judge and Bake and Destroy creator Natalie Slater is the founder of SugarSlam which blurs these two worlds with a competition that is about creativity as much as it is about baking.

This year's competition, SugarSlam III: Batter Royal featured over 80 entries all sorts of edibles featuring all sorts of wrestling subject matter. Couple of CM Punk and Cena entries but there were some Jake the Snake, Jimmy Snuka and Ultimate Warrior entries for those in search of some nostalgia. One of our favorites was "The Hulkster's Pastamania Cup Cakes" which paid homage to the Hulk's failed 90s restaurant. The thought of going to Pastamania alone makes us laugh.

The finals came down to two entries, "Jake the Cake" and "Kane The Marshmallow from Madrid". Both were creative and looked great. Since there was a tie, the first ever SugarSlam judge was brought in to break it, CM Punk! Yes, it appears CM Punk is friends with Natalie through their Chicago ties. And the winner is Kane!

Go over to Natalie's blog site and check out all the entries from SugarSlam from this year and the past two, http://bakeanddestroy.net/category/sugar-slam/. And if you have baking skills be sure to be part of the competition for next year.

The Art of Wrestling

Photo courtesy of www.welovecolt.com

The Art of Wrestling podcast, done weekly by professional wrestler Colt Cabana, has become a Thursday morning must listen. We came to the party late and have been catching up listening to past episodes, which date back to July 2010, ever since my first download of the show.

Colt interviews and discusses wrestling with his friends from the business. The interview style is great because it flows like a story, taking the listeners on a journey of the highs and lows of the names in the industry. Some of the best episodes however come from guests you may have never heard of. Road stories, the joys, the struggles…everyone has them and they are all different.

Episode 102 features Truth Martini which has become one of our favorites. Such an interesting guy and the episode covers gambling to a near death experience with a crazy chick (a bit of an adult content story). When listening, you forget this is a wrestling podcast, and that is what makes it so great.

Now don't get us wrong, we know the lesser known guests won't be for everyone, but that is OK because Colt has talked with the likes of CM Punk (his best bud), Mick Foley, Iron Sheik and Dolph Ziggler to name a few. Zack Ryder does an episode showcasing what a mark he is and confesses his affection for wrestling figures. Joining late has given us a chance to hear some of his guests being interviewed before they really popped (see Ep 20 with Austin Aries or Ep 68 with Daniel Bryan). That illustrates how well Colt's finger is on the pulse of the wrestling industry. There is a huge world of professional wrestling that lies outside from what you see on TV on WWE or TNA. Colt and many other independents travel all over the country and world to do what they love. You get some international flavor hearing of travels to Japan, trying to get across the Canadian border or having a war zone outside your hotel in Mexico.

The podcast is free and we recommend subscribing on iTunes (set it and forget it). For more information, check out www.welovecolt.com and support Colt so he can continue to put out the Art of Wrestling podcast.