SummerSlamm Axxess VIP

These are already on presale. If you need a code, use TWAXXESS. Tickets can be found at www.axs.com. A new format has been added by making more Superstars available for VIP sessions at different price levels. This is a smart move. For example, The Shield can be had for around $97 (with fees). Seems like a good deal for three guys that will most likely be the future of the company.

John Cena is sold out already but surprised the other VIP sessions have not sold out (especially Triple H). When WrestleMania Axxess went on sale, there was all sorts of ticketmaster trouble, VIPs sold out very quickly. So if you are late to the game, it is your lucky day. Full sale is Saturday 7/20/13 at 1pm est.

Money in the Bank

We were at Money in the Bank PPV the other night in Philadelphia. It was our first live event since WrestleMania (which we did not post about). The crowd was great, show was great, and most of the matches were great.

Fans dressed up:
Hulk Hogan #1 (we got a picture with)
Hulk Hogan #2
Dean Ambrose
Bray Wyatt
"Other" Wyatt Family Member
Damien Sandow

Bob Backlund was in attendance posing for professional photos which were printed out and then he autographed. The pricing was confusing, looked to be about $30 but not real sure. The doors to the building opened late (which seems to happened at every WWE event) and did not want to miss The Shield.

The Shield received a massive pop and for a preview show, was one of the better matches of the night. Rob Van Dam of course got a great reception. After the last MITB match, Van Dam played to the crowd, went around and slapped hands and basically was thanking everyone for the reception.

Good night all around. Payback just hit Blu-ray for those interested.

WWE 2013 Triple Threat

We have pre-ordered our case to break. Interested to see what we get and the new "Triple threat" relic cards. Here is the product description: PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS - New Triple Threat Themed cards are sets of 3 cards that match up to reveal the three "threats" that make the featured Superstar a force in WWE. - Also NEW! For the first time, look for new ultimate WWE "Triple Threat" relics that include 3 hits on a single card - WWE 2013: Triple Threat is unlike any previous annual WWE card set - Guaranteed 2 Hits per Box! Hobby Only! - Each pack contains six (6) WWE 2013 Base Cards; one (1) Insert Card (of either Triple Threat 1, 2, 3, or Diva Centerfold).
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Extensive 210-card set highlights WWE's best

110 Base cards feature today's hottest Superstars, Divas, and Legends

90 Triple Threat cards show what makes Superstars the best out there
- 30 subjects including John Cena, CM Punk, and Undertaker
- Set of 3 matching cards that combine to create a montage highlighting the stars' three "threats"

10 Diva Centerfolds show off fan-favorite Divas
- 3-panel fold-out cards present Divas larger than life


Fan Excitement
- New 2013 design
- Triple Threats
- Diva Centerfolds

Collector Value
- Autographs (1 per 2 Boxes)
- Triple Relics - 50 total
- Diva Kiss Cards - 200 total
- Printing Plates - 200 total

Parallels
- Black 1:6 packs
- Silver 1 per Box (Hobby Only)
- Gold: 10 per subject

WWF Toys!!

We got our hands on some nice, still in the packaging, Hasbro WWF toys from the 90s. We ended up getting the Rockers, the Nasty Boys and the Legion of Doom. We really had our sights set on LOD and got on a roll. The Rockers has some slight package bending and the other two look great. These toys are becoming harder and harder to find MOB.

WWE '13

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

WWE '13 does some great things that WWE '12 lacked. Our huge irk with WWE '12 was the reversals. Found it extremely tough to reverse but in '13, you can actually time it to get it working.

Attitude Era story is very cool. Great time period to look back on. Best part is you get to use many different characters in different matches. Breaks up the dullness of being one character throughout. Loved being the Undertaker in one match and then facing off as Kane in the next.

The side objectives are great to keep the game interesting. In '12 we would never go back and re-do a stage. In '13, if we miss an objective, we replay immediately to get everything accomplished.

We do not play online or have gone though the WWE Universe options but everything we have played thus far is a vast improvement. Thank you Paul Heyman and THQ. Pick up a copy at Amazon.com.

Wrestling's 101 Strangest Matches

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

Wrestling's 101 Strangest Matches by Oliver Hurley was given to us as a gift. We had heard about it and really enjoying it so far. We figured there would be some great old time stories but there are stories in the 90s and 2000s as well. It does a good job of spanning many different eras of pro wrestling. Very easy read and each story is only a page or two. That is great considering we do not have time to sit and read a novel. We pick up the book, read a couple of stories whenever we have a couple of minutes. The book has a cool design, look and feel. Hurley is not American so you will pick up on some literary differences when reading.

One of our favorite stories early on in the book is about Andre the Giant wrestling at the end of his career in Mexico. Andre lost control of his bowels on none other than Bad News Brown. Simply awesome. There are stories of matches that never aired, titles that changed hands but really. Some really good insight on the launch of ECW with Paul Heyman and Shane Douglas and how shady the wrestling business can be.

Amazon is almost out so get it while you can.

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.