2013 Impact Wrestling Live Box Break

Cards Per Pack: 6
Packs Per Box: 20
Total Cards Expected: 120
Total Cards Received: 120

Total Base Set (W/O SP Cards): 100
Total Base Set Completion (W/O SP Cards): 100%
Total Base Set (W/ SP Cards): 110
Total Base Set Completion (W/ SP Cards): 91%

Base Set Parallels: 2 Gold(Devon, Gail Kim) #/50
Duplicates: 13 cards

Inserts: 4

Gold Autograph: Garrett Bischoff #/99
Green Autograph: Hernandez #/50
Blue 6 Person Autograph: Gail Kim, Tara, Mickie James, Velvet Sky, Miss Tessmacher, and Madison  Rayne. #/25
Gold Single Memorabilia Card: Chavo Guerrero Jr. #/50

Our Thoughts:

Design: Simplistic and effective for the Base Set. The name is written over fire at the bottom of the card. Right above is the card set name. In the upper corners of the card are the TNA and Tri-Star logos. The rest of the card is for the person or moment being talked about. Even the subsets of the Base set like Live Events which talk about a certain match that the person had or reality TV which talks about what TV shows the performers like just have a graphic near the bottom of the card and do not take away much of the good design.

The autographs are all stickered. It would have been nice to have them on-card. I don't understand how difficult it would be for Tri-Star to go to a TV taping or two and have the performers do autographs on the cards themselves. I do like the fact that all autographs are numbered 99 or less. I also like the fact that Tri-Star went big with the autographs for this set. There are 2 different sets of cards that have 12 autographs on them. 3 sets of cards that have 10 autographs on them.

A couple of days ago, I reviewed the Best of 2013 WWE Cards. This is what they need to aspire to. Because right now, TNA and Tri-Star are kicking some serious ass in the card world in comparison to the stuff that WWE and Topps are putting out there for collectors.

Final Say:

This product is one of those that you should not be disappointed with if you do decide to purchase a box. I bought a second box just to make sure that the first wasn't a fluke. In the second box, I got the complete set without SPs again. 2 Base Set Gold Parallel Cards #/50, a SP Base set card of Bully Ray, a Silver Shirt Piece of Sting #/199. 2 Blue Autographs #/25 of Hernandez and Velvet Sky. And a Rainbow Dual Autograph #1/1 of Gail Kim and Mickie James. Right now these boxes are running between $60 and $70. If you like value for your money, these boxes are up your alley.

Box Value: 4.5 out of 5

2013 Press Pass Gameday Gallery Box Break

Packs Per Box: 1
Cards Per Pack: 4
     Geno Smith Gold #01/25
     Kenjon Barner Gold #75/99
     Zac Dysert Bronze #38/65
     Sheldon Richardson #67/99
    
Our Thoughts:

Design:  Simple. A picture of the player with all NCAA and school markings taken off the picture and then the main school color being put in the background to give it a splash of color. It allows for plenty of room for the autograph and the numbering of the card is up in the Upper Right hand corner out of the way of everything.

This product doesn't mess around. All 4 cards are autographed. There are green ink that are 1/1 cards. Did not pull any of those. There are cards with inscriptions on them, did not pull any of them. What I did pull are 4 autos signed with blue ink and all are numbered to 99 or less.  There are silver cards out there that are numbered up to 149. All cards are on-card signatures.

I believe that the $70.00 price tag for these cards is a bit steep for what you get. Yes, 4 autographs are nice, but there isn't the wow factor that I would have expected. Another thing that might cause you pause is that certain players are inserted more than others. There are 136 Keenen Allen regular cards inserted in the boxes.  The non-helmet picture alternative, there are 26. That is fine. But then you take Geno Smith and he has 64 regular cards inserted in boxes and 26 alternatives. Matt Barkley has 72 regular cards and 26 alternative ones. It doesn't make any sense.

The numbered for bronze, silver, gold, red and blue are different for each and every player. There is no standard. So your gold card could be numbered as low as 20 and as high as 99. I would figure that if it is a gold parallel or whatever they are calling it, that the numbering would be the same. It is not.

If the price came down to around $50.00, I would say that it is a fair price. But until that does happen, I would think twice before purchasing the product.

Box Value: 3 out of 5

Best of WWE 2013 Box Break

Well, since Kelly has stubbornly refused to blog about what he is opening, I am quitting my pledge not to post anything on here until he does. We have opened a Hobby Box of Best of WWE 2013. The Stats are below.

Packs: 24
Cards Per Pack: 7
Total Cards Advertised In Box: 168
Actual Total Cards: 168

Base Set Completion:  70% (77 out of 110 Cards)

Base Set Parallels:
Bronze (1:2 Packs) - 12
Silver (1:24 Packs) - 1
Gold (1:684 Packs) - 0
Printing Plate (1:1235 Packs) - 0
Duplicates - 6 (#8's - 2, #9's - 2, #10's - 2)

Inserts:
Top Ten Inserts
#1's (1:24 Packs) - 1
#2's (1:12 Packs) -2
#3's (1:6 Packs) - 4
#4's (1:4 Packs) - 6
#5's (1:4 Packs) - 6
#6's (1:3 Packs) - 8
#7's (1:3 Packs) - 8
#8's (1:2 Packs) - 12
#9's (1:2 Packs) - 12
#10's (1:2 Packs) - 12

Top Ten Inserts Printing Plates
All Numbers (1:14000 Packs) - 0

Autographs (1:49 Packs) -0

Dual Autographs (1:3064 Packs) - 0

Jerry Lawler Portrait Card - 0

Swatch Relics
Shirt (1:25 Packs) - 1 Daniel Bryan
AJ Lee Teddy Bear (1:1300 Packs) - 0
John Cena Hat (1:2775 Packs) - 0
John Cena Wristband (1:7830 Packs) - 0
John Cena Headband (1:4400 Packs) - 0
Mat Relic (1:48 Packs) - 1 Big E Langston

Thoughts:

Design of the Base Cards: They highlight what people think are the best things that happened in WWE for the last part of 2012 and the early part of 2013. Ugh. Even the writings of Mick Foley on the cards cannot save this mess.  The pictures on the cards are all stills. Some are shot at an angle that you cannot tell exactly what is being done in the shot. And while I like the stories of Mick Foley, the commentary that he provides on the back of the cards grows tiresome.

Design of the Inserts: The numbers are simplistic. And I do like the way that they do the Gold, Silver, and Bronze for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finisher of each Top 10 category.  #4 through 10 are in blue. The categories for the Numbers are Rivalries, Undertaker Matches, Catchphrases, Tag Team Champs, World Heavyweight Champs, Greatest WWE Moments, Trash Talkers, WWE Champions, Intercontinental Champs, and Finishers. The Wrestlemania Mat Card and Shirt cards are uninspired. They are just your average ordinary piece cards.

Other Thoughts:  This is a box and set to stay away from. This looks like a product that was put out there just to satisfy some sort of contract between Topps and WWE. I paid less that $30.00 for the box and I still feel like I needed more to justify spending the money. The WWE may be the biggest Sports Entertainment wrestling company out there, but this shows that they are a clear #2 in the business of wrestling cards.

Box Value 1.5 out of 5.