EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.— WrestleMania is a special experience for anyone in the WWE Universe, but for a small group of lucky WWE trading card collectors, this year’s Show of Shows was Transcendent.
For the first time ever, Topps extended its premium Transcendent Collection to the WWE brand. Each of the 50 boxes in this extremely limited-edition offering, which retailed for $15,000 each, boasted rare autographed trading cards, authentic ring-used relics, autographed replica WWE Championships and an incredible WrestleMania 35 experience that included an invitation to a special pre-show VIP party at MetLife Stadium.
“There’s no bigger stage than WrestleMania, obviously,” David Leiner, Global General Manager for Topps Sports and Entertainment, told WWE.com prior to the event. “We wanted to find a way to get our fans closer to their favorite Superstars and design a top-notch product with autographs, ring-used materials and other materials from the top Superstars in the world. The amazing part about the Transcendent product is the experience. All of the folks who bought the product are going to sit ringside at the WrestleMania event, and before, at the Transcendent party, we have some top Superstars and WWE Hall of Famers here to do some photo ops, answer some questions and sign some autographs.”
Attendees rubbed elbows with WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Sting, along with WWE Superstars Big Show and Mojo Rawley, all of whom answered questions about favorite opponents, WrestleMania moments and getting started in sports-entertainment.
“Everyone’s extra charged-up, you can just feel the excitement in the room. It’s palpable,” Rawley said. “But I gotta say, I think out of all the fans here, I’ve gotta be the biggest one. I’m up there with Sting, Ric Flair and Big Show. When these fans are asking the questions, I’m listening to the answers just like they are.”
Among those fans listening intently was Kelly Wrangham, who brought his sons Elway and Maxx to WrestleMania all the way from North Dakota.
“We’ve been to some other Transcendent events that Topps has put on for baseball, and we found out they were doing a WWE one. We were definitely ready to come out because we’ve always been big wrestling fans,” Wrangham said.
Brian Frank from Milwaukee echoed that excitement in the lead-up to The Show of Shows, jumping at the chance to experience his first WrestleMania in person.
“I had only been to one WWE event in my life,” Frank said. “It was a SmackDown taping back in 2005. I’ve always wanted to come to another show. Where else to go but WrestleMania?”
Frank and other collectors were also drawn to the Topps WWE Transcendent Collection’s debut because it offered a rare autographed Mr. McMahon trading card.
“This was the first time that Vince had ever signed for Topps. He doesn’t do many signings,” Leiner told WWE.com. “Getting Vince McMahon to knock out some autographs was a huge deal. It also shows how excited Vince was about the product, which really made us feel good and hopefully the fans that come today are excited to have that Vince McMahon autograph card. There are very few of those in existence.”
Want a sneak peek as we head into @WrestleMania? Check out WWE’s @VinceMcMahon signing trading cards for upcoming Topps products. @WWE pic.twitter.com/4DPARMiCYJ
— #SWCC Star Wars Authentics (@Topps) April 3, 2019
For more information on Topps’ WWE trading cards, including the WWE Transcendent Collection, visit Topps.com.
Article source: WWE.com
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