You can look

but you can't touch. There are the Bellas - just, being there as usual. When they first started, they looked more alike (or at least that seemed to be the case). Now I find they are easily told apart - Brie on the left, Nikki on the right). For my two cents, I like Brie a bit more than Nikki, but that's also coming from watching Total Divas too much....not that I am....uh....admitting.....anyway....



Doesn't get much bigger than Brock. Also have to remember though - Dolph was almost the World Cup of wrestling winner last November...too bad he got McMahon'd...



Happy Rusev Day!

As for the inserts....



A couple stars that have come a long way. Big Show who has developed into a very good gatekeeper of sorts and a great behind the scenes guy for WWE regarding appearances and charity work.

Xavier Woods luckily found himself in New Day after the scholarly route seemed to be going absolutely nowhere on the main roster.

4 packs, 36 cards, 112 points.

Been a couple weeks again, so why not another part of the DantheMan. Today we have a bunch of 2014 Topps WWE Road to Wrestlemania cards. The is another set, I have absolutely none of going in to this, so let's see what I cover with the base (and couple inserts that were also sent).








Hard to tell in the scans, but the last four cards are parallels - the Roddy Piper card is a black parallel (only the name changes from the silver foil), while the other three are ble (again, just the name in foil is blue).

A nice bunch of cards from the set, giving a good start.

2K, but not Y2K

Today's pack introduces another one of the inserts, and some more new base cards.



Men from different times, but that started similarly in some ways. Reigns was the quiet power of the shield while Warrior was sheer energy and power when he started.



King Barrett here is a 2K16 insert (one of the eight cards). Looks like you get 4 per 24 packs, so we will call the odds at 1 in 4 packs on that one.



Hair changes! So let's see...Baron shaved his head (and looks much better for it), Seth lost the blonde look (and looks better for it), and the Miz luckily got rid of the hair style and colour (and is also much better for it.




Well, John's hair style at least didn't change too much (until recently with movie roles), but time sure does fly!



We end with one of the Divas of the time - Eve - who never really did it for me, she was just kind of there when not too many were.

3 packs, 27 cards, 85 points.

A non-MMA Octagon

Let's start with a nice trade I had with kdinthejaw at TCDB. Another nice case of turning some duplicate hockey cards into hockey cards for my collection.



Part of the nice thing about collecting Blue Jays, is I don't have to go out of my way to get old expensive cards from the early 1900s since the team was only around since the late 79s.

Though, the Maple Leafs still give me this opportunity at least, to get some older cards - though I still won't shell out big bucks, but will pick up some where I can.

Here, I was fortunate enough to get a 11963-64 York Peanut Butter - octagon shaped, white back card. I have a card or two from the 50s, but this may well be my first 60s Leaf.

My collection is pretty sparse pre-85, so when I saw a number of earl 80s cards, I knew I needed them in the trade, including the two Borje cards.



It wasn't all old, some nice McD cards from the early 2000s end the small PWE trade.

Thanks as always to kdinthejaw for the great trade.

On to the pack for today...

Legitimately, I think this pack shows that only one of these cards doesn't deal with a true legend.



With about half the base set being legend cards, and since all the base cards in this pack are from the first half...they all end up being legends. Low man on this totem pole would have to be the African Dream Akeem. I preferred his One Man Gang persona personally, but he could really change it up with the Akeem shtick.



1995 rookie of the year....you think? Triple H has probably gone on to a greater career outside the business than he had in, and that is saying a lot. He was a great wrestler - like him or not - but what he has done with NXT and other projects, really show that he is great hands to have the wrestling business in as Vince steps away (whether choosing to, or otherwise).



Well, I got some bad news for Barrett. Actually, not really. He is one of the guy that I think ended up for the better leaving WWE. He could have been so much more if they pushed a little harder on the Nexus angle and had him really one-up Cena, but it wasn't meant to be. He never made it quite to Legend status...



But here is a man....such a man...he's a real man's man. If I were to hypothetically collect wrestling themes (in theory - I swear) and had say about 2,500 spanning WCW, ECW, WWE and everything in between from about the mid 80s to now, I'd still think that theme would be one of the ones that just stuck up in my head. Just saying. Oh, and I really need to update that...hypothetically....haven't hypothetically done that the last few years given the access on YouTube.

Hypothetically.

2 packs, 18 cards, 57 points.

2015 WWE Topps Heritage Wrestling Blaster

I have absolutely no cards from this set - no inserts, no base, no subsets, no parallels, to anything.



As usual, there is the blaster box squashed down to size.



As usual, we skim out one pack and the relic pack for the unopened pack collection. I can't help but notice that Sting morphed from the box, into The Rock on the individual pack...

So the box is made up of only 7 packs and the relic, so we are down to a 6 pack box. First thing out, the packs are thick. There are 9 cards per pack, but can already tell, thick cards, which is typical of Heritage and one of the things I really like about it.

Without further ado - let's get to pack one after a quick reminder of the scoring...

Base card - 1 point (yes, all cards get a point)
Base card need - 3 points
Base variation card - 20 points
Insert Card bonus - points based on odds - if 1 in 4 - worth 4 points

Pack 1:


Well, if you are going to start right - might as well do it with Flair. Not that I need to tell 99% of you that the design is based on 1985 Topps Baseball. I like the name - hate the Diva logo, but it was on it's way out in 2015. Nice to start with a Charlotte rookie card though.



Feed him more....funny, actually looks like he is ready to eat. I don't overly miss Ryback though.



First insert (there are plenty per pack actually). I really like this one with the Then and Now set up - works for so many wrestlers. Apparently for this set, it worked for 30.



Rookie of the year subset, and we have Santino. He did have a memorable first match being picked out of the crowd to fight Umaga (RIP) and win after Lashley-ference.



These NXT call ups are from the last few years obviously, as Titus was on the main roster a few years by 2015.



Ah, an actual insert with odds (one every six packs) with the NWO Tribute. She was never a good fit to the NWO to me - just wasn't her style. I get why it was done, but not a move I cared for.



Lana hit her stride in the last year or so, finally starting to pick up at least a low passability of skill in the ring.

As for Virgil - not sure legend is appropriate in some regards - but as the old argument goes...if Koko B. Ware is in the Hall of Fame...I guess Virgil can be a legend. Million Dollar Man - absolutely. His bodyguard...not so much.

1 pack, 9 cards, 30 points.

Some baseball (and more wrestling) before the next box

Nope - not a creative title to the post, just exactly what this is - a 30 pack of baseball cards from the dollar store in the US. No Jay, and no inserts....so we are down to keepers and traders, so let's see what we have...


Keepers...


Standard fair, though we do get a Jose Offerman card. Whenever I see him, I remember my first real error card as a kid (which I still have). I have a 1992 Fleer card of his with a blank back - it just missed being printed on completely, so it's like half a card.

As a kid I thought it was so cool and wished I had others, but still just have the one.



The rest of the keepers highlight why these packs are worthwhile for Rockies team collectors. Also, a Chrome looking Mike Cameron out of 2006 Upper Deck.

Traders...



A feast of late 80s and early 90s sets of the times. At least we end with a Fielder - from his more memorable time in Detroit, after his Toronto days.

This pack was fun, and had a couple interesting sets included, but not quite as good as the last one.

Still - on to another blaster tomorrow...maybe another wrestling one...we shall see.

I love this card

Before I get to cards - sad whenever a legend passes, and sad that Frank Robinson passed away. A great guy and the last manager of the Montreal Expos. He played before I was born, so didn't get to enjoy that part of his career - but he was a great all around. One of the good guys who will be missed in the sport, and also in life - RIP.

Always hard to go from such a somber tone...

Sometimes cards capture moments you felt were epic when they happened. One of these that comes from mind in baseball was the bat flip by Joey Bats a couple years ago. Well, here is a wrestling one...



This was such an awesome "F U" laugh between the two. It was totally in character, and I am sure planned, but so well played, I remember laughing excitedly when it happened - happy to think Tajker would beat the Beast. I didn't know this card existed, so glad to find out when I get one in hand!





Great on the inserts in this one with, the king of Wrestlemania, the Undertaker, a bronze parallel, and the John Cena inspired Immortal character as well.

With that - the blaster is done.

9 pack, 63 cards, 203 points.

So, with another box done - this one at 3.2222 - let's see the standing so far...

1)	2015-16 Upper Deck Portfolio	3.6067
2)	2016 Topps WWE Road To Wrestlemania 1	3.2222
3)	2016 Topps WWE Then Now Forever 1	3.0317

Again, checking in with the gut and....yeah, this still feels about right for how they turns out, so a thumbs up for this system so far.