BuzzMania 6: The Throwback Pack Battle Royale (Hour 6)

The biggest weekend in pro wrestling is here with WrestleMania 39 set for this Saturday and Sunday from Los Angeles. We'll make today a big one for wrestling collectors right here on The Buzz with #BuzzMania6, a marathon of WWE wax box/pack breaks all day long.

This is our sixth break for today ... a showdown between five releases from the past -- it's a lineup that includes an oddball, an import with some key inclusions and one an NWA throwback, though a lot of that history features stars that are firmly part of WWE lore now. 

Battle of The Brands: 1985 Topps Cyndi Lauper (six packs) vs. 1987 Topps WWF (three packs) vs. 1997 Panini WWF Superstars stickers (one pack) vs. 1989 Wonderama NWA (bonus pack) vs. 1990 Classic WWF Series II (blister pack)

Where to buy: Will take some looking ... hit BlowoutCards.com for newer (and better) WWE stuff

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Cards per brand: 36 in Lauper (18 cards, 18 stickers), 30 in Topps (27 cards, three stickers), five in Panini stickers, 13 in Wonderama (shorted one card), 25 in Classic
Cards/stickers in this lot: 109 (see a sampling of everything from both boxes in the gallery below)

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Base Breakdown – 88
Lauper (18) – Notables include Hulk Hogan, Wendy Richter, Lou Albano and, of course, Cyndi Lauper
Topps (27) – Notables include Hulk Hogan, Davey Boy Smith, The Dynamite Kid, Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, Koko B. Ware, Honky Tonk Man, Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Danny Davis, George Steele, Ken Patera, The Killer Bees
Panini (5) – Bret Hart & Steve Austin (puzzle), Davey Boy Smith, Crush, Rocky Maivia (puzzle), Rocky Maivia vs. Bret Hart
Wonderama (13) – Road Warrior Animal, Tony Schiavone, Ron Simmons, Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Ric Flair, Robert Gibson, Teddy Long, Rocky King, Nelson Royal, Eddie Gilbert, Luke Williams, Barry Windham, David Isley ... plus Flair toppers and UPC checklists (not counted)
Classic (25) – Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Bobby Heenan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, George Steele, Elizabeth, Brutus Beefcake, Virgil, The British Bulldogs, Greg Valentine, Demolition, Strike Force, Hercules, The Bushwhackers, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Akeem

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Insert Breakdown: 21
Lauper stickers (18) – Notables include Cyndi Lauper, Lou Albano
Topps stickers (3) – Harley Race, Koko B. Ware, Demolition Smash

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The Hits (Autographs/Memorabilia/Manufactured Relics) Breakdown: Not made during this era.

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My Take Before I Broke This: I'll take you backstage here instead of a before take. ... This one didn't come together as originally planned ... the Lauper and 1987 packs were going to stand alone but the gum oil damage (unexpected) and wax stain damage (expected) were pretty rough and those weren't all that cheap, either. I'll leave that sting for me ... but to try and salvage things and make a match, err good post, out of this I altered the BuzzMania lineup (card always subject to change) and put them into this mix with some other packs with either good historic looks back (Classic) or some chase (Panini). Why are some of these here? The Lauper set is the home to a cameo/pseudo-RC of Hulk Hogan and the Topps set is loaded with moments and stars. The same can be said for the Wonderama set -- it's pretty loaded but is pretty large, which waters down packs -- so when I found one of these packs a good chunk cheaper than their normal price range I bit. (They're still not that cheap considering there's just standard cardboard inside.) That was a miss on the big main cards but there's some good stuff in there. And why Lauper again? Her crossover with the wrestling world led to wrestling on MTV back in the day in (1984 and early 1985) and that mainstream attention helped get the first WrestleMania event in 1985 even more traction in pop culture. Oddly, she's not in the WWE Hall of Fame despite being in some pivotal moments.

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Who Won The Battle? That's a tough call here ... it's definitely not the 1987 Topps set even though that Hogan looked good above (see why in gallery below). There were highlights here but not in the pricier packs ... so I almost don't want to offer up a winner but I will. The Winner: The Classic pack wins as it was dirt cheap (they're not always now) when I found it quite awhile back. The clamshell had come loose and was really beat up but it was all in there. (So ... confession: My pack image with this post is a Photoshopped re-creation.) Nothing here is money but there are some good moments in there from the first five Manias and the monster above from WrestleMania III. Other packs included strong oddities or good names and a couple of bigs get mentioned below. They're big but the rest of what was in there isn't as impressive for the price.

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The Top (Sorta) Rookie: For in-pack cards Hogan's Rookie Card is 1985 Topps WWF -- the first company-licensed card set in packs but not his first cards -- and this one has been in Lauper-land all that time, too, but not as properly appreciated like others. It's a cameo RC of sorts for Hogan and has gained popularity in recent years among those who know it exists. These cards are on clean, white stock but they have gloss that can stick as well as oil from wrapped sticks of gum can do a number on stuff, too, if a box was stored in hot conditions. That didn't happen this time but I have personally opened a box where 100-percent of it went into the trash because the gum oil seeped out of the wrapper and onto basically all cards in every pack. Interesting trivia here: The splatter-ish design actually has a couple versions for this card -- I'm not even sure I have both of them.

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Sticker That Stole The Show: A Rocky Maivia (aka The Rock!) "rookie" sticker in the Panini pack was arguably the best thing here given all of the condition issues ... but even it has problems. These can be pricey in top slabs but also have softened dramatically since their "re-discovery" by wrestling collectors who didn't perhaps focus on international stickers as much.

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Break Grade: A ... I'll give this hour a top mark for the overall variety but these packs weren't cheap at all. (The booker, Buzz, wanted some throwback slots despite the cost. Fool!)
Fun Grade: C ... Damaged cards here made the 1987 packs a dud and they weren't alone a few times elsewhere here ... but I chose not to dwell on it.

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The Bottom Line: We're firmly better off in the here and now for wrestling cards ... without the gum.

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