BuzzMania 7: An Absolute AEW Allure Invasion (Hour 4)

The biggest weekend in pro wrestling is here with WrestleMania 40 set for this Saturday and Sunday from Philadelphia. We'll make today a big one for wrestling collectors right here on The Buzz with #BuzzMania7, a marathon of WWE wax box/pack breaks all day long.

This hour's break pits a hobby box vs. a retail box for a brand that's stacked with color and variety but doesn't necessarily guarantee any hits. How do they compare in how they deliver? Let's see ... 

The Brand: 2022 AEW Allure hobby box vs. retail blaster

Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (when available)

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

Base Breakdown -- see everything from both boxes in the gallery below.

Hobby box
Cards per pack: 8
Packs per box: 8
Cards per box: 64
Base set completion: 
39 of 100 (39 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Retail blaster box
Cards per pack: 6
Packs per box: 5
Cards per box: 30
Base set completion: 
15 of 100 (15 percent)
Duplicates: 0

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Hobby box (blue background)

Base cards: Danhausen, Darby Allin, Swerve Strickland, Hook, Dante Martin, C.M. Punk, Jade Cargill, Kyle O'Reilly, Skye Blue, Thunder Rosa, Julia Hart, The Bunny, Ruby Soho, Aubrey Edwards, Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, Jamie Hayter, Abadon, Malakai Black, Chuck Taylor, Konosuke Takeshita, Buddy Matthews, Nick Jackson, Excalibur, Evil Uno, Dax Harwood, Max Caster, Bryce Remsburg, Tony Nese, Isiah Kassidy, Ricky Starks, Sammy Guevara, Matt Hardy, Trent Beretta, Christian Cage, Jungle Boy, Andrade El Idolo, Alex Reynolds, Ethan Page

A note on Rookie Cards – None are noted on-card via a RC logo, but anyone in base set without previous-year AEW, WWE, WCW, Impact, Panini Lucha Libre AAA or BBM (Japan) or Leaf in-pack cards is likely a RC here based on traditional definitions. (So there are some this time but perhaps not as many as other sets.)

Hobby Box Insert Breakdown: 25
Star Futures SPs (8) – Kris Statlander, Abadon, Tay Melo, Wheeler Yuta, Anthony Ogogo, Yuka Sakazaki, Isiah Kassidy, Satnam Singh

Star Futures Black Rainbow (3) – Kris Statlander, Red Velvet, Angelo Parker

Red Rainbow parallel (1) – Trent Beretta

Red Rainbow Horizontal parallel (1) – Keith Lee

AEW Logo Horizontal parallel (1) – Adam Page (/299)

Orance Slices parallel (1) – Trent Beretta

Title Fights (1) – Dante Martin

My Squad (1) – The Factory

I Scream For (1) – Jade Cargill

Title Ambitions (2) – Jamie Hayter, Claudio Castagnoli

Red & Orange Color Flow (2) – Serena Deeb, Brody King

Orange & Yellow Color Flow (1) – Toni Storm

Blue & Purple Color Flow (1) – Orange Cassidy (/199)

Yellow printing plates (1) – Angelo Parker (1/1)

Retail Blaster (black background)

Base cards (15): Darby Allin, Swerve Strickland, Hook, Dante Martin, C.M. Punk, Jim Ross, Colten Gunn, Jade Cargill, Athena, Keith Lee, Anthony Ogogo, Anthony Bowens, Kyle O'Reilly, Brody King, Scorpio Sky

Retail Blaster Insert Breakdown: 15
Horizontal SPs (5) – Penta El Zero M, Britt Baker, Jack Perry, Bryan Danielson, Powerhouse Hobbs

Black Rainbow (1) – Pac

Star Futures Table parallel (1) – Jamie Hayter

Table parallel (3) – Jay Lethal, Evil Uno, Kyle O'Reilly

Table parallel Horizontal (1) – Kenny Omega

My Squad (1) – FTR

Title Ambitions (1) – Claudio Castagnoli

I Scream For (1) – Jack Perry

Red & Orange Color Flow (1) – Lance Archer

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The Hits (Autographs/Memorabilia/Manufactured Relic) Breakdown: None

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My Take Before I Broke This: My first taste of this one was a pretty strong blaster and I've opened a few since and, while hits are not the norm, I still opted to try a hobby box for today ... being an idealist that I might beat the odds and maybe land some ink of a main-event caliber.

Who Won The Battle? Tough call here, especially when you compare the two boxes. Blasters are about $30 while hobby boxes usually were about $90 (sometimes more) with the overall card volume in hobby doubled but the volume of inserts not doubled -- 15 in retail, 25 in hobby. Is that dramatically better? I don't know ... the hobby box wins but only because it had serial-numbered cards and the rarest find of today as a whole, too.

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The Top Rookies: There are a number of first-timers here if you go by the traditional Rookie Card definition of a card being an in-pack release from a major-manufacturer at a top level of competition. At the same time, a lot of the new names also have indy cards, too. I'll go with the Julia Hart RC here though there are probably stronger names that are RCs here but they are indy veterans.

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Card That Stole The Show: It's not a monster find, but the hobby box here had the only 1/1 of today's marathon -- an Angelo Parker printing plate. I wasn't blown away finding that instead of ink but I guess it's better to land it than not.

Lot Grade: B+ ... I like this release as a collector but for the price here I didn't land a whole lot of cards that, over time, feel like they'll be that big of a deal.
Fun Grade: B+ ... See above.

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The Bottom Line: It's got a lot of flash and the AEW roster has a good mix of young and old ... so that's why this one is here. I don't hate it at all but this one didn't deliver as well as I had hoped ... and I think retail might be better, or at least safer, for volume of cards vs. dollars. All in all, the allure of this one will probably have me ripping more at some point.

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