BuzzMania3: Busting 1999 Comic Images WWF SmackDown! Chromium Edition wrestling cards (Hour 2)

The biggest weekend in professional wrestling is here with WrestleMania 36 set for a scaled down split event on Saturday and Sunday. We'll make today a big day for wrestling collectors right here on The Buzz with #BuzzMania3, a series of WWE wax box and wax pack breaks -- though also on a smaller scale than Buzz had previously planned, too.

This is Hour 2 ... and it's a throwback bulk lot.

The lot: 1999 Comic Images WWF SmackDown! Chromium Edition wrestling cards (125 packs)
The cost: Under $1 a pack ... Click here for newer boxes

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

Packs per lot: 125
Cards per pack: 6
Cards in this lot: 750
Base set completion: 
90 of 90 (100 percent)
Duplicates: Plenty ... but only two sets completed and as many as 14 of some cards (random lot of packs, not directly from a couple boxes)

Notables on base cards – Steve Austin, The Rock, The Big Show, Mankind, Undertaker, Triple H, Al Snow, Kane, Edge, Christian, Mark Henry, Chyna, Shawn Michaels, The Hardy Boyz, Debra, Jerry Lawler, Paul Bearer, Ivory, Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon, Mr. Socko, D-Generation X, The Brood, PMS, Big Boss Man

Inserts: None (22K gold facsimile signature cards possible)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
Authentic Autographs (1) – The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy)

Card That Stole The Show: The dual-autograph by far ... I beat the odds and pulled by far the best auto in this one.

What's Buzz-worthy: I picked up this lot as something intentionally not from the here-and-now as a way to show how the WWE has changed -- maybe not for the better in the ring, but the cardboard has in the years has gotten far better since this set. This one comes from the heart of "The Attitude Era" of the WWF (they had yet to "get the F out" ... that happened in 2002), so the legend volume here is huge. It's a who's who of 1990s-and-up stars, including Steve Austin, The Rock, Edge, The Hardys, D-Generation X, Chyna and plenty of others. This is just one of a handful of sets from Comic Images in packs at that time (1998-2000) and it's from before Fleer took up the license (2001) and before Topps got back into WWE cardboard (2005) after just two 1980s sets. This set is basically a Chromium release of the 72-card standard set made that year (with a few small changes) and then a number of new cards tacked on the end. Comic Images also added color to the photo backgrounds on most cards when what they really (really) needed were better crops and some better photos in many instances. The only inclusions here -- there are no parallels -- were six gold-foil facsimile auto cards (one in 250 packs) and then eight autographs (same odds) from a lineup that includes The Hardy Boyz, Al Snow, Big Boss Man, D'Lo Brown, Godfather, Hardcore Holly, Ivory and Tori. This dual-auto was by far the best of the bunch -- their first card is in this year's sets -- and it made this lot (under $1 a pack) a big win to me beating those odds. Ink here is notably not on Chromium stock and they are the same signers that were found at much better odds (one in 80) in the paper release, so there's not a ton of incentive to rip here other than the wax prices can be decent (not easy for many older WWE boxes ... it's ripped and gone). The paper version of this has soft cardboard stock and high-gloss cards with really rough cuts and sticking issues that make high-grade cards here close to impossible. There's nothing above an 8 from PSA and nothing above a 9 from BGS for the paper version and less than 12 percent of the much larger volume of cards made a PSA 10 for the year before. With many stars' debut cards coming in the previous year's paper set, not a lot of stuff here has been graded -- but the potential here is why I sleeved a bunch of stuff as you can see below ... I'll be dabbling at some point. (It's more for fun as nothing here is "big-money" but a few are memorable -- like the debuts for The Hardys and ... Mr. Socko!) There have barely been any cards for this one slabbed by BGS but a couple have landed 9.5s ... so it's possible with Chromium. I probably wouldn't rip one of these lots again if I found it -- collation was rough -- since I landed this ink. Maybe for a lot cheaper price. Maybe.

Product Grade: B+ (super simple but generally crisp and cleanly made -- can't say that for the paper version)
Lot Grade: A+ (that auto makes it a win)
Fun Grade: B- (opening these was work -- they were in clamshell packs -- and very repetitive)

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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