Can't collect what you want in 2020? Check out this story ...

Are you struggling with the card economy right now? If so, you're probably not alone but things should (hopefully) get closer to "normal" in the coming months or next year.

That key piece of everything -- supply and demand -- is a big part of pretty much everybody's collecting existence right now whether they are a collector, a flipper or a dealer. Finding boxes is a challenge. Affording boxes? Probably a challenge for many, too. Demand for seemingly everything new in wax form is partly elevated due to hot new players like Zion Williamson, Luis Robert and Joe Burrow and then young veterans such as Patrick Mahomes, Luka Doncic and Ronald Acuña Jr. Old guys like LeBron James, Tom Brady and even Michael Jordan have had their moments this year in different ways, too, with all of their successes and then their card sales drawing attention. Also fueling things are returning collectors, new collectors, bot-buyers scooping up plenty of stuff and holding it all, and, of course, all of this is exacerbated by the coronavirus putting a dent in manufacturers' ability to flat-out make more cardboard for a few reasons.

So, why does a three-year old Sasha Banks wrestling card from Topps appear here? Here's one tale of trying to collect in 2020.

This card is reflective of how I'm adjusting to not getting my hands on some stuff -- not being able (or willing) to buy some boxes for a price I'm just not feeling (most stuff is pretty good but it's my choice) -- and how it's just not always working out that well in the alternative. That's the story here as I continue to adjust, take my hits and explore collecting. Here's a tale of my present ebb in this collecting stream.

I've been a casual ripper of pretty much everything to some degree for years -- some stuff more than others, but I've been known to check out everything from MLB and the WNBA to the WWE and cardboard from TV. The Buzz Breaks section reflects that -- and I've explored more than ever in recent years.

But now? Recently? Well, it's all slowed a little bit -- that whole supply and demand thing plus I'm still "picky for the price" -- when it comes to wax. (It won't last. I'll be back to normal soon, I'm sure.) I have started grabbing more singles and more small lots instead of chasing stuff as much. Earlier this year, for example, I started with a BenchWarmer box kick since you get plenty of ink in boxes that are often under $75 ... but then after trying more of those I looked toward lots where you can amass more stuff for even less -- just without the possibility of the biggest names. And those names hadn't been flowing as well, anyway, so it's more just about low-price dabbling.

That same thought led me to looking at other lots in other areas -- and that's where this Sasha Banks card showed up. It's pretty mangled by modern-day standards but it's a little more unique than just a basic card. It's a 2017 Topps WWE Then Now & Forever (aka Series 2) promo card and it was only found inside a WWE DVD as a bonus. I found it in a lot of stuff I grabbed that actually had a bunch of DVD promos and it was a lot that didn't have the greatest photo used so I couldn't tell the cards like this were damaged. Why did the card appeal to me? Well, I didn't realize it existed -- or wasn't really paying attention to DVDs then -- and it caught my eye. Why? The photo is from a moment before a very memorable match in WWE lore (vs. Bayley at Takeover) and it had only appeared on one other card. I hadn't seen it before, so I picked off the lot.

When I received the cards, I wasn't sure if the seller was a beginner but this card looked like it had been in Hell in a Cell or some kind of street fight ... and it was not alone. It seems that these cards simply bounced around in the DVD cases with no protection of any kind -- no paper slips to help nestle it in place and no card wrappers to prevent some sliding around. Other promo cards in years before this one actually did get wrapped and their condition is often much, much, much stronger. A wrapper apparently slows down the bouncing around inside a DVD ... think of it as an Elimination Chamber pod or something. (WWE fans will get that.)

That's not where this story ends ... my story gets even more 2020 with this one.

So, out of curiosity and the absolute need for a copy with four sharp corners, I researched the various wrestling sites and was able to find out which DVD this one came from. Then, I searched online to see if any sealed copies were available. The cards arrived in discs bought at Walmart and those had a special sticker teasing a card inside but didn't note which one. (All DVDs had them for a time between 2015-17, maybe longer.) I hit Walmart online and bought three DVDs -- playing it safe between all of the variables of photos/shipping/price -- and I threw in a pair of WWE-themed Uno decks that would have added some oddball cred to my wrestling stash. (New decks are pretty well-designed with stars showing up on cards that look a lot like trading cards.)

When my order arrived? Well, my WWE Uno decks were Frozen II. (Oh, great I thought ... and there were expletives, too.) And then my three DVDs didn't have the Topps sticker on the outside of the package. (I was sounding like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.) Despite this, I popped the lid of the first one ... the Banks card was in there ... bouncing around loose but this time with perhaps more damage (click pic at right) than the card I found in a lot. This time on the surface (More expletives.) I popped the second DVD and the same (Even more expletives.) And the third DVD? No freakin' card at all. (One stronger expletive that would make Ron Simmons blush.) I had figured that maybe these three-year-old DVDs might have been sitting in a warehouse all this time not handled ... but not so much. I'm convinced that the only way razor-sharp clean copies of this card can exist is if Topps had some left over for replacements and somebody out there might have complained and got a replacement. (Odds on that? Probably slim to none.)

So, with all that wax out there my quest for some alternatives was denied -- at least in any gradable form (grading is pretty much denying me, too, with rising costs and slower times ... another way 2020 isn't making sense) -- and I was left with some Princess Elsa of Arendelle cards  (I gave them away unopened) and three DVDs of an event I could watch online for free (or $9.99 with the WWE Network I pay for but barely use) and then my trio of mangled copies of a card I really like.

I could only laugh. It happens. I chased them ... and this time I failed.

I've won more times than I've lost by being smart about buys in decades of collecting, but, despite all this, I'll still keep exploring stuff that I can collect for the time being until things get normal.

Now, anybody got a razor-sharp copy of this card, preferably one already graded? I'm a buyer ...

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