Cali’s Card Corner

When putting together my collection of WWE Autograph, I went after the wrestlers that I remember watching growing up.  While he wasn’t my favorite wrestler growing up (it was Snuka and the original Rock, Don Muraco), Hogan has the most expensive card out of all of them, so we will start with this 2022 Leaf Pro Set.   Then we have a 2012 Topps Classic Hall of Fame autograph of Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and a 2024 Panini Select Signatures Blue #/49 of Don “The Rock” Muraco.  These two will be always tied together with Snuka going off the top of the cage against Muraco at Madison Square Garden.  Muraco is a 4th Intercontinental Champion in WWF history, holding the championship 2x’s.  His 1st reign was 155 days in 1981 and his 2nd reign was 384 days in 1983, making him the 4th longest combined reign in history.  Here’s is the man Muraco would lost the Intercontinental Champion in 1984 to, Tito Santana.  Tito would also have 2 reigns, 216 days in 1984 and 255 ...

I was always curious about the Wrestling All Star set and with my renewed interest in wrestling cards, I decided that I was going to build both the 1982 and 1983 sets.  The 1982 set consists of Series A and B, both 36 cards each, while the 1983 set consists of only Series A, 36 cards.  So 108 cards in total.  These cards were not from a major manufacturer at that time but were only available through Pro Wrestling Enterprises’ mail in offer where you could get all 36 cards in a series for $5.00. And they were available for several years after 1983, so the exact number of sets issued is not known but were estimated at around 2,000. Some of the popular wrestlers from the 1982 Series A (from my WWF point of view): Andre the Giant, Junk Yard Dog, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Bob Backlund, Terry Funk, Bruno Sammartino, Don Muraco, Ric Flair, Ivan Putski, and Jerry Lawler. Some say Series B was not as popular, but it did include some of my favorite wrestlers: Ricky Steamboat, Paul...