Box (or is it a Pack) Break: 2010 Topps WWE Retail Jumbo Pack Box

76 The Straight Edge Society

I don't know if you'd call it a box or a pack, but here's a small break from the new 2010 Topps WWE (if you're not into a video break, there's a text version below, along with lots of pictures).

My apologies for the poor quality. For those who didn't make it through the video or don't have the time, here's my thoughts in brief.

Retail settings have long been a place for different experiments in packaging. Cards are competing for shelf space and need the balance of standing out, being secure and carrying value. These 18-card pack/box things seem to fit well. They contain a nice assortment of cards and, more importantly for me, remain cheap enough that they can be bought spontaneously.

With the brief look I've had with two of these packs, I can see myself buying more from 2010 Topps WWE. The base set has the right mix of current and past stars. And although it can be construed as being lazy, I really like the continuity of recycling the base card design from the base Topps set. The inserts appear to be a huge step up. When you're working with foil card stock, the results can be mixed. The couple samples I got are vivid and standout. If I have any complaints, it's the number of parallels. The box lists several different versions of the same insert and without an example of each in front of me, I don't know what I've got. In particular, I'm thinking of the Championship Material cards. You've got a couple versions for what seems to be a couple of different belts. Overall, a little overwhelming. Perhaps an easier idea might have been make one championship exclusive to that type of packaging. So in these mini-boxes, maybe the focus is the Intercontinental Championship and there's regular cards and puzzle backs. In hobby packs, the focus is the WWE Championship, regular retail is the World Championship and so on.

I'm not at all surprised about not getting a memorabilia or autograph card. For $6, I'm more than pleased with the results. I missed 2009 Topps WWE, but from my small look so far, I'd say this ranks among the top releases Topps has done for WWE in the last five years. The variety and value offered was tremendous.

2010 Topps WWE Retail Jumbo Pack Breakdown

Cards: 18
Base Cards: 15
Inserts: 3

• Championship Material (1:3): 0
• Championship Material Intercontinental Puzzle Parallel (1:6): 0
• Championship Material WWE Unified Puzzle Parallel (1:6): 1 - MVP (I think it's from this set. I'm actually wondering if it's a typo and really means United States Champion instead of Unified.)
• World Championship Material (1:3): 0
• World Championship Material WWE Title Puzzle Parallel (1:6): 0
• Topps Town (1:3): 1 - TT10 Randy Orton
• History Of (1:4): 0
• National Heroes (1:4): 1 - NH22 Christian
• Favorite Finishers (1:2): 0

Base Parallels:

• Blue (1:4): 0
• Gold (1:7): 0

Autographs/Relics:

• Autographs (1:475): 0
• Autograph Gold Parallel (1:4200): 0
• Dual Autograph (1:2070): 0
• Dual Autograph Gold arallel (1:8300): 0
• Superstar Swatch Relic (1:54): 0
• Superstar Swatch Relic Gold Parallel (1:280): 0
• Elimination Chamber Relic (1:10): 0
• Elimination Chamber Relic Gold Parallel (1:300): 0
• Elimination Chamber Relic Red Parallel (1:39264): 0

Here's a gallery to show a sampling of all the different types of cards I pulled from the two jumbo retail packs I broke:

Tagged as: 2010, 2010 Topps WWE, Topps, WWE