Professional wrestling has undergone a major facelift over the past few months. The WWF has changed its name to WWE (following a long court battle with the “other” WWF, the World Wildlife Fund). But that was just the beginning. With an expanded roster since the aquisition of WCW last year, the WWE spilt into two rosters as part of a Raw and Smackdown brand extensions. And that’s exactly what Fleer’s latest wrestling set focuses on.
The 90-card checklist is the best Fleer has put together since they began making wrestling sets in 2001. Both rosters are looked at, as well as the typical helping of divas and potential Raw vs. Smackdown match-ups. The design is crisp and easy on the eyes. For the first time since I began buying Fleer wrestling cards I managed to pull a complete set from my box. In the past I’ve come up one or two cards short.
Inserts play a limited role in the set, and I consider that a good thing. Catch Phrases highlight the over-used lines used by the WWE superstars. The yellow design and wild fonts are hideous. Slightly toned down is the Ex-posure inserts that once again draw from the popular divas. Each hobby box also contains a bonus over-sized pop-up card.
The big draw of the set for me was the two event-used cards per box. There are five event-used sets: Raw Certified, Smackdown Authentic, Ultimate Ex-posure, Triple Ex-posure and Pay Per View Relics. I pulled two Smackdown cards, which was a little disappointing except for the fact that I got cards of a couple of my favorites: Triple H (a three-color swatch no less) and Edge.
Overall, this is the most complete set Fleer has put out for the WWE. With all the new faces that have popped up in the past few months, Raw vs. Smackdown is a nice supplement to sort through all the changes.
2002 Fleer WWE Raw vs. Smackdown Box Breakdown:
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8
Total cards: 190
Cards in set: 90
Singles: 90
Doubles: 80
Triples+: 9
Inserts: 12
- Catch Phrases (1:4): 6 (1. The Rock, 3. Kurt Angle, 4. Steve Austin, 6. Raven, 10. Booker T., 15. Chris Benoit)
- Ex-Posure (1:8): 3 (3. Jacqueline, 5. Lita, 6. Molly Holly)
- Raw Certified (1:72): 0
- Smackdown Authentic (1:36): 2 (Triple H [3-color shirt], Edge [shirt])
- Ultimate Ex-posure (1:96): 0
- Triple Ex-Posure (1:200): 0
- PPV Relics (1:33): 0
- Box Topper Pop-Up (1 per hobby box): 1 (Lita)
