Aside from Wrestlemania, the Royal Rumble is the best annual pay-per-view event. Thirty men enter, one survives and goes onto the main event at Wrestlemania for the championship. I’d say the stakes are pretty high. So why not commemorate the Rumble with a set of its own? Fleer has done so, with solid but not spectacular results.
Ninety has become the standard number of base cards in Fleer’s WWE sets. The first 75 cards focus on wrestling’s biggest stars. The card fronts feature action photos and a little bit of stylistic embossing. The card back bios rate each star’s chances heading into the 2002 Rumble match as well as their experiences in past years.
The final 15 cards are a subset entitled AKA and look at where some of the familiar nicknames come from. Or you could just call it an excuse to squeeze out another card of The Rock and HHH.
The base cards are solid, but it’s the inserts that lack some major creativity. The 10-card Gimmick Matches set is probably the most boring insert set I’ve seen Fleer produce since they landed the WWE license back in 2001. The idea is a cool one: highlight some of the best non-traditional matches from the past year. But it’s the design that really kills this set. Photos are recycled for guys like Edge and Kurt Angle who are featured on more than one card. Add to that the bland card fronts and you’ve got a stupid insert set if I ever did see one. To make matters worse, they’re the most common of all inserts, coming out at a rate of 1:4 packs. The odds came out correctly in my box as I got six of the ten cards that make up the set. Gimmick Match single and dual event-used cards are also available. The single event-used cards come one per box, while the duals are numbered out of 25. I got a Chris Jericho three-color shirt, so I guess I struck it pretty good.
What would a WWE set be without a divas insert set? DIVAstating is the latest excuse to get some cleavage on the front of a card. What else can be said? I got three of the 15 cards, which is what should be expected as they are seeded 1:8 packs. Every other box contains a DIVAstating event-used card with a piece of ladies clothing on it. I got a two-colored swatch of Trish Stratus’ pants that when held up to the light kind of flicker. If you’re really lucky you might also find an autographed event-used DIVAstating card numbered out of 100 but don’t go getting your hopes up.
Ten Royal Rumble Recap cards are inserted one per box. I’m assuming the title sums up the set because my box didn’t have one, even though they’re supposed to be found one per box.
Finally there’s the five card Factions set, which highlights some of the best wrestling stables past and present. Remember D-X? Or how about the Rock heading up the Nation of Domination. Ah, the good ole’ days. Faction cards are found one per five boxes. Needless to say, I didn’t get one. Strangely, there’s also an event-used Factions set that is easier to find as they’re found one in every other box.
If it weren’t for the two multi-colored event-used cards I pulled, I think I would have been disappointed with this box. The set is standard, but it like many of Fleer’s WWE sets, it lacks distinction. Still, this was a moderately fun rip, especially considering the price was more than fair.
2002 Fleer WWE Royal Rumble Box Breakdown:
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8
Total cards: 189
Cards in set: 90
Singles: 90
Doubles: 85
Triples+: 3
Inserts: 11
- Gimmick Matches:3(1:4): 6 (2. Undertaker, Jeff Hardy; 4. Kurt Angle, Edge; 5. RVD, Jeff Hardy; 7. The Rock, Trish Stratus; 8. Kurt Angle, Shane McMahon; 10. Kurt Angle, Edge)
- DIVAstating (1:8): 3 (1. Ivory, 7. Stephanie McMahon, 11. Dawn Marie)
- Royal Rumble Recap (1:24): 0
- Factions (1:120): 0
- Gimmick Matches Single Event (1:24): 1 (Chris Jericho (3-color shirt), Kane
- Gimmick Matches Dual Event (/25): 0
- DIVAstating Event (1:48): 1 (Trish Stratus (2-color pants))
- DIVAstating Autographed Event (/100): 0
- Factions Event (1:48): 0
