It’s finally happened. Fleer has made its first dud of a wrestling set. Thankfully it has taken two years to do so. Wrestlemania XIX is flat out boring, both the set and its chase cards.
Surprise, surprise, the base set is composed of 90 cards. The photography is for the most part solid, offering some great in-ring action shots. But the card backs contain only a short bio and a matte finish. For the past several months, the WWE has been stressing its brand extensions. You get no evidence of this from the set’s design. And it’s not like Fleer didn’t know about the extension because they produced a set based on it several months ago.
I’ve long been a fan of minimal insert sets if they serve no purpose. In that department Fleer delivers, limiting its inserts to four event-used sets. The Title Shots are among my favorite wrestling cards. The cards are shaped like a belt and the checklist includes only title winners. Coming at a rate of one per every other box I was happy to find a swatch with Rob Van Dam.
Next up is the disappointing Mat Finish set. Each card has a piece of an event-used ring mat. How boring is that? The card I got has a picture of Kurt Angle, but the mat was also used by a couple dozen other wrestlers. Like a game-used base card in baseball or a puck in hockey, cards like these are pointless because they don’t have any individual significance. The mat cards in 2001 WWF Championship Clash were okay, because they were dated to a specific event. The Mat Finish cards, which come one per box, are as generic as an event card can get.
Wrestlemania Flashback highlights some of the event’s greats and Diva Las Vegas is the proverbial ‘girls’ insert set, showcasing Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson with their own serial-numbered event-used cards.
Had this been a set with a different name, I might have been a little more forgiving. But Wrestlemania is the grand-daddy of all pay-per-views. So for Fleer to go through the motions and release something so uninspiring makes the bad even worse and the great simply good.
The WWE (WWF) has a rich history, especially when you think back to all the past Wrestlemanias. Why not take a cue from the four major sports and do a vintage-style set that looks back on that history and balances it with current stars. While it may be costly to obtain, an autographed Mike Tyson card would be the hottest on the market. Or how about an insert set that compares Andre the Giant with the Big Show? The possibilities are endless for such a set and might rejuvenate a card product that is fast becoming stale.
2003 Fleer WWE Wrestlemania XIX Box Breakdown:
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 5
Total cards: 118
Cards in set: 90
Singles: 90
Doubles: 26
Triples+: 0
Inserts: 2
- Title Shots (1:48): 1
- Mat Finish (1:24): 1
- Wrestlemania Flashback (1:48): 0
- Diva Las Vegas (Numbered): 0
