Join Beckett Sports Card Monthly‘s Chris Olds and Bryan Hornbeck as they rip into boxes of 2013 TRISTAR TNA Impact Wrestling Live cards in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

Beckett Customer Appreciation Month continues where registered users can win great prizes throughout October.

Go to www.Beckett.com/customerappreciation and click on “Enter the Contest.”

There is a limit of one entry per day and you need a valid name and email address registered with your Beckett.com account.

Visit the Beckett Forums to see daily winners.

Today’s prize: 2009 TriStar TNA Impact Sting Face Paint Gold #S1 Sting Black /60

ENTER NOW!

Join Beckett Media’s Chris Olds and Bryan Hornbeck as they rip into a pair of 2012 TRISTAR TNA TENacious wrestling boxes in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

Join Beckett Media’s Chris Olds and Bryan Hornbeck as they rip into a pair of 2011 TRISTAR TNA Signature Impact wrestling boxes in this latest episode of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor | Commentary

If you know your professional wrestling, then the name Ric Flair means plenty.

But if you don’t, you should — and it’s got much more to do with life beyond what happens in the ring or on TV.

He’s regarded as the best wrestler, the best talker and, well, the best bleeder in the world — and that’s just for starters.

There were several guests appearing for photo opportunities and signing autographs at the National Sports Collectors Convention this past week in suburban Chicago, allowing fans of many sports to meet their heroes, get some ink and create a moment that will likely carry with them for some time.

While I was busy working the floor talking to dealers and card company reps (and doing what collectors do, too) for much more to come — and Mr. Tolentino was working finding voices from the show — many a moment occurred. For every autograph signed — just like every dealer’s table — there’s a potential story or two.

However, this fleeting story is mine — mere seconds among the hustle and bustle of a show that had thousands of collectors and fans inside the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. And, of course, this moment involved “The Nature Boy.”

For those of you who don’t know the essence of Flair, the gimmick, watch the video above from decades ago. Soak up the subtleties of not being so subtle, driving people into arenas where he could put on a show. The clip is one of countless perfect promos that defined his character, his gimmick, while getting the job done. Flair was the world heavyweight champion 16 times back when holding the NWA belt meant you traveled the world competing against every territory’s (every wrestling company’s) best, allowing all the smaller markets, international markets, promoters and fans a glimpse at greatness no matter where they were.

Flair is a relic from the past of professional wrestling — the days before the WWE ruled the land, forever altering its landscape. Then, of course, one should know that Flair has lived his gimmick for decades — and he’s still going for TNA at age 62.

Beyond all that, though, there’s another reason he’s so highly regarded among the wrestling ranks — and my moment showed a mere touch of that as well. It showed how in-person — when not living the high life at the wrestling crew’s hotel bar — he’s as anti-Flair as can be. Meanwhile, there’s nothing he hasn’t accomplished in his profession, and that’s a rare combination — success and humility — something, again, quite anti-Flair.

And that’s why people love him.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first time I was ever around Flair was for a news conference for the WWE Hall of Fame inductions before WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando, Fla., in 2008. He was inducted into the Hall on the eve of what was his final WWE match, a loss to Shawn Michaels – an all-around performer just like him. It was a news conference I went to not as a writer but merely a fly on the wall with a small video camera in the front row while international television and print media, who hadn’t had a chance to interview anyone in advance unlike the Orlando Sentinel‘s crew, got their work in.

While several stars talked to the assembled throng — Shane McMahon, John Cena, Randy Orton, Floyd Mayweather, etc. — only one discussion truly stuck with me, and if you watch the clip above (and several others), you’ll see why.

Quite a difference, eh?

I already own a few signed Flair items as well as sigs from the other three TNA Wrestling stars who appeared at the show as part of their relationship with TRISTAR, so I hadn’t planned to stand in the long lines at the show. Instead, I observed once again from the company booth, watching steel chairs 8x10s and more get signed. I watched the fans react and interact with the likes of women’s champ Tara and Mr. Anderson until Flair arrived. He didn’t walk in to Also Sprach Zarathusta, but the woos of the assembled fans in the autograph pavilion and those just crowding around ducking and bobbing for photos prompted a strut from Flair and a woo or two back before he signed.

After an unexpected turn to my Saturday, I ended up with a photo-op pass for Flair, which meant I got a second or two to pose for a photo, which would then be printed for me to take home. Rather than give him a question that I would ask of any wrestler (“What’s more fun — working face or working heel?” After all, “working Flair” is the best of them all … ), I instead quickly mentioned that I was at the Hall of Fame presser and that watching his reaction to the questions was intense.

He initially thanked me and as I finished that quick sentence. Meanwhile I wasn’t watching the official TRISTAR photographer who misfired and had to take my photo twice (proof below). I told Flair that it was emotional watching him nearly break down unprompted several times. He said, again, “No, thank you, brother,” a second time and shook my hand. I could tell that, despite the rush for the assembly line of moments to be made — something that would put anyone into autopilot — he was listening and truly appreciated the moment.

And that made it a moment I appreciated even more.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

And here’s one more collector’s (much quicker) tale about the TNA signings and photos…

Click here to view the embedded video.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

Woooo!

The Naitchonal, err National, Sports Collectors Convention got a little bit cooler following the announcement that TRISTAR will be bringing “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair to the show next month in Chicago as an autograph guest along with three other stars from TNA Wrestling.

The 16-time world heavyweight champ will be joined by Kurt Angle, a former Olympic gold medalist for the United States-turned pro, former two-time TNA champ Mr. Anderson and former TNA and WWE women’s champion Tara.

Each of them will be appearing for two hours on Aug. 6, with Flair the most-expensive autograph at $49. Angle is $29, while Anderson and Tara are $25. Photo opportunities with each star are the same price — fans will receive a 5×7 photo print within minutes of meeting them.

However if a collector buys a 2011 Signature Impact Championship Package — $99 — they will get a box of the newest TNA trading cards, a bonus NSCC autograph card and one free autograph (on any item) as well as a photo op with each star.

Only 400 of the packages are available. More details can be found by clicking here.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

This year’s National Sports Collectors Convention is just a couple of weeks away and TRISTAR is the latest to unveil special cards that can be found at this year’s show in Chicago.

And it’s a set that turns back the clock to the early 1900s while previewing two products set to come from the company — TRISTAR Obak Baseball 2011: History of the Game and the debut edition of Obak Football coming this fall.

A 10-card set found at the show will include Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan, Cap Anson, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Gale Sayers, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Stan Musial and Bob Kalsu along with a card of John F. Kennedy and Gerald Ford.

Seven of the cards will be found in VIP bags (see link above for details) while the final three cards can be obtained by redeeming wrappers of either Obak baseball or Signature IMPACT wresting from packs opened at the booth. Both products launch at the show.

Also available will be 1,999 T212 Mini Obak sets — but details on that will only be available at the company’s booth.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | BSCM Editor

For those who follow pro wrestling, they have likely noticed a new look for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as the company has in a way re-branded itself.

That new look and vibe in its marketing campaign — all to enhance the “wrestling” aspect of the programming — is seen on the forthcoming TRISTAR release, TNA Signature Impact.

Signature Impact will be the rarest TRISTAR wrestling product ever released as there will be a mere 90 24-box cases made with each 20-pack hobby box packing three autograph cards, one memorabilia card, two parallels and one short-printed card of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair or Sting.

The newest chase here, though? A 1/1 cut autograph of the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who briefly wrestled for TNA in 2004.

Each case will include a Hogan autograph as well as a Sting or Flair signature, while TRISTAR has upped the ante again from its past multiple-signature cards to include cards with as many as eight signatures this time around.

Every box will include at least one multi-autographed card.

The memorabilia card lineup will include jumbo swatches, signed cards, Flair Letter Cards that spell out his last name via the diecut memorabilia windows as well as quad memorabilia cards with pieces from four stars embedded into the card.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

So a dude pulls into a Best Buy parking lot to buy a Kevin Smith DVD after a hard day’s work at Beckett Media. (Busting and sorting Donruss Threads is work!) He’s just making a quick stop (no pun intended) there after previously heading to Wal-Mart only to find that said DVD wasn’t on the shelves.

Dude notices a guy walking into the door of Best Buy with a black baseball bat — and another in the parking lot with another black bat. (Dude considers Target … but goes in anyway. Dude likes baseball.)

As he walks in, dude notices note on door, something to the effect that “we’re recording inside so you’re consenting to be on film.”

Hmm.

First, dude checks new release DVD aisle for A Threevening with Kevin Smith. Alas, nothing — the two-disc special edition is nowhere to be found. Again.

Dude asks Best Buy Dude about dude named Smith’s DVD. Best Buy Dude says they’re all sold out. (Dude knew he should have bought it — signed — online. But now that site is sold out, too. Not cool, dude.)

What does dude find elsewhere inside the store?

The Total Nonstop Action world champion Sting doing a free autograph session to promote TNA Wrestling, its video game, its DVDs.

He’s a 10-time world champion — probably the biggest-name wrestler to never wrestle for WWE — but he took the time to sign every autograph (yes, even five-to-six for each fan who came overprepared), took the time for every photograph. (And, man does he not look like a dude who’s turning 50 next year.)

And he even recorded at least one voicemail message for one fan’s cell phone.

The last dude in line — aka me — was there at 7:15 for a session with an announced finish time of 7:30. The free autographs were signed for moi a few minutes after deadline, but there was one chance for a question: Your best match, Stinger? The answer, in part, is below from Sting’s more colorful, easier-going surfer dude-style days …

Click here to view the embedded video.

I think Ric Flair says it all — and there’s another chapter to this tale, but it will have to wait until after the release of TRISTAR’s TNA Cross the Line card set next month …

Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.