If you’ve never been to a live wrestling PPV (or PLE as they’re known these days in WWE), you are missing out.
I’ve attended hundreds of sporting events over the years (playoff games included) and wrestling shows are still some of the most fun I’ve had.
Back in 2016, I was lucky enough to buy tickets to Survivor Series and sit right on the railing of the aisle. I had sat close before, but never THAT close.
It was a completely different experience. Getting to interact with the wrestlers as they came out. Seeing the athleticism up close. Hearing the wrestlers trash talk each other during a match.
The main event of the match was Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar. A match that a lot of people were hyped for because Goldberg hadn’t wrestled in almost 12 years!
It ended up being a squash match that saw Goldberg win in a ridiculous 1 minute and 26 seconds, but that’s not why it was memorable for me. It was memorable because Goldberg came over to our section right after he won and celebrated his first victory since 2004.
I was considering picking up a Goldberg auto or some sort of numbered card for my PC, until I came across the perfect card: A 2017 Topps Heritage WWE Mat Relic card with a piece of the ring mat used that night in November 2016 at the Air Canada Centre.
Card: 2017 Topps Heritage WWE Mat Relic Bill Goldberg #117/199

STORY TIME:

In all my years of interviewing athletes, only one has ever given me a gift afterwards.

That athlete is Bobby Orr.

In 2008, Orr hosted a hockey camp for kids in Toronto at what was formerly known as Ricoh Coliseum (now Coca-Cola Coliseum) alongside fellow hockey greats Mike Bossy and Cassie Campbell-Pascal.

Prior to getting on the ice, Orr was made available to me to do a 1-on-1 interview to talk about the camp and other hockey related subjects.

It was a great conversation with someone that has seen and done everything that there is to do in the game of hockey.

After we wrapped up, I began to pack up my equipment when suddenly Orr said “Do you want this?”.

I looked up to see him handing me one of the bags of liquorice allsorts that he had asked someone to get him just before we started the interview.

I paused for a second, because, to be honest, I think liquorice allsorts are disgusting (hahaha).

But then I thought better of it and realized that one of the greatest hockey players of all-time was giving me a gift. How could I say no? I accepted it and thanked him for the time. He couldn’t have been nicer.

Once I got home, I wasn’t sure what to do with the liquorice. I put it on my nightable and decided to figure it out later.

A few months later, I was cleaning out my room and came across the bag again.

I stared at it for 10 minutes trying to figure out what I should do with it. Do I throw it out? Do I keep it, buy a case for it and put it on my mantle to showcase for eternity? In the end, even though it’s not my favourite candy, I decided to eat them.

Turns out, they’re not that bad.

Card: 21-22 Upper Deck Premier Signature Seating Auto #PSS-BO

8 years ago, I was fortunate enough to witness, in-person, one of the better win or go home games in recent memory.

Of course, I am talking about the 2016 AL Wild Card game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles.

Edwin Encarnacion destroying a first pitch offering from Ubaldo Jimenez in a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 11th while Zack Britton, baseball’s best reliever that season, sat and watched in the Orioles bullpen because manager Buck Showalter was saving him for a save opportunity that never came.

It was pandemonium inside the clubhouse that night.

Postseason baseball is truly second to none.

I think it's pretty cool the way Topps is going about featuring relic cards of specific moments. My hope is that it extends to future lower-end products as well. There was already SOME Topps relics with the MLB authentication sticker on them, but it should really be for every relic card moving forward.