Buzz Buys ... A LOT: Inside a 1990s Japanese wrestling binder that was simply loaded with international legends

Buzz buys a lot of stuff these days and for a few reasons, really. Sometimes it's just bargain-hunting, sometimes it's just something that strikes me. And other times it's a lot -- a group of things -- and that has happened enough lately I figured I'd try something different as a regularly appearing item. Sometimes my lots will be wins, sometimes they won't be ... but I'll let you decide. 

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WAY MORE THAN A PARTIAL SET ...
The Lot: A 1998 Bandai New Japan Pro Wrestling binder of roughly 300 cards
The Price: $85 ... find newer U.S. wrestling boxes here

Keep reading for more on this one ...

What's The Deal? It’s been many months (almost two years, actually) since I landed this gem, but today’s the day it finally bubbled up on my to-do list to reveal it all here. Why? Just for fun ... but also a reminder that there’s a boatload of stuff out there from the past that can deliver well for a price that won’t break the bank as a collector -- especially if you explore international releases and aren’t afraid to research and then hunt. This was a binder find -- the binder was an official NJPW album but it had taken some beatings over the years and I scrapped it -- and based on images I figured it was, at best, just a partial set but there were enough good names showing that I bought without a lot of hesitation. When it arrived? Well, I was surprised to find that even the biggest names inside this one were sometimes found two or three times per their card number pocket in their pages. A respectable buy became a big win with that as this set is popular and can be pricey in box form -- see here (and that price has been topped) -- for a more-modern set because of its WCW crossover ties that mean a lot of American names -- past and present -- are found in this, too. The set is only 196 cards but it’s loaded and then there were 27 foil-stamped Specials cards where some names can be huge sellers and then some Inscriptions inserts that barely look like inserts at all (more like subsets).

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What's The Steal? The number of WCW names in the lot was impressive and the inserts included a number of them. This Specials Hulk Hogan insert -- showing him in Japan in the early 1980s before WWE and Hulkamania -- was in there and it’s got some meaty asking prices in any condition ... though actual sales are far softer. I graded it long ago and my thoughts on it are here. Since everything was paged, they were relatively clean and this card, I think, only dropped down this far due to some curling along an edge/corner of the card. This one alone is potentially worth the price of admission on its own -- or at least pays for a good chunk of the binder -- but there are a number of cards in the set that probably have surprising asking prices out there in the wild (here’s one spot) as you can’t just pop into a typical card shop and find these. There are a lot of A-list names in this for both Japan and American wrestling.

Anything Missing? Nah, this was a partial set and then there were a couple pages of scraps from a BBM set -- many of those were in lesser condition and I didn’t even take photos there.

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The Lot Details ...
Notables on cards – Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Andre The Giant, Scott Stiner, Rick Steiner, The Road Warriors, El Gigante, Lex Luger, Marcus Bagwell, Syxx, Bam Bam Bigelow, Steve Williams, Big Van Vader, Dick Murdoch, Bob Backlund, Bruiser Brody, Jimmy Snuka, Davey Boy Smith, Dynamite Kid, Owen Hart, Tiger Mask, Great Muta, Keiji Mutoh, Jyushin Thunder Lyger, Antonio Inoki, Masahiro Chono, Kensuke Sasaki, Abdullah The Butcher, Diamond Dallas Page, Kimberly Page, The Giant, Sting, Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes, Ultimo Dragon, Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, Karl Gotch, Lou Thesz, Johnny Powers, Don Frye, Leon Spinks ... and many more.

Bottom Line: My gallery doesn’t do the depth of this set justice -- there are many more Japanese stars in this set -- but it’s an awesome look back at years far before the then and now of 1998.

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