For years now, I've said that every card has a story ... but, every once in a while, a celebrity's meandering tale has chapters you might not even know about and, in a few really rare instances, there might even be some cardboard to go with it.

That's the case for me with this card this time -- I'm a grizzled veteran collector who's seen plenty, forgotten even more and collected all kinds of directions as players come and go in the traditional sports realm. TV shows and movies come and go on other cardboard, too, and times just sometimes change for collectibles ... just like my sometimes-meandering tastes. But this one? It was something that's right in my wheelhouse as a Shotzi Blackheart collector and it's totally new to me so here we are. She's a pro wrestler and a unique, self-made character if you don't know -- find her in WWE boxes here.

Not that long ago, I spotted a set that had me doing a spit-take, then a double-take -- and all of that was followed up by picking up my jaw off the floor, a click to buy and then hoping that the stuff would actually arrive. In short, it was something I'd never, ever seen before -- or even seen in a photo anywhere at any time. It's a card set for Creepy KOFY Movie Time, a watch-along late-night TV series that ran several years on KOFY Channel 20 in San Francisco that celebrated the retro horror movie genre with a surf music-serving house band called The Deadlies, as well as regular characters for bits, guests for other segments and then a regular go-go dancer ensemble on stage at all times called the Cave Girls, which marked Blackheart's TV debut. The series came to an end just as her indy wrestling career was taking off and eventually took her around the world with WWE.

The card set is from 2013 -- the year before Blackheart's pro wrestling debut in the indies with Oakland-based edgy and irreverent promotion Hoodslam where she was aligned with the Stoner Brothers (a parody of a famous team) under a Missy Hyatt-inspired moniker for a debut match on ... April 20. (Get it?) This name, though, which she has used otherwise for the rest of her wrestling career and to this day post-WWE, originated before that -- "Shotzi" comes from a nickname based off a character in a musical called Starmites (and her role in a high-school production) and "Blackheart" was an ode to Joan Jett and her band, The Blackhearts.

That's here captured in this set with some eccentric characters that you'd expect to find with the genre. It was a show broadcast from a "cave" under the TV studio with a demon (Balrok) and a zombie (No Name) as its hosts. This card set came two years before her attempt at WWE fame as part of its Tough Enough reality show -- she made it but then didn't when they found she had a health issue -- and then seven years before her eventual arrival on WWE cards (2020) as an NXT star. In between was a busy indy wrestling run where "The Ballsy Badass" left her red hair behind in favor of her trademark neon green and crafted her horned-helmet, tank-driving ways that she rode right into WWE unchanged.

Now, what's my convoluted headline and that Tom Cruise cameo all about?

Continue reading →

A piece of the exact moment ... that's what it's all about.

There's a reason there's a tweaked name above for this item in the Collecting Game-used series this month as this isn't just some baseball, football or other typical piece from a name from a traditional game. This one is from a realm just as athletic but also one way more theatric -- the WWE -- which is a world full of colorful characters and names that have more on their resume than just what's on the stat sheet. This time there's no game and there's no uniform, but it's a small piece from a memorable moment that helped lay out the basics for a star who was then still somewhat new to the NXT landscape after a few years as an independent wrestler making her way in the world.

Her name, if you don't know it already from seeing the colorful hair and the horn-adorned Army helmet, is Shotzi Blackheart and she's a star I collect rather seriously in the traditional realms involving Panini America and Topps cardboard, so you'll know her name from reading many other items here. This is the first of a few entries in this series that will step away from the field and get in the world that includes a ring. If her look doesn't grab your attention, her unusual entrances at times might ... she originally rode to the ring in an intentionally absurd childrens' toy tank bought at a Walmart that just works with the vibes and the unusual energy of a Blackheart. (Yes, that name an homage to Joan Jett's punk band.) Meanwhile, in more recent days, her ride is more of a WWE-style tank with and her gear a more glamorized leather aesthetic in the ring and beyond with an energy that's evolved since her late-2019 arrival.

But this time for this item in this series? Well ... keep reading to see all the details.

Continue reading →