Booked to Last: A Wrestling Collector's Guide to The National 2026

Foreign. We are back with the official Wrestling Card Podcast here on the Stacking Slabs Network. It is the Book to Last podcast with my good friends Ryan and Adam and sponsored by RBI crew 7. The biggest, the baddest, the best place to buy your wrestling card singles and wax in all of the universe. If you're going to the national and you want to buy some wrestling cards, you Must stop at RBI Crew 7 setup. Ryan and team have been loading up for an entire calendar year to present the most impressive spread of Wrestling Card singles that the national has ever seen. I can't wait to check it out. I've had a lot of conversations but Ryan won't show the stuff yet and I like the big reveal at the National. Can't wait to see you all there. You better be there at Wrestling card takeover. Friday, July 31 NBC Suites it is going to be an incredible event. I want to shout out Adam and Ryan who have been just grinding getting this event together. It's unbelievable that we're less than a week away from getting all together in the same room to talk wrestling cards. Make sure you rsvp@booktolastpodcastmail.com we would love to see you there. Fun one. In today's episode I join the lads and we have Brian THC Sports Cards back on the damn program. There's four of us. It's awesome. We talk about the National Prep Wrestling Card, singles dealer perspective, anything you could possibly want. Wrestling card related. If you're going to the big show, you are going to get that in this episode. We appreciate all of you supporting Book to Last podcast. It has been a fun ride so far. It's wait to see you soon but for now let's get into the episode. Welcome to Book to Last, a wrestling card podcast for the card collecting community that goes from the top rope to top loaders. We are your hosts ryan Bannister of RBI Crew 7 and Adam Gelman of Main Event Wrestling Cards here on the Stacking Slab Podcast network. Don't forget to like and subscribe here on Stacking Slabs, especially if this is your first time here joining up. You can find the patreon@patreon.comStackingSlabs and you could follow Adam and I on social media at RBI Crew 7 and at WWE. Respectfully, let's ring that bell and get this slobber knocker on the way. It's a national episode. Yes it is. It's a little bit different today. I'm excited for this. We all we have Adam here, we have Brett here. And we have Brian here. So, Adam, how we doing? I am back in Minnesota after a horrific experience coming back from New York City. Brett got very lucky. So congratulations, sir. But I wanted to get all of us together. Instead of doing our normal podcast and doing our sort of stuff that we would normally cover, we're going to do a special episode. We have a lot of things planned for next week in Chicago, and by the time that this airs, we will be on the verge of the national convention. Can you guys believe that? We are almost there. That includes all the fun stuff that's going to be happening during the course of the convention. Wrestling card takeover on Friday night, and just a whole slew of. Of news and, and items that will take place. But in the meantime, how's Brett, Brian, are are. We're introducing a new tag team. We're going to have to go Fatal four Way here on this. And I'm excited to have all of you here because I think all of us have a role to play in this national convention here coming up. I'll start with you, Brett. How's everything going? Since I think you went through a lot of the same thing that I did, I want to speak for everyone who is working in the sports card industry right now and just say we're going to, we're going to do it. Coming off of Fanatics Fest, Coming off of everyone's getting ready for the National. The national is going to be on the other side. We're old, grizzled guys. But this, this renewed energy, I'm like, faking it right now that I'm ready to go. And I, I, my wife last night said, wait a minute, the nationals next week. I was like, babe, I, I told you, it's on your calendar. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. I felt bad with the. I've never heard that line before. I'm sure you've never never heard it, but I don't know, there's not too many times doing what we're doing where we all get to see each other in this short period of time and, and run the gauntlet. And we've got a lot to talk about in this episode, so I'm pumped, man. I'm looking forward to it. Survived New York and Fanatics Fest, which I'll just say there were wrestling cards everywhere. I think the dealers understood the play and the play was, let's put wrestling cards in cases, especially since talent is everywhere. So that was encouraging. And it was just like, I've never left a show where it felt so Wrestling focused and that got me energy especially knowing what we were going to be doing on the other side of it. Yeah, absolutely. I, I think it was a very interesting experience. Overwhelming in a lot of ways. Maybe because Ryan's going to be at the national to record next week. I might do sort of a. A catch up show in that respect where we'll catch up on some of that. I'll have to arrange with you Brett to see a time that might work for us to record because we're both going to be in Chicago starting next week and I want to introduce our special guest or our first. I think you are our first returning guest on the podcast. Brian, welcome again. THC Sports cards on Instagram. How you doing sir? Thank you. Thank you for having me again. Yeah, it's great to have you here. One of our illustrious sponsors acknowledge our sponsors for Wrestling Card Takeover. Thank you for your support, sir. And I cannot wait for this coming week. Like how like given that we are now very short time away, like what, what is, what's your feelings sort of coming into this as somebody who represents sort of. Brett and I are both collectors, Ryan and you are the dealer side. Well, I'm curious what it's been like for you over the last couple days. I'm. I'm very excited the last couple days have been spent. If you could see my table, it's about 10ft long of cards just in piles, re re bagging and repricing every single card, checking comps. Luckily my wife has been helping me out, but I'm very excited. I haven't done a show actually since March, which for me is not normal. I'm usually doing at least one. One a month. So I'm, I'm ready to get back at it and, and hearing everything that I heard about the west coast card show, even the Dallas card show and then of course fanatics and how much wrestling was there. I'm excited to hopefully get some time to walk around this year and actually see some stuff in other people's booths because there wasn't a ton last year I feel like, but sounds like there's going to be a ton this year there. I mean Bannister could probably run a show of wrestling cards just himself. Like just give him a hundred tables and they'll just all be wrestling. Don't put that on me, Ricky Bobby. I can't do that much. That's it. That's too much of an undertaking. But yeah, it's. No. So for today's episode I have this split up into A few sections we're going to go through. We've got about an hour before and I think, Brett, I know you said you kind of have a hard stop here coming up as well, so wanted to get you on and get some thoughts before you have to leave. I've broken this up into some stages here. Before you go at the show, Wrestling card takeover. And then after, I tried to make this as like, if you've listened to a national prep podcast, they all say the same thing, they all give you the same advice. That is the opposite of what I wanted to provide here. So if you are a new person listening to this podcast, going to your first national convention, just be aware there are probably better podcasts to listen to than hey, wear comfortable shoes and whatever. Like, that's not hey, wear D per usual. Yes, yes. Those are important things, Adam. We got to address that. We, I, I, I got it here. Okay, so let's start with the sort of like the before you attend section of this. And I, I think we've, we've sort of touched on this in the opening here. But like, I, I'll start with Brian our, our special guest here. Like, talk about your personal plans for the week. Like, what is your role that you're playing and sort of, what do you expect sort of coming into this? I know that Wednesday through Sunday are going to be crazy. So I get in Tuesday night and I think if you have the ability to get in early, you should and kind of just take it all in, relax. My wife and I are going to go to our favorite restaurant in Chicago. That's kind of our tradition. And then we know we got our good dinner in us and Wednesday morning we wake up and go get set up and it's just go, go, go from there. And you have a booth, so you're gonna have a booth set up. What's your booth number gonna be? Do they do it 2506. Okay, so you're right by Bannister then. Yeah, I'm pretty close to him. Yeah. If you, you take a right at the Starbucks and go in those doors, I'm like, right through there. Nice. And if, and you've got, I, I know you've got a bunch of wrestling that you're going to be bringing and you're. And the stuff that you've been previewing on your Instagram looks absolutely crazy. So I can't wait to see what you have laid out. It's a drop in the bucket of what's actually coming. I'm sure you and you And Bannister are like. So I'll go to the other dealer on the crew here. Bannister, let's. You, you. I think you've got a little bit more logistics that you've got to play with given the size of your booth. So why don't. What are your personal plans for this week? To survive. To not lose my voice by day two. To get sleep and not drink too many man sodas. No, I. We get it on Monday. I have six guys working under me, so I have four hotel rooms and we come up. But the biggest thing is we have dinner plans every night, Monday through Sunday. We already have everything planned out. I've got dinners to go to meetings and things like that. But we're going to get there Monday. Unload. We're not allowed to sit up, but we can pull in and unload to our spot because we have two booths and then we'll set up for early dealer setup on Tuesday. Last year was the craziest early dealer setup ever. Could not believe how busy we were. A lot of people elected not to sit up on Tuesday, which benefited us because we were setting up. My biggest frustration is, is you're setting up and guys are literally grabbing stuff out of your hands. It's like, can I just set my case real quick? You know, so. But for the most part, we're there all week. We've got scheduled out dinners, parties, everything, you name it, from Monday through Sunday. And I just look forward to seeing everybody, man. It's a good time. And all the work is being done right now between John and I. We're. He's in the other room in my office right now pricing. He got in yesterday. I've been pricing. So I've got a lot to do on my part. But we will be ready to kick off next Tuesday, I can tell you that. Now. Brett, you are content creator extraordinaire. Your experience might even be different than all of us. What are your plans for this week? It's a bit overwhelming, but I. There's a lot of different moving pieces going on. There will be content that I am recording that will end up on the stacking Slabs network after the fact. So setting up those conversations. A lot of that will be taking place in the card ladder booth. Shout out card ladder. One of obviously the sponsors of wrestling card Takeover. Also the one to one connection. So relationship building with people that I'm currently working with or that I aspire to work with, that's taking place and I'm trying. I'm. I don't want to lose sight and I don't want to forget about, like, trying to find cards. I did a terrible job of that last year. I got so wrapped up in my work that I hardly walked the show floor. And so I'm. I'm there for wrestling cards mostly. I think looking at the market and looking at cards and looking what a lot of dealers will be asking for, football cards, which is a lane that I collect in. Stuff's really high right now. Stuff's really high in basketball, in soccer, all the sports. But when I look at the. All the categories and I look at wrestling cards and I know, like, for people listening, they see the prices of wrestling cards right now and they say wrestling cards are too expensive. They might be more expensive than they were three, four years ago, but I still love to buy wrestling cards because I love wrestling cards and there's to me, a ton of value still to be had in wrestling cards. So I'm hoping that there are a lot of Brian and Ryan set up across the national so I can go shopping and leave with some pieces. Yeah, and I, I think for me it's. It's. I think the same way I think. I. I've never gone into a national with the intention of buying cards, like, because my collection's too laser focused for that to make sense. But I have some deals lined up, believe it or not, which is crazy to me. So I'm going to be walking home hopefully if everything works out well with two extra super fractures. But it's. It's going to be a fun time. I get in on Thursday because leave it to Gelman to plan all of this around the one time that WWE SummerSlam is going to be in Minneapolis at U.S. bank Stadium. Can you, like. I. This could not have been any more poorly executed on my part in that respect. The. I want to go to the SummerSlam store, which is like the big superstore they have. I don't know if it opens on Wednesday or Thursday yet. There hasn't been a lot of communication. So I want to take some time to experience SummerSlam in my hometown. I want to pick up some of the goods there. So I'll be going down on Thursday and. And I'll stay until Bannister's party and I think like. Or until, you know, Saturday and on our party and everything like that. And I think when we get to Saturday, there's going to be a lot of contention about do I make it home for Saturday night's event or do I just aim for Sunday? All around. And I think the way that it's shaping up, I am going to be missing Hell in a Cell on Saturday night. So that's really unfortunate. But I want to go at some point. So I think, like, from that experience standpoint, my sole goal at the national is to execute Wrestling Card Takeover as flawlessly as possible and do it with the help of the people on this call. And hopefully we can get some some more people involved as well. But I think it's going to be absolutely awesome. Now, all of that being said, what is like it like we can go through this kind of rapid fire, like, because this is all prepped kind of questions, like, what is a piece of advice that you guys would give besides the table stake stuff we were talking about before? Shoes and snacks and mark your tables and like all the other stuff that everybody says in every podcast be for somebody who hasn't gone to a show and for wrestling collectors, this may be one of the first times they are really going to take advantage of this. What's a piece of advice for you or like what's a story that you can tell people that might show the importance of making this a destiny for the summer? Let's go to Brett. So I actually just put out a show on this and just some advice to anyone who listens to our content here. And that is if you go in with no plan, you will be overwhelmed and you will likely make a lot of purchasing decisions that you regret later. But if you go in with a plan, then you can maximize your chances of landing key cards and meeting the right people. And I say this every year, but the national gives you access to the dealer list where people will be set up. You can go be proactive and look on Instagram, go to people's websites and try to get some understanding of what the dealers will be bringing. We have two dealers on this show. They have already said they will be be bringing wrestling cards. So if you want to buy wrestling cards, I would highly recommend stopping by RBI crew and stopping by Brian's table. And I just think that's a key piece is that we got a week. We still got time. Like, we still got time. Like you're on your phone. If you're on your phone on the couch in the evenings after work and tired, like, spend a little time just doing some homework and it could lead to a better national experience for you. Brian, what about you? I've got two. I'll try to make him quick. One is kind of piggybacking off what he said a little bit. Don't be afraid to use Instagram. It is such an important tool at the event. Two years ago there was been a card that I've wanted for like 15 years. And two years ago I posted it on Instagram every day. Hey, if you see this card at the show, let me know, tag me, I want this card. And on the last day I found out that somebody had it. They weren't selling it, but it's such a rare card. I've never even seen one in person. I got linked up with the guy. I at least got to see the card in person, hold it in my hands and that's better than nothing. So Instagram's important post. If you're looking for something, you never know who's going to see it, who might help you out. 2. Some people might disagree with this and some people agree with this, but if you're going and looking for something very specific for your PC, something very hard to find, I don't know anything about that yet. And you come across it, buy it. If you're going and you're looking for something that is accessible. If you're looking for like a PSA 10 case, hit walk around, shop around. You're going to have a chance to probably see it at multiple tables. But if you've been looking for, you know, a one of one or a red out of five and there hasn't been a sale in years on those cards, no matter what, sport, don't walk away because there's probably somebody else there that's looking for the same thing, right? Good piece of advice, Ryan. Yeah, I'm going to kind of also piggyback off Brian here in a way pivot a little bit. I got two things. One being is if you see something in a case and you think, hey, I think I'm going to come back and get this, just buy it. Because chances are, like he said, things sell. Mike Geo just did a video on sportscard. Nonsense is the best advice anybody. I've been telling people this for years. Back in the day when you used to go to Nashville, you could, you had a, a notebook or whatever, whatever it was, and it was a map and you mark and you could probably go back and the card still be there. That was 10 plus years ago. National is completely different now. You see something and you know, it's like, hey, I want to have this, I need this card. Don't just think you're going to see it at somebody else's table. If it's a downown or kaboom sure, that's one thing. But if it's like something super rare that you may never see another one again, like, he's alluding to, like, hey, I seen this card. I got to hold it. Don't pass up on it. The other thing is, don't get so bent out on comps, especially on rare things. Be willing if you need to overpay to get it. Who cares if you got what you want if you had to overpay a little bit? Sucks. But. But if you're going off a comp from two years ago, we're talking night and day in this hobby in this industry now. Don't get caught up in oh, well. Car Lanner says is this. Yeah, but things have changed, okay? The goats have really taken over. If it's a premier name, you're probably going to pay more. Jordan cards go up every freaking day. Kobe's are going up every day. I can name a list of everybody else. Wrestling cards are still grossly undervalued in the scheme of everything else. So don't be so hung up on, oh, I don't want to overpay. I don't want to pay what it's worth. I need to pay 90%. Times have changing. There's too much competition. There's somebody else I want to make sure and I'm sure Brian will contest to this is I've gotten several PC cards from him. Is I want to make sure I can get as many cards into a collector's hand. And I appreciate the repackers business. We all sell to them. Brian does as well. But at the end of the day, I want to see it to its final home. So I'm willing to always take care of that. But kind of a couple key devices that I feel are very. Is something you need to go in and know that don't be afraid to make a purchase because it's $200 more than the last one that did $1,200 or something stupid. Yeah, agreed. I think that's. That's good advice. And I think, like, I'm just gonna add one quick thing because I think you guys pretty much nailed it. Is like, this show is going to be exceptionally busy and like, so keeping that in mind, we'll get to buying and selling here in a second. But I think the other thing is most of us have equity in our collections and doing an inventory before you go and. And finding out, like, which cards you can bear to part with, like, bring them with, like, a lot of dealers are going to have shortage of inventory because the repackers are going to be going around buying stuff. They're going to want to keep their tables replenished. Like if you have desirable cards or even like liquid cards that you can bring and you're not horribly opposed to letting them go to get something you want, like bring them with, you have to have that, that sort of review of your collection before you go. And I think that that's really one of the pieces of advices that I've been doing. I think it's a little too late to probably be stocking up because I already did that and sent everything to Ryan a couple of days ago. So, like, he's already got him, he's already got all my inventory that I'm going to use to get these, these deals done. But I think that that's something in the future for future Nationals is like, probably start stocking up in January and February knowing that this is going to come every year. I made, I made my last purchase last night and that's the last thing that I said that'll probably get here before National. I can't buy anything else until the show. I call B.S. i call B. Yes, you will, you will. You're gonna, you will never know what's going to pop up. You just never know. But you will. I, I, I'm confident I'll see you next week. I'm like, by the way, I bought three more things since the podcast. Yeah. So I know we have two dealers who are probably going to have very chaotic days at the national, but now moving on to sort of the time frame when you're at the show, think about this from a collector perspective. And, and I'll start with banister here. Like, if you were a collector in attendance, what would your perfect day look like? Obviously it would be to not spend all your money in, in day one, which is, is not hard to do how much you saved up. And obviously, I think going back to what Brett said, you need to have like a plan. You need to go there and not get. It's overwhelming. Come with a good plan if you're just like, hey, I want to get this, this and this, and if you can get those, then that you succeeded. And if you get other stuff that's cherry on top. But the biggest as a collector for, for me is I, I've got two PC cards from Brian last year. One of which was Randy Orton finite. The other one was a stone cold flawless dark swatch 150. Still have them in my collection. Absolutely love them. You Know, my goal is to not really spend a lot. I want to sell, but from my standpoint as a collector, I want to go back with new stuff for my collection. So maybe pivot and bring some stuff to get rid of that you could pivot into. That is what I would do. Because cards are hot. I mean, cards are unbelievably on fire right now. It's just crazy to see how it's like, round two of how hot the hobby is. And you can use cards a lot better than money right now. I look at a lot more people, if you have the right stuff, will value your cards more than actual money. That may help you do a trade, because any dealer setting up will more likely trade or buy. I mean, we. We're very. We vet it because, like, we are looking for certain things, but there's so many people in the room that want to buy. So if you want to get liquid money or use those cars towards that, but have a good game plan more than anything to know, like. Like, my guy Jeff, who saved up $10,000 this year, he saved up 5,000 last year. He had such a fun time. He wanted to save up 10. He wants a Roger Maris Cardinals cut, he said, or Roger Maris cut. And they got a satchel page cut. And then he's like, if I pick up anything else, it's icing on the cake. So he's going in with the plan. I mean, does your strategy, like, you said, like, going with the plan, does that plan change based on the day of the show? That it is, like, I don't think the existence of, like, hey, buying early in the show is a bad idea. Like, I don't think that that's a thing anymore. I think, like, the price is the price because people move inventory. I'll tell you right now from us that we set up every year and our cases are dismantled by Sunday, you're gonna sell so much. And we're right now focusing on backstock is the chances are just you have to buy it on the spot. It's going to be gone. I had a perfect example on a rare card. I had a Sammy Sosa Topps Transcendent Logoman Auto okay, from last year. And I had it the year before, and I had it out. It did not sell. I put it back out last year. I raised it $500,000 because some of this stuff went out. We sold it day one of last year when it was out for five days the year before. And I had three other people come up to me after it sold and guys were throwing fits that they did not get to it in time. Oh, I. But it's like, it's crazy how you go from one year you did couldn't get rid of it, then you raise it because the markets change. And then you have people saying, I would have bought it. I would have bought it. How much did you get for? And it's like, I. I owned it. Tell you, man, it's gone. I only had one. Yeah, I have a question. Oh, yeah, go ahead. For the dealers. Ryan, you mentioned trade, and I think this would be good for the audience. For anyone who has never been in this setting or used to being in this setting, can you maybe share your perspective on trade and how you think about trade, like what you are looking to take in, how you evaluate cards, like how you compare that with cash. I think it would be really good perspective to get, like, how you think about it. How does the dealer behind the table think about trading? Because I think sometimes people are hesitant to share their cards because they're unsure that those cards are going to be cards that the individual is going to want to take on. Yeah, I mean, for me, it's the problem with me. A lot of times the collector to me comes out number one. The number one focus. When I'm looking, I'm like, ooh, is that something for me or is that something that I have a buyer for or long term? I had two gunther one on ones come up to our table last year. One was the flawless finisher finishing move set inscription auto that Chad Sportscard junction. Is the booth over? And it came to my table. So luckily I called him up and said, come over here. Do you want me to get this card? I'll work on it right now. So, I mean, I put a perspective when I'm doing a trade, I don't want to add more work to my plate. At the National, I've priced enough cards to get there. Sure, if it's a bundle deal, I got to get it. But our goal is we want to have everything price ready to go on Tuesday. We put in all this work. I don't want to add more time. I don't want to have one of my guys stop helping customers to price cards. I used to go back every night and price cards that we picked up during the day because it used to be crazy back then, but times were different. I needed the money, I needed to make those moves. Now it's like, we'll take it back. It'll go to the shop. Or I got a buyer for that. But I think the biggest thing is just ask a dealer. If you're walking around, you don't know what they're looking for. We usually bet people and say, look, if you're on a wrestling side and you're asking us, you clearly have wrestling cards to sell. So we have a whole aisle of just wrestling. So we're. We want to look. I love looking at wrestling. When it comes to other sports, we say we're looking for superstars, hall of famer, goats, autographs, bat nods, bat barrels, logo, hands. No, I'm not looking for downtown's kabooms. I could buy that stuff any day of the week in my shop. We're trying to vet it because we want to know, like, oh, this person might have something we want to see, or, sorry, I don't think then they'd like, okay, you weren't rude about it. They're like, well, thanks, because it saved me time. I don't think I have anything like that, but thanks for make it easy on me, you know. So I think the biggest thing as a dealer is your job to not blow people off, but kind of give an idea what you're looking for. And if they're like, okay, I might have something like that. Let me show you. What's it going to hurt to look? I love looking at cards, but I also don't want to buy stuff that we could buy in our shop six days a week. That's not what I'm there to do. I'm looking for collector stuff. I'm looking for rare cards, looking for things that I know people need versus just something that I'm going to have to get priced in my store in a week or two. Anything to add, Brian? I mean, I. I agree. I'm looking for basically the same stuff, just in wrestling terms. I'm looking for the. The stuff that's. That you don't see every day. I'm looking for the gold prisms and the. The 100 ones and flawless. And I don't. I don't have the time or the space because I. You guys get drive, I believe, right? Ryan, you guys drive up? Yeah, we. It's. For us. It's like four and a half hours, so it's not that I. I fly, so I only have so much space, and I get. I'm already fighting with that for this year. I have more inventory than I've ever had in my life for at least. Baggage fees are killer, man. Well, I. I refuse to check bags, especially when you're talking, you know, I've had a laptop stolen out of a checked bag, so, like, I won't check my cards. They come with me on the plane. So I have to make everything fit into two Zion cases and two backpacks. One for me, one for my wife. So, yeah, I mean, I'll look at anything. I'm always happy to look at trade. It doesn't have to be wrestling, but it has to be stuff that, if I'm. Most of the stuff that I have that I have in my cases is more on the rare side. I don't want the common stuff back. I'd like to do a 1 to 1 or a 1 to 2 type trade for equal quality back. I don't want to trade a big card down into 30 cards that I got to price out and more than likely are just going to end up going to a repacker. I. I like having the rare stuff that you have to find the right owner for. Yeah, and I think that's a good point, because when you walk up to both Ryan and Brian, this is gonna be really tough. Banisters and Brian's table. Just call me a band banister's table or Brian's table. Like, you recognize what they have in the case, Right. And then we'll get to buying and selling here in a second. But, like, I think Brian's case is probably representative. Like, I'm not taking like baseball, pro models and bulk. Right. Like, it's that. It's just. But there are people. Like, Chad said he was going to have dollar boxes out. He apparently is epically failed. That confirmed yesterday. So let's not talk about that. Yeah, I feel bad. I told everybody I was doing that. I just don't have the time. And I was like, okay, yes, I'm gonna clear her slate for him. So. Yeah, but that's also maybe some of the stuff that you want to save for. Like those. That trade night on Thursday night. The national offers a trade night every night of. Of the show. So, like, those are great opportunities to be a part of and move stuff like that because there will be people at those trade nights looking for that. I'm sure there'll be people at wrestling, car takeover looking for that type of stuff, even though we're more of a community celebration. So I think, like, all of that is. Is really important. But I think, like, if you are. If you are looking at this from the perspective of kind of what Brett and I are, are coming to the show. We're collectors, we're not dealers. We're not setting up Like, I think it's like, how do you expect people to sort of come through the show? What are you, what are your expectations in terms of, like, what people should look for besides, you know, like, just the, the standard stuff. I'm just hoping that. Let's just focus in on wrestling cards here. I, I'm hoping that enough people who I know are my eyes and ears at the show and are sending me text messages saying, hey, there's this John Cena one of one over here, or there's this Roman Reigns one of one over there because it's impossible to see and find anything. And as Bannister alluded to, like, stuff moves so quickly that I'm just hoping that my network can be the eyes and ears and that will. That's what I'm hoping for. That's like the experience I'm, I'm looking for at the show. So that's kind of where my mindset is. But I, I just like, wanted to toss one over because I feel like there is a lot of prospecting in other areas. There's a lot of, you know, obviously the Goats, Michael Jordan this and that, but on the football side, young quarterbacks. Like, I'm just curious, like, from your perspective on like, which wrestling superstars, or we don't call them superstars anymore, but which, which performers, which talent, which cards do you think are going to have exuberance? People are going to be excited. And so you, Brian and Banister are making sure you have enough of those available if people are coming looking for, for those, those individual talent. First off, I'm going to save you a text. I do have a John Cena super fracture tops come variation PSA graded in my box. I don't know if I'm taking, but if I do, I'll let you know beforehand. So I'm just going to go there right now. I literally forgot I had that fell the other day. I'm like, oh, and then you brought it back up, like, oh, yeah. Probably be good because he owns a couple. So, you know, for us, obviously, I think Brian will reiterate this Obafemi right now. I mean, we can't have enough Obafemi out right now. He is scorching hot. I like how he's just like, look at my shirt. By the way, is this like Inception seeing my shirt with this in the background? Yes, it is a little. Very. The first time ever I've actually worn my RBI 7 shirt for the podcast with the background. I would think right now the hottest name in wrestling. You Know, outside of obviously the. The obvious ones is Obafemi. Again, he doesn't have a crazy amount of autographs. It's still, you know, coming out, but I'm bringing everything over I have except my flawless patch auto rookie, by the way. That did not sell my case last year at the National. Funny. Back to a car that's gone up and I'm like, nope, we're keeping it this time. I'll have a lot of the, you know, Rhea Ripley, you cannot have enough of Stone Cold. But prospecting wise, I really think, like, Trick Williams is so cheap on a lot of his stuff. I think Trick is just like, they've got a rocket strapped to him like no other. He has a bright future right now. He is it. The crowd's all over. Another one. I'm bringing every Trick Williams on I had. We had a good amount of Sami Zayn going, and then about nine days later, I decided we didn't need to bring as much Sami Zayn. So, Brian, what are your. What are your thoughts? I agree. Trick and Oba are probably the two biggest names. I think Javon is up there too. His stuff is crazy cheap, just like Trick. And I feel like he's going to be in that very high mid card for a long time. On the female side, you know, the care has fallen off because of the injury. I still think Roxanne has a very bright future, but her market doesn't really reflect that right now. I think it's very. I think you can get into Roxanne very cheap for what she should be doing, what she should end up being. I agree with on that. Yeah. And then, I mean, of course, you know, Sol, she's looked great so far. I know she's had a couple botches, but Sol Ruka, she's fighting Raquel again on Monday. It looks like gonna have something going on with Lyra as well. Nice to see that they're finally using her Raw. But, yeah, they. There's not a ton of prospecting in. In WWE compared to the other sports. I mean, you've got like, Fallon, Henley and Laney Reed. Our new tag. Our new female tag champs. That's a good one. Yeah, we got a good amount of those coming because they're affordable, too. A lot of people are like, I'm. Kendall Gray is another big one. Yeah, just forget about her. Yep, she's pretty pricey, but she's come down from her peak of where she was, so she's more. She has more autographs now. So I think, like, I think like, Overall, like just having a big stock of the legends and the females, like, I think that's probably a good thing. But like, if you're a collector coming to this with stuff to move, I think those are probably the stacks that you want to bring as well. Like, those are the things that you're going to be the most interest. Like, it's easy to move Alexa Bliss. It's easy to move Liv Morgan. It's easy to move Rhea Ripley. Like, just having those in a stack somewhere is, is good bait for, for making deals. But I think like, one of the things that I think most collectors don't really grasp about this national is that traffic is, is probably going to be at an all time high. Like, this is probably going to be the busiest national ever. And that's crazy because if you look the numbers. No, I mean, it is. I've spoken to some of the people that work for the national. It, it is going to be the craziest national ever. So like, I think like coming up to a table and just saying, oh, here's my cards. Can you look at them? Like, these dealers are not going to have the type of time that they would have five years ago to go through your stuff. Like, I think it's, it's really important and I'm, I might just ditch this agenda because I think we're having good discussions anyways and we'll get to take over at the end. But like, I think like, overall, like, when we're looking at everything that is, is going down at these shows and everything that collectors have to experience, like you're going to walk in here and you're going to see a mass of people and it's going to be like, you're going to see like little island tables and there's not going to be any floor that you see. Like, it's going to be heads from the beginning of the show floor all the way to the wall. And so I think, like, the idea and Brett and I experienced this this past weekend is like, you can't move. Like, we were trapped in some of these circumstances in New York City. I think it's going to be a little different in Chicago, but I think it'll be something that you know when you're walking the show floor, like, you might have to wait in line to talk to somebody about a car that five years ago you could have just walked into their table and done a deal. So, like, recognize that your targeted list that Brett was mentioning is, is now going to be, hey, I need to get in line with this table as quickly as possible because there may be 10 to 15 people that all want to do deals with that person, especially if they're a well known Instagram account or if they're a well known WWE guy. Like there's only a few tables and, and Brian, you've done some research on who's going to be there with wrestling cards. I have as well. And you have guys like Mike, Bev, Celtics. You have a guy like, like I, I'm sure you know, around your space with Chad and, and Banister and Dazzy all around that area. And there's going to be Griffey guy and there's going to be, you know, all these different people that will sort of be in this general area. But I know there's like seven out cards and like all these other people that have tables around the show, like make it a point to get to those tables as quickly as possible so you can see what they have and then start to experience maybe some of the other areas that maybe aren't as wrestling card related. But I will say this, I was shocked at how much wrestling memorabilia there was. Like, you could see Macho Man's like, coat last, last time I was at the national, you could see Hulk Hogan's boots. You can see all the auction items that are up for heritage and for everything else. And some of them have like old belts or tickets or whatever. They're just cool to see or maybe you want to see like a Tupac autographed album or something like that. Those are things that you, you can do after maybe some of this other stuff. And as Ryan Bannister was saying, like, making those deals early and often can really create a sense that you've accomplished what you've come to accomplish and now you can sort of go and enjoy the rest of the show, which hopefully won't be as much traffic. And we also know that the Panini national packs are probably going to be a little bit different this year. We know Topps is going to have a different rapper redemption program cancellations, whatever it is, you have to buy the packs. We don't even know at this point. So maybe the, the, the brand activations will be completely different so you can wait on those. Where in past years you had to get in line to do your Panini Redemptions, you had to do the exchanges there. You had to get your rapper reemptions done early because they ran out of packs. And like all this other stuff, I think a lot of that is changing this year. Do you agree Anybody want to jump in? Yeah. I mean, for the most part, I know, you know, leaf soon packs too, but everybody is changing up. I know with Panini, I know it's going to probably be predominantly like wnba. There'll be soccer in there. They'll have some of their exclusive people in there. We know they just did a. They got a ring royalty product coming out. So it's going to be a mesh of a lot of things. I still think it'll be good having the WNBA chances of Caitlin Clark, messy potential inserts. That's good. Tops. I don't really know. They. They said they're changing it completely and I think everybody's like, how is this going to work? I mean, we'll find out there, but it's a pivot. It's. It used to be pretty cut and dry in the past, and this is what you got. And, and now I'm just curious how this is all going to play out with now, the licensing, the different agreements, all this stuff. I have. I have a Topps vs. Panini question for the audience here. You know, it's only been a couple years, but there's been so much tops WWE stuff front and center. You know, breaks cards, selling cards, listing. And I know just in our conversations privately, like the Panini stuff is. It's hard to come by and it's. It's like shaking trees and nothing's coming down. I don't know, like, what sort of feedback do you have for the audience based on just like the current supply and availability of Tops. WWE versus the current supply and availability of Panini. WWE stuff. Brian, you let go. There's no question that panini in general has. Has dried up. I buy Flawless anytime I can, and there's almost never any new auctions or buy it now on ebay. Prism Golds, prism Blacks, other 101s from other Panini sets. They're. They're all with collectors. They, they were pulled years ago and they're with either collectors or with people who think that down the line they're gonna, you know, have quite a bit of value and they gobbled them up. So we're seeing a lot of Topps inventory. And I, I mentioned this before. I think Topps is doing a great job of lowering that bar for almost every single wrestler, lowering that entry bar to get into the hobby. You can get basically any wrestler autograph for under $200. You can get Roman, you can get Stone Cold. You can get just about anybody for under $200. The rock is really the Only exception. I mean, even Triple H. He's right. Kind of around that range. There's certain Triple H cards. They've done a great job at that Panini kind of gate. Kept that a little bit. And Stone Cold was always of. Of, you know, three, $400 with autograph with Panini. And now you can get them for 200 bucks. That opens up a whole new range of people that can come into the hobby. But there is most definitely a. A glut of Topps inventory out there right now compared to Panini. Substantial amount compared to Panini. Yeah. And to go with that, I think it's the cooperation that WWE fanatics and Topps have and. And the relationship they have that Panini wasn't really given the real opportunity. And we kind of really saw what they could have done if they would have got that. So I think that goes hand in hand. Why you're seeing all these Stone Cold and taker autos and everybody. And when they're more ready available, sure, they're coming down. Rock autos starting to come out. Almost every product. They were two, three grand. They were hot items last year. I'm sure they're still going to be hot, but, you know, it's just the ready available. There's more out there. Supply and demand kicks in. So again, I think that has a lot to do with it. Going back to the Panini, I'm with him, you know, buying the flawless up. Sucking the flawless up. Right now, between me, myself, Brian and Jameson, we are trying to hoard as many star swatches as we can. My first deal, actually of the national is for a bunch of star swatches for a buddy who's trying to complete the set. And he's like, I do not realize how much these are worth. Now I want to sell these off because I'm going to make good money. And I'm like, I'll buy. And I paid like, literally what I think they're worth. Maybe a little bit more just to get them. And I think it's just one of those things where there probably is no chance we're ever going to see Panini ever have wrestling cards ever again. Three years? Yeah, I don't think so. One on ones. Gold, flawless, immaculate. We all love it. And we all know that when there's something that's only been three years and never going to get done again, it's not something that's getting rinsed and repeated every year for year after year after year. So I think that goes hand in hand. Yeah. Brett and I Had this discussion at lunch, I think when we were in New York. Like it was like, this isn't coming back. Like this is. I think the ship has sailed on affordable, desirable panini cards. Like, it's just, it's never going to be something because like if you want, like how long did it take you to get the gold? Randy Orton, Ryan. Like what was like two years, three years? No, it came out in 22 and it was, I just got like a week ago and haven't even posted yet. It's. Yeah, so I mean there's like it took me a time and like all of those cards and we, we even mentioned on the podcast a month or so so ago, like somebody completed the entire gold run of Prism. Like, like, but those cards are never going to be of readily available. Like my save searches for panini never light up anymore. And like it, it's just like when you see that dot next to the, next to the, the search title on the ebay app, you're like, oh, what, what popped up today? Because none of them are there. But I see I. And like you have to recognize going into a show like that people like Bannister and Brian are going to value those cards more. So they may not be as flexible on some of the deals that they can work. I mean, sure, Ryan said earlier on like he's going to work with collectors on stuff, I get that. But like if you're asking to go at 80% of comps on some of these really highly desirable cards, I think it's probably a lost cause and that can sink in negotiation from the, from the get go. Like because of the amount of people walking around this show. Like if somebody came up to you, Brian, and said, hey, I want to buy this Prism goal, but I'm only going to pay 80% and that's my thing. Like you're just going to move on to the next person like in a lot of ways. Correct. Yeah. I got a question for Brian real quick because he's doing the same thing I'm doing. We're pricing WB right now. Yeah, I'm bringing obviously floss with me. No, not star swatches. No, not happening. But when you're looking up your stuff and same with me, you may not be seeing a comp for six, eight months. You know, like I'm taking account, I'm not going off that. I'm going off of what's active, what's out there. Obviously it's better than what this was six, eight months ago. Obviously, give or take who it Is are you having challenges with that? Because like I don't if it did 126 months ago and I just wanted to surf, it's better than 120 now. I mean I'll be honest, as far as flawless goes, I'm only bringing with me. I'm still like you with the star swatches. I'm still a hold on most of the stuff I'm bringing. I'm bringing the stuff that has comped recently. I'm bringing a lot of the encased out of 25 autos of Punk and Cody and Taker and those guys. I'm keeping my emeralds, I'm keeping my amethyst, I'm keeping my golds. I'm not bringing a single star swatch with me. But I've ran into that problem not so much with like Flawless but with, with Prism. There's. I have Prism cards that don't have a comp since 2023. Yeah. You know, so my price on it is a, a pure shot in the dark. Yep. At where I think the overall hobby is at now compared to three years ago. And yeah, I'm sure there's going to be some disagreement with some people on prices because they're going to look at that 2023 comp. Yeah. And why I'm asking 2 1/2x that. But that's just where the market is. You know, if I could. I think, I think you said earlier we're in like a 90 day market. There's some cards that if I can go back 90 pay those prices. I, yeah, I think like, like I don't want to make this show talking about the panini, like everything panini is going to be super valuable and, and whatever because I think that's a given. But I, I also, I also think that like people come to this show especially from a national perspective and they're like this is where the best of the best is going to be on display. And I don't think for wrestling that that may be the case. Like I think this is such an underdeveloped market. And Brett, you can comment here as well. Like I think like the, this, the, the, the Runway that wrestling has probably prevents some of the best stuff from making it out of the national. Maybe you can see it in somebody's case and that at one of these events or something and they'll show it to you. But I think a lot of those cars probably aren't going to be for sale the same way they may have been in previous years. Right. Yeah. I Think if you know that someone has a Panini WWE grail and it's not for sale and you really want it, pony up, pal. Like, make the offer. If it's not available, not for sale, it's on you to make the offer. And the owner of the card can say, I'm not interested. Or you might have an offer that is strong enough where a conversation starts. So I really think we're in a market where if there are certain cards that are rare and scarce, specifically two Panini era cards, and you know where they're at, and you have to have it, like, go all in, make it happen. Because you just heard several people here on this, on this call say, like, I'm not bringing it. It's. It's at home, it's buried. Like, it's not coming with me. So I think that's just the signal for where these cards are at and the position of people right now. I agree. I think a lot of them are buried in collections or of PC collectors and. Or in collections of people that don't think that the value is anywhere close to what it's going to be a year from now or two years from now. I personally, I. Everything I'm bringing, with the exception of one card that I'm picking up there and I'll display, everything will be for sale. I'm just leaving my stuff that I have belief that it still has a lot of room to go. I'm just leaving it at home, but I'll have one card there that I'll just show off. And it's only because I picked it up at Fanatics and it's coming to me at the National. Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah, I'll show you. I think, like, but. But that just speaks to the importance of what Brett mentioned earlier, like, the Instagram communication ahead of the show. Like, if you're not. If you see somebody with a card you want, you think it's going to be available, make sure you send them a message ahead of them leaving for Chicago so they can bring it with them. I think, like, that's not discounting what Tops is doing either, because I think, like, if you've got the rare and desirable cards, the, the stuff from, from Tops's Best Royalty Super Fractures, inscriptions, like, all that stuff is still very, very liquid. I think what we're trying to say is, like, there's levels to this shit, right? So, like, you know, like, as always. But I think additionally, like, when you're sitting around trying to figure out, like, how do you get to that next level in your collection and you're going to use a show like the national to get there. I think it presents a unique situation for a lot of people who may not want to spend the extra money to do that. This is getting to a market space where that's kind of required. I mean, Brett, you just went through that. I've gone through that. Like, sometimes, like, if you want the best of the best stuff, like, you're going to have to pay more than you're probably comfortable with now due to the level of competition. But I don't think that that changes just because it's out in the case in the National Convention, right? No, no, not at all. I think, yeah. That my, my just feedback to everyone, especially in wrestling cards. It is the, the, the best cards, the cards you all want for the PC that you're building, where you know where they're at, they're going to take conviction from you as a buyer to pay more than any comp and likely maybe even a top end of the category specifically. So, like, that's where I think the fun part of all this is, is, like, you see people where they really believe and where they want to put their money. And I don't know, like, even if it's not getting a deal done at the national, like, I treated it as discovery, too. Ask questions, find out where, what people have at home. Find out where cards are and just like, take a little notepad because you don't know what you're going to necessarily spend. You don't know what you're necessarily going to sell. But, like, when you get home after all the madness and the dust settles, I always like to have like a little cheat sheet of. Here are the three to five people I talk to that have the five to ten cards that I know I can at least make a strong offer on after the fact. And if they say no, they say no. But if they say yes, then I end up getting a card that's transformational for my collection. Yeah. And I know you have to go in a couple of minutes here, so I think like, for, for. Because we're skewing towards, hey, your collection growth is going to take a ton of money. I also want to take a couple of minutes here before Brett has to leave of like, it's not all about the cards either. Like, I just want to make sure that people understand that, like, you can go to the national with no money and still have a bunch of fun. Right. Yeah. I think, like, I, I don't want to make this podcast seem like if you don't have money, this is going to suck. Because that's absolutely not the case. I would say I for somebody like me who goes to these shows and doesn't spend a lot of money in the many times that I've gone before because my collections are usually so laser focused that the tables don't support that. I go to talk to people, I go to build relationships, I go to to meet with the different individuals who I see on Instagram every day. And I think, like, that's really the benefit of going to something like this. And it's really one of the reasons we're doing Wrestling Card Takeover. It's not so people can come and listen to us yap about wrestling cards. It's so that we can all connect as a community and bring people together in a common space. Like that's always been the goal. And I said to Brian on text message, like, I want to plant a flag here. Like, I want to plant a flag every time we've done this. And it's for a reason because I think our community deserves it and I think our community gets that opportunity at a show like the national that you can't do anywhere else except for maybe WrestleMania if you're lucky. And then good luck trying to find a space. So I think like having this show as the primary focal point for the people and I'm going to let Brett weigh in because he's got to jump. But I think like this, you're one of the best people, people I people, persons I know in this hobby. And your relationship building is probably top notch across every aspect because it's your business. Like, do you approach this show differently as a result of that? Especially given what we did last week. My primary objective is people. The cards are secondary for me because I find that information is power in this industry and the more information I can accumulate at the show, that's I can't get that type of information anywhere else. That information can be used after the fact that to connect with people further. So I know not everyone listening is building a business in this space, but you're trading, you're buying, you're selling, and you can do the same thing. So I don't know, like, I'm not telling you to make it about the people and not go in and spend money and buy cards. That's silly. But I think like some element of it has to be about nurturing the connections you already have that you're building online. Great place to do it. This is How I'm going to leave it because I'm a marketer is wrestling card takeover. So be there. We want you there. We're building a room for this to take shape. And there's going to be the best of the best wrestling cards at the National. Where you go? I got to show you. They're in. Oh, let's go. There's the front and then there's the back. There we go. Those are gorgeous. Hell, yeah. The good. Because I did that. Well done. They're. They're in. We have them. I wanted to show you for. You bounced out. So, yeah, no. Thanks for letting me join today and excited to see you all in Rosemont, Illinois, bro. See you next week, buddy. Brother. All right. A week later. So real quick to go on what Brett said. If I can touch on that, please. You know my setting of the National. I've done this for, I don't know, 15 years now. Whatever it is, I. I've lost track. Is my favorite part of the national is when it's not at the national, it's the dinners. It's the time I get to spend with people having a couple man sodas at the bar somewhere in the hotel, going to events like wrestling Guard Takeover. I love just literally hanging out with everybody. It's hard to do that while I'm at the show, working. I look forward to every night after the show and getting an opportunity to spend time with as many people and just talk. Because I don't care if I pick up a damn car that week. If I got to see everybody, I only get to see once a year. And I got to make new relationships, new memories. That's. That's everything to me. Yeah. And I think, like, as we are, as we're trying to build around the way that we're going to experience the national over the next probably five years. Right. Because I think the hobby is going to go through this massive changes regardless if the boom continues or not. Like, I think it's something that, like, we have a lot of change that's coming. And I don't think that this is probably the one place where, you know, there's too much to expect from one show. But I think, like, for wrestling specifically, this is. This could be our coming out party. And I think, like, we've. We've gone through so much over the last, let's call it two years that I think this is finally the realization of all that. Takeover. Being part of it, dealers at the show, being part of it, you name it. But, man, I'm so excited for this, this coming show. I'm more than any of the others in the past. Like, I, I, like we were even when we did main event and stuff like that. Like way my friend, we say we from a, from a room at the Hyatt which had what, I don't even know how many square feet it was, you know, maybe 1500, maybe 1500 square foot room to now we're in 8300 or over 8000 square foot. You know, a lot of credit goes to the National Committee for allowing this to happen. We're excited and more importantly, our sponsors. But it's great because we're going to be able to have one night with the wrestling card community that are there. I know you just went to Fanatics Fest. I know they had a trade night, but was there an opportunity where wrestling people could get together? Do they try anything? Like, I'm just curious about that. I just. That's a great question. Was there an opportunity? There's all, I mean there's always opportunities, but I don't know. Like, I feel like when we go to the national and when we go to a show that's as big as this is, like the, the community mobilizes much easier at a national convention and space is much more accessible and stuff like that. New York, it was like everything was contained in this one building. And you know, it is what it is. But I think for, for the national, like people spread out, like they just go and do their thing and like there's so much stuff that happens that like it's easier to, to sort of mobilize people. I just don't see that happening the same way in, in other areas. Just curious. That was just. Yeah, I mean it's. But like, I, I would actually say like if, if there was. Because you went to WrestleMania, right? Like, so you had like, you saw all the people at WrestleMania, you saw the collectors at WrestleMania, you saw all the people that were floating around and doing stuff like that might be probably a better target than something like, like Fanatics Fest. Right? Yeah, I could see that. Yeah. Because everybody's kind of everywhere. But you can try to coordinate to get together. It's a matter of if somebody, you don't know, legality wise, if you're allowed to even rent something out to do that, maybe get a restaurant, just have people come. But I, I don't know. This could be the biggest gathering of all wrestling card collectors in history together. Which is crazy to, to think that, you know, if we get to 350 wow. It's been a year of, almost a year of work. I mean it's been since we talked about this, since the beginning of the year and me going to the Embassy Suites in March to see the venue to get this going. This has been a, a lot and I'm, I just cannot wait for Friday night. Man, I'm looking forward to the, the Takeover. Yeah. And so can you. If Brian, I know you've been having issues with, with your natal four way here. Okay. I, I, I wish you would have been typing and said enhance if you've seen Super Troopers. Enhance. Enhance, Enhance. Enhance. If you just started blurting that I might have lost my stuff. That's so funny. So Brian, I just, I want to, so we're going to hopefully have this as a, as a target episode or a target party for, for everybody for years. Go. What made you want to support Wrestling Card Takeover? Just for potential others who might want to get involved next year. I mean I didn't hear what was just said in like the last four or five minutes, but I was ramping. It's going to be the, the wrestling card get together of the year. I think I was able to hear, I think Bannister say you probably won't have more wrestling collectors in one room this year, maybe ever in the past. So I mean, why would I not want to be a part of that? You know, I want to support that in any way that I can. I want to, I want to see this part of the hobby continue to grow. You know, I came from the NBA side of the hobby and the sports in general, that stuff is astronomical. I think there's still so much room for growth in the WWE card space. So anything that I can do to help add to that growth, I'm, I'm gonna take the opportunity to do. Thank you and thank you for your support. I think we, we loved having such a huge response of people who wanted to get involved. And I think there were, there were people who, who probably wanted to be involved but either weren't going to be at the show or you know, couldn't make it work. And, and I think like to Brian's point, like we want to offer that opportunity hopefully in future timeframes. So if, if you're not involved this year, like, don't worry, hopefully we're going to be doing this again. But I think like, just in terms of like closing thoughts because I think we're at an hour here and this hasn't exactly been the organized sort of thing that I was expecting that's great. I love it. It's just natural. We're just bullshitting now. That's what it should be. I mean, it's. You're so scripted, sir. You can let go of the reins for once. No, I'm a control freak. Like, if you like. And we'll. We'll give Brian a chance to hear, to give his closing thoughts. Like, if you had sort of like one sort of closing thought for people that you haven't heard on any other national prep podcast like, that you. You could bring to the table. And I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Like, what is your closing thought here for. For anybody listening and. And sort of excited to go for. For next week. Do you want to take it first or me? He called you first. I called you. Bannister hates being put on the spot. So that's why I'm like, yes. I'm like, this is a hard one, man. This is. This is what we did. The script, madam, we could have prepped a little bit better for. Thank you. Okay. We've covered a lot. The Navy now is a introvert nightmare. It's a very introvert. It's going to be insane. You are going to see a sea of people, as Gelman says, said earlier, you are going to probably want to walk up to a table and have to wait in a line, which is crazy to think about. So just. I mean, they say it. They do say it on every podcast and every. Everywhere else, but just take it at the pace that you can do. Be patient. I'm very blessed to be behind a table because I personally, as an introvert, I hate being on the other side of the table. So just take it easy, do what you can. As they say in every other place, wear comfortable shoes, stay hydrated, make sure you eat. That's actually. I knew you were gonna say that. I do. Making sure to eat. If I didn't have my wife there, I probably would not eat all day. She's the one that makes sure that I. I get food in me. Get your. Get your carbs, man. Carbs Remedy makes the grass. Sorry, I don't have anything, you know, that you don't hear everywhere else, but that stuff is important. It is. It's overload when you walk into that room and you gotta. You gotta be prepared for that. I think patience is a good piece. Like, I don't hear that a lot on these. Is like, you've gotta be patient. I think that was a good call up when I was on the other side of the Table walking around and I and the national got to a point where there were lines for tables. I don't have that patience. So I was like, I'll just not go to that table. Yeah, but you have to. That's some of them. Walk away from a table. You might be walking away from the card that you're there for. Exactly. Yeah. And Bannister, especially with the 25 boxes of shit that he's bringing. 21. 21. Sorry. 21. Just resting. All right. Stressing. No. Biggest thing for me is I'm big on hobby. Moment. This is a moment. Take in this week. It literally we joke all the time. We get in the car Monday and the thing I always tell to John is we make a joke back and forth trips over. It literally is the fastest week of my life. It is one of my favorite weeks of my life. It is not what it used to be. Used to be a lot more laid back and fun now. It's real hard work. But just from a collector walking around standpoint, just enjoy every moment you can. You're creating memories. It's one of those things where once you go, you're wanting to come back every year if it's within means, if it's traveling, everything like that, you know. I only missed setting up, so first show I set up is in 2011. I also went to the national back in the mid 2000 2000s in Chicago. When I went to it, I just assumed it was the sun Times. It was the national. There was nobody there. It wasn't like it is now. So I've been going for since 2011 straight. I've. I set up. Didn't set up a 2012 in Baltimore, but I went. I have not missed one since 2011. As long as I got breath in my body and there's no family emergency, knock on wood. I will not ever miss another one. Even if I wasn't a dealer. It is something that we look forward to every year. Neil starts prepping our next NCWO the week of after national for the following year. There's a year of prepping, but it is on my mind. It's like the countdown of when is the national. It is my favorite week in the entire year. I absolutely love it. And it's not just the cards. It's truly getting to see everybody. Getting to see Brian. I've seen Brian a couple times this year. I saw him in Dallas. I saw him at WrestleMania. Get to see him again. Adam. I'll get to see you again. I saw you in Minnesota, but there's some of these people I only get to see once a year. And you're building lifelong relationships and friendships at the show. It's crazy. It's. It's unbelievable. The people I've gotten to meet, the amazing people. And I'm going to reiterate back to, you know, being in the other sports as well. There's nothing like the wrestling card community. They're just some of the most amazing people out there and they're so devout and they love wrestling cards and they're just good people. So I just want you to go in and have a great week. If you don't get the card you want in, just know, enjoy what you're doing because it's once a year and it's something that you will literally count down to go to the second you leave. Yeah, great, Great advice there. And I think, like, we, we mentioned the people, we mentioned Takeover. We mentioned all of that. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes and eats lots of snacks and carry water. But I think, like, the, the things that I will say all have to do with your expectations. I think people have probably an expectation going out into this show and I need you to throw. Like, I think this is going to be crazy, unlike anything has ever happened before. And, you know, there's. There's going to be people, so. And the reason I'm saying this, because I saw the reaction to Fanatics Fest online and it was a combination of people all over it or saying it's the best thing ever. And that's going to happen at the national too. Like, there's going to be a positive wave of hype, and then there's going to be a huge wave of negativity from the people who aren't there. Like, I would say, like, try and keep a balance of, like, your social media intake of this. If you can't be at the show, if you are at this show, I think it's even more important. Like, there's going to be a lot of narrative. There's going to be a lot of stuff that happens at this show, and you have to be able to parse it out appropriately. And like, so if you have expectations of, oh, I'm going to go to this show, I'm going to find this card, it's going to be this price, and it's going to be easy to find. No, like, it's, it's. No, that's not what the national is about. Like, if you like, sure, there's going to be millions of cards in one spot, but I think like, overall, like, things are going to be generally harder this year. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just. It's the nature of a growing hobby. Right. It's the nature of when things sort of go down that way. But come to takeover. Be a part of our community. Come and be a part of our. Everything we're talking about. I promise you that everything that we could. We could spend four hours talking about this and still not cover your personal experience. You have to come and experience it yourself. You have to come to take over and see what this is all about, because we put it together for you guys for free. July 31, Embassy Suites. Come be a part of it. Let us know you're coming. Email book to last podcast gmail.com. you just made the list. And I. I had to sneak it in there. And I think that when we get to the end of this and when everybody. We're f. We've done this now. How many times have we said that right on this podcast? It's got to. It's got to be 15, 20 weeks. Yeah. Exact. Has to be at this point. Yes. Yeah. So, I mean, like, we've been planning this since January, and to think that we're a week away, it just blows my mind. And I'm going to be. It's like. It's like there's like, a giant gap in everything that we've been doing that's going to exist after this. And I think, make sure you do that post, show, sort of inventory, email the people, text the people that you've talked to, follow up with them, thank them for their time, recognize the dealers. Like, I want to spend a ton of time with Ryan. I want to spend a ton of time with Brian. I want to talk to Brett. I want to do all those things, but I also have to recognize they have businesses to run. They have things that they have to do. I'm just there to have fun. So it's like, it's a completely different experience. Recognize that you are not the top priority for a lot of people who especially are setting up, but they want to make your life better. They want to make your experience better. But sometimes traffic's just a lot, and it just gets overwhelming for them, too. So be patient in that respect. So that's. That was my final thought. I can't wait to see you guys. Brian, I don't think we've met in person before. This is going to be. This is gonna be the first time we get to actually see each other. I can't wait. I hope Takeover goes well. I'm praying to the card gods that it. It goes very, very well. I hope it does. But I can't wait to see you guys. I'm looking forward to seeing too, man. It's. It's gonna be a good time. I'm excited to be there, Brian. I'm excited to see what deal we do this year for me to bring something home. Because last year he was like, I want to buy all this stuff. And then he's like, oh, do you want to look what I have? And then we end up doing a deal and then another deal. So I always enjoy getting to see Brian. Adam, to you as well. And I got this for you. This is, this is for Brian. I'm bringing this for you. So thank you. So that's. I've been after one of those for quite some time. Parker has a bray and I have a rollins from that. Those are so awesome. So one last thing to go on the wrestling card. Takeover. One thing Adam forgot to mention. It's free. It's absolutely free. I don't think so. Either way, within the script it is. Don't worry. I left free all those shirts that I showed off. Get there. Free stickers, free giveaways from elder sponsors, Free. Just come enjoy it. Free drinks, non alcoholic and snacks. Food provided as well too. So. And it goes late. We. We always. That's the one thing that we have forgot to mention on this podcast is like we will be there very late on Friday night. We have to run to a midnight. We have to run till midnight. Yeah, yeah. So if you have other plans that you need to go to, like Ryan does. I know he has meetings that he has to go to. I'm sure people have to go to dinner with their significant others or table mates, whatever come after. Like, we'll be there. We're gonna have a. We're gonna have fun into till midnight at least. There may be an after party and an after after party. We haven't figured that out yet, but I think like all of this stuff is gonna be awesome. Don't hesitate to reach out. I do have a collector's group on Instagram, so message me at WWE Gelman if you want to get into our collector group and we should be good to go. I know you guys have to run because you got to get back to your, your pricing and stuff like that and getting ready for the show, but safe travels. I hope we all make it there. Okay. And we'll see you next week. Actually. Yeah, we'll see you next week in Chicago. Big Gulp. See you later. Always fun to have Brian THC Sports Cards on the damn program. It's fun that we can all get together, talk wrestling cards. A lot of passion, a lot of energy. The national is right around the corner. We can't wait to see you in Rosemont, Illinois, and hopefully at wrestling card takeover July 31 at NBC Suites. It is going to be a awesome time. Appreciate all your engagement, appreciate all your passion and support until next week. Take care. We'll talk to you soon. Sam.