1974 Yamakatsu wrestling cards from Japan. Andre The Giant Rookie

eagles33 · July 3, 2012 7:02AM

Does anyone know about a set produced by Yamakatsu in 1976 of wrestlers? I just picked up an andre the giant card from this set. Hopefully its something psa will grade. The cards are slightly smaller than a traditional card and on regular card stock. Ill post some scans when I get them. I think its a pretty interesting set

Dpeck100 · July 3, 2012 7:04AM

Dude I want to see this!

Sounds very cool!

mcadams · July 3, 2012 7:06AM

1976 of Andre..... I think we may have just found where Dpeck's disposable income will be flowing over the next year or two. Its a natural next set.

Dpeck100 · July 3, 2012 7:10AM

There is a 1973 paper card of Andre but those have no real interest to me.

If this is on card stock that would be sweet!

It is not that the paper cards are not good I am just interested in collecting actual hard stock trading cards.

mcadams · July 3, 2012 7:25AM

I agree. I don't like paper cards either...or cards that were cut outs from a newspaper.

Dpeck100 · July 3, 2012 7:37AM

Essentially the Wrestling paper cards are like being cut out of a newspaper. It is the same paper they used on the inside of the magazines.

They clearly have the nostalgia and I think that is great but I am interested in collecting cards and that is an entirely different thing.

If wrestling cards ever have a larger audience collecting them then the paper cards will certainly remain relevant and PSA graded examples will not be cheap.

There have been a handful of PSA graded paper cards sold on EBAY in the past 12 months and they all commanded strong prices.

The 1973 Andre The Giant finished at an amazing $660. The Ric Flair achieved $245 and at the same time a Hulk Hogan with an authentic grade sold for $170.

eagles33 · July 3, 2012 10:06AM

I don't have the card in hand yet.. but these are the scans the seller sent me

wrestlingcardking · July 3, 2012 10:28AM

I saw this auction, good luck and it would be great if PSA would slab the card. I think there are other cards but not sure if it is this series or another one..... great price too.

eagles33 · July 23, 2012 11:49AM

I finally got the Andre The Giant cards today. One is in great condition. About a psa 7ish. The other has a huge crease through the middle. It would be lucky to be a psa 2. The cards are pretty cool though. They are smaller than a traditional card but on regular card stock. The cards are from a 40 card set released in Japan. I'm really hoping psa will start slabbing these. I don't really like the handcut cards from 73, 78, or 81 because of the paper thin stock and the fact they are black and white... If i can get these slabbed i would consider it his rookie card. These are the 2 Andre cards that I know of that I just got. I have not seen all of the cards in the set but there are some pics of most of them in this link.. it also has a pic of the original album.

http://www.enjoy.ne.jp/~funks/contents026.html

does anyone know anything about this set? Is it rare ect...

eagles33 · August 7, 2012 3:39AM

I just heard back from BGS and they confirmed that they will grade these cards. I'm still battling with PSA about it. If they don't agree in the next few days ill just ship them to BGS and eventually cross them when PSA comes around.. I really like the solo card of him.. and really think this his his true rookie card. Unfortunately it has a uge crease. The other card isn't bad either. I'm happpy that at least one of the big grading companies will grade it.

gregmo32 · August 7, 2012 6:53AM

PSA has always graded the 1977 Yamakatsu Star Wars cards, which is worth pointing out in your discussions with them.
Those cards are really cool. I would love to see a checklist.

eagles33 · August 7, 2012 7:12AM

There was a Japanese site that had about 30 of the 40 cards listed but the link no longer works. I only recognized Andre the giant and Antonio inoki. I bought a Karl gotch card too because I thought I recognized his name... But it was play on the classic wrestler from the early 1900s and Karl is actually on par with the likes of iron mike sharp.

wrestlingcardking · August 7, 2012 8:15AM

Good point..... reference the Star Wars cards and go from there. I have got some obscure wrestling cards slabbed after pointing out other sports with that issue being graded by that company.

eagles33 · August 7, 2012 11:26AM

I will try that. Sometimes I feel like they are just lazy when it comes to researching new cards that they have never graded before. I kinda enjoy the research part of it. I should see if I could do some freelance work for their specs dept.

SumoMenkoMan · November 17, 2012 1:49PM

I have 30 of the 40 cards in this set coming from Japan in a few weeks along with a few of the albums. I will post scans and the checklist when I get them. After doing some quick research, this set might be from 1974 or 1975. Latest is probably 1976, but I won't know for sure until I have them in hand. Cards are on a good card stock; no thin newspaper paper. All the foreign wrestlers in this set had guest appearances during the different series tours with New Japan Pro Wrestling in the early 1970s.....Andre, Tiger Jeet, John Tolos, The Shiek, Karl Gotch...etc. Antonio Inoki has quite a few cards in the set since he was the founder of NJPW. Pretty cool set.

wrestlingcardking · November 19, 2012 1:29AM

Let me know when you get the cards, would love to finalize a checklist for this set..........

andywtn · November 19, 2012 4:17AM

Does anyone know if the Destroyer is in this set. If he is I would be very interested in purchasing one.

vladguerrero · November 19, 2012 9:56AM

<< <i>It is not that the paper cards are not good I am just interested in collecting actual hard stock trading cards. >>

1982 Wrestling All Stars ain't no 1995 Flair either.

Dpeck100 · November 19, 2012 11:09AM

It is not that the paper cards are not good I am just interested in collecting actual hard stock trading cards. >>

1982 Wrestling All Stars ain't no 1995 Flair either.

No clue what this means. Please share.

SumoMenkoMan · November 19, 2012 11:16AM

Andywtn,

I was researching your question on The Destroyer and this is where it gets more interesting. After doing some more research while I wait for this 1976(circa) Yamakatsu New Japan Pro Wrestling Set to ship over from Japan, it appears that there is also a 40-card sister set to it, the 1976(circa) Yamakatsu All Japan Pro Wrestling Set. Here are sumo albums from both:

1976 Yamakatsu New Japan Pro Wrestling Albums

1976 Yamakatsu All Japan Pro Wrestling Album

1976 Yamakatsu All Japan Pro Wrestling Cards

Whereas the NJPW was founded by Antonio Inoki, the AJPW was founded by Giant Baba. Here is the checklist for the 1976 AJPW set:

1. The Destroyer
2. Junior Rikidozan
3. Jumbo Tsuruta
4. The Destroyer
5. Giant Baba
6. Giant Baba
7. Dory Funk Jr
8. Mill Mascaras
9. Anton Geesink
10. Thunder Sugiyama
11. Jumbo Tsuruta
12. Samsung Kutsuwada
13. Jack Brisco
14. Terry Funk
15. Giant Baba
16. The Destroyer
17. Giant Baba
18. Dory Funk Jr
19. Mill Mascaras
20. Mill Mascaras
21. Harry Reis
22. Mr. Wrestling
23. Jumbo Tsuruta
24. Mill Mascaras
25. Jumbo Tsuruta
26. Pedro Morales
27. Giant Baba
28. Sheik
29. Anton Geesink
30. Dory Funk Jr
31. Terry Funk
32. Jack Brisco
33. The Destroyer
34. Mr. Wrestling
35. Jack Brisco
36. Abdullah the Butcher
37. Mill Mascaras
38. Dory Funk Jr
39. Giant Baba
40. Harry Reis

Very interesting indeed.

wrestlingcardking · November 19, 2012 12:16PM

Great!!! I'll get my friend Steve to post this information to our website...........

eagles33 · November 20, 2012 12:29AM

Very cool Set never knew about. Looks like there are some first cards of a few notable names. Too bad there wasn't a flair or hogan in there. That would have been a huge find

vladguerrero · November 20, 2012 12:57AM

<< <i>It is not that the paper cards are not good I am just interested in collecting actual hard stock trading cards. >>

1982 Wrestling All Stars ain't no 1995 Flair either.

No clue what this means. Please share. >>

Flair sets have very thick cardstock.

Dpeck100 · November 20, 2012 1:04AM

Gotcha.

Does PSA grade thicker cards like that on a collectors club special? I want to send in a few of the Brock Lesnar football cards and they are very thick cards.

wrestlingcardking · November 25, 2012 2:56AM

the checklist is now posted on our wrestling card website...x-titles, thanks for your assistance...now just need to checklist the Andre set........

SumoMenkoMan · November 25, 2012 3:14AM

Thanks,

I have the NJPW checklist with Andre at 90%. Will post it soon along with scans and other info on the set.

SumoMenkoMan · November 27, 2012 1:45PM

Pro Wrestling Fans,

Introducing the 1974 Yamakatsu New Japan Pro Wrestling Mini Card Set. The cards measure 5.0cm(width) x 6.7cm(height) +/-0.05cm. This set was produced right at the end of 1974 and likely to promote the 1975 season in Japan since at this time Pro Wrestling was beginning to peak in popularity in Japan. The following is the checklist for the set with 4 cards still currently missing:

#1 Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi
#2 Bill White
#3 Antonio Inoki
#4 Unknown
#5 Killer Karl Krupp
#6 Kantaro Hoshino
#7 Antonio Inoki vs Seiji Sakaguchi
#8 Unknown
#9 John Tolos
#10 Antonio Inoki
#11 Karl von Schotz & Kurt von Hess
#12 Unknown
#13 McGwire Brothers
#14 Antonio Inoki vs Karl Gotch
#15 Seiji Sakaguchi
#16 Antonio Inoko vs Karl Gotch
#17 Antonio Inoki
#18 Victor Rivera
#19 Antonio Inoki
#20 Unknown
#21 McGwire Brothers
#22 Kotetsu Yamamoto
#23 Antonio Inoki vs Tiger Jeet Singh
#24 Tiger Jeet Singh
#25 Andre the Giant
#26 Johnny Powers
#27 Antonio Inoki
#28 Tiger Jeet Singh
#29 Andre the Giant
#30 Antonio Inoki vs Tiger Jeet Singh
#31 Antonio Inoki
#32 Seiji Sakaguchi
#33 Karl Gotch
#34 Antonio Inoki
#35 Royal Kangaroos
#36 Karl Gotch
#37 Antonio Inoki
#38 Stan Stasiak
#39 Seiji Sakaguchi
#40 Antonio Inoki

Here are scans of 30 cards out of the 40 card set.

If I had to guess, the two Andre cards are about a PSA 6 due to each having a dinged corner and some surfuce wear. Due to the full bleed photos, numerous cards are miscut and have a sliver of the adjacent photo on the card. Other than that, most of the cards are in great shape for being almost 40 years old.

Based on the number of cards I have seen for auction, this set is actually quite rare compared to other mini card sets of the era. Even the Bruce Lee set from ~1973 has numerous cards for sale at any given time. This one is almost impossible to find.

Let me know what you guys think.

wrestlingcardking · November 27, 2012 2:43PM

I have desire to add these cards by talking about them so much....thanks for adding all the scans....

Dpeck100 · November 27, 2012 11:09PM

Very cool cards!!!

Thanks for posting the scans.

eagles33 · November 28, 2012 3:04AM

Great info. We're you able to find a date on the cards or album? I'm going to try again with psa to get these approved for grading

SumoMenkoMan · November 28, 2012 12:04PM

There were a couple of mid-1974 dates on the back of a few of the cards and that was the latest I found. Let me know what PSA says. I'd like to send in some of these cards as well.

wrestlingcardking · November 28, 2012 12:50PM

I'd like to get a nice Karl Gotch and a few of the living guys to have them sign a few of these cards would be neat........

Justus · November 28, 2012 1:00PM

What a cool set!! Thanks for posting the pics and the checklist.

SumoMenkoMan · November 28, 2012 2:27PM

Packaging for these pro wreslting sets has been impossible to find thus far. Here are a few other examples of Yamakatsu boxes though. The first is a ~1975 King Kong Set produced by Yamakatsu. The second is a ~1979 Gundam Set also produced by Yamakatsu. You can see the designs are very similar on the albums.

~1975 Yamakatsu King Kong

~1979 Yamakatsu Gundam

miconelegacy · November 28, 2012 8:14PM

Gundam Style

eagles33 · November 29, 2012 12:34AM

I just sent the email to psa about grading these. There was a lot of good information in this thread. I don't see why they wouldn't grade them especially since they already grade other yamakatsu sets. Ill let everyone know the verdict

wrestlingcardking · November 29, 2012 2:35AM

Thanks for pushing this issue, if anything there is a lot more information on them now and it sounds like collectors have an interest in these....thus, it makes a lot of sense for PSA to grade them.

SumoMenkoMan · November 29, 2012 4:53AM

Would coming up with a checklist for the Bruce Lee set help? I could send out a first draft and then we could come up with some sort of agreement if that looks to be good. Even though each card is from a different scene in the movie, we could come up with some distinguishable trait to define each card.

Thoughts?

wrestlingcardking · November 29, 2012 6:07AM

It could not hurt!

eagles33 · November 29, 2012 7:14AM

I would wait and see what psa comes back with. My guess is the first response will be a lazy response "this set is not in any of their reference books sorry we can't grade it". At that point we can try giving more information. I need to keep escalating the request until it gets to someone who will actually take some time and research it and evaluate the information you provided. I think eventually it will be approved but it will take some back and forth.

SumoMenkoMan · November 29, 2012 9:25AM

To my knowledge, the Yamakatsu Star Wars set isn't in any reference book either....only on a few websites. So they have set precedence in grading Yamakatsu Cards. I think general awareness and knowledge will eventually go in our favor. Thanks for working with PSA!

eagles33 · December 2, 2012 10:24PM

Well strike 1. Got a message backs from psa saying "unfortunately we can not grade this at this time." I just don't understand the logic. They grade matchbooks but won't grade an actual licensed card set. It's very frustrating. Some cards j ask to be graded I understand them rejecting but this one makes no sense. It's similar to a Ronaldo Panini card that I was trying to get graded. It was a Portuguese card that was his rookie. I had an email from panini customer support that provided all of the info needed. It was still rejected an didn't get approved until I involved Mr Orlando. Ill keep trying. Anyone that have a good contact in the specs dept and would like to help.. Let me know

wrestlingcardking · December 2, 2012 11:21PM

keep at it, it will get done!

SumoMenkoMan · December 3, 2012 5:52AM

I'm putting something together that may help.

eagles33 · December 3, 2012 11:26PM

Good news. Bgs will grade these. I've had them agree to grade things before only to have them sent back ungraded so I won't be happy till I see the grades pop.. I'm pretty excited about this. If the paper card from 73 could pull 500 bucks in a psa 8 i would think a high grade Andre would be worth considerably more. Considering it is his first real card and much more difficult to find than the 73 paper cards. None of mine would really grade high though. Thanks again sumo for providing all of the info to get this rolling

SumoMenkoMan · December 4, 2012 12:58AM

No problem. I'll still send you a copy of the mini card book when I get it complete. I won't rush this first edition then since BGS agreed to grade these. I've got some sets coming from Japan in the next few weeks I want to get included in this book. Maybe the book will give PSA a warm fuzzy about grading them too.

wrestlingcardking · December 6, 2012 12:13AM

This is great news for this set, keep me informed and please post pics when grades pop!

SumoMenkoMan · December 6, 2012 1:35AM

I've scoured the Internet and am impressed with how few of these cards exist. We might be able to get less than a dozen of each example graded. Probably closer to 6 and that's optimistic.

wrestlingcardking · December 6, 2012 11:31PM

I have not seen many of these cards and have searched wrestling cards on ebay since early 1999. No doubt they are rare. Since documentation is helping bring awareness to the cards, I can easily see the prices of these cards significantly increasing immediately. I know that I would like to get my hands on some for myself.

eagles33 · December 7, 2012 5:08AM

I agree. The 73 hand cut card is not a great looking card printed on basically newspaper for stock. Plus uncut magazines are not that rare. If that card is worth over 500 bucks. I have got to believe the Andre in the 74 set would be worth considerably more. If a gold stamp variety of the Andre card ever surfaces it might give a 82 psa 9 a run for its money

wrestlingcardking · December 7, 2012 5:18AM

More knowledge about the card is what is needed to make it more valuable, and some limited supply.......

1974 Yamakatsu wrestling cards from Japan. Andre The Giant Rookie

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