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1973 wrestling annuals online article

By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: This 36-card set from the 1973 Wrestling Annual includes early cards of Andre the Giant, Mil Mascaras, and other legendary stars.

Card Show #3: 1973 Wrestling Annual Trading Cards

Although the 1973 Wrestling Annual Trading Cards don’t boast the kind of eye popping sales generated by the more well-known Wrestling All-Stars sets from the early ‘80s, there are plenty of gems to be found in this 36-card set.

The cards were inserted in sheets into the 1973 Wrestling Annual from Victory Sports. The cover of the magazine features such classic headlines as, “Villains: Are They Ruining Wrestling … or Making it More Exciting?” and “What Has Four Heads, Eight Legs, Weighs 2,525 Pounds and Wrestles???” In the bottom right corner, the magazine promises “36 Wallet Sized Photos of Your Favorite Stars!”

Because of the way they cards were produced, they had to be hand-cut out of the magazine. Obviously, this has led to some very badly mis-cut cards showing up on the secondary market. But it’s also not hard to find cards that were cut by collectors who used surgical-like precision to extract the cards from the magazine.

Each card features a sepia colored photograph of a single wrestler on the front and biographical information on the back. According to WrestlingTradingCards.com, each card measures 4x5.5 inches, is printed on paper stock and is not numbered.

The set features 36 of the top wrestlers from the 1960s and ‘70s, including a very young “Andre the Giant” Jean Ferre. Other popular cards include Bruiser, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Dory Funk, Jr., Ernie Ladd, Haystacks Calhoun, Killer Kowalski, Pedro Morales, The Sheik, and Verne Gagne.

Raw and ungraded, these cards sell for very little on the secondary market, so they don’t surface very often. Most of the collectors who are interested in a vintage set like this are looking for graded cards in at least mint condition (with a grade of PSA 9).

Many of the cards graded PSA 9 sell in the $35-50 range. Recently, quite a few have sold as high as $75, including Edouard Carpantier, Ricky Romero, The Destroyer, and Ray Stevens. A PSA 9 Haystacks Calhoun sold in October for $100. A gem mint PSA 10 Mil Mascaras – one of only two in existence to receive such a grade – sold for $127.50 in September.

More information on the 1973 Wrestling Annual trading cards can be found HERE at WrestlingTradingCards.com.

PWTorch Collectibles Specialist Michael Moore can be reached at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com .
BUYING Frank Gotch T229 Kopec
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable

Comments

  • Awesome article! Only two more and I'll have the whole set!!!

    Doug
  • wrestlingcardkingwrestlingcardking Posts: 4,555 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Awesome article! Only two more and I'll have the whole set!!!

    Doug >>



    Let me know when you receive your Mil Mascaras PSA 10 and your Chief Wahoo! Should be tomorrow!
    BUYING Frank Gotch T229 Kopec
    Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
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