WWE and Topps announce partnership for "WrestleMania Patches"

[Chris]

Topps announces WWE Debut, Wrestlemania patches as bigger vision begins to take shape

Topps' Debut Patch program is coming to WWE and being expanded to include another milestone event

www.nytimes.com

Topps has announced that the Debut Patch, which started with MLB and then MLS, is coming to WWE, along with Wrestlemania patches that will be worn by wrestlers. Those patches will then be put into one-of-a-kind trading cards.

The first patches to appear on WWE superstars will be worn by all wrestlers scheduled to have a match at Wrestlemania 41 in Las Vegas this weekend. Then, beginning on April 21, every wrestler making their first main roster appearance on Raw or Smackdown will wear the corresponding Main Roster Debut Patch.

The patches will primarily be worn on each wrestler’s boot and after their match it will be removed, authenticated by Fanatics, which owns Topps, and put into a trading card that will also be autographed. The initial wave of Wrestlemania and Main Roster Debut patch cards will go into sets that will be released later this year, though Topps would not confirm whether those cards would go into the same sets or be split into different products.

“We worked with WWE on where to place (the patches),” said Topps senior vice president of product Clay Luraschi. “Obviously wrestling’s very physical, so the likelihood for the patch to be pulled off is high, so you want to put it in the safest place, but at the same time you want to have it in a place that’s visible, so the fan can make the connection to what it is and what it means. So the boot, which is also something that’s standard across almost all wrestlers, makes the most sense.”

Topps decided to launch both WWE patch types at the same time because they see both as being equally important.

“A superstar’s debut in Raw or Smackdown, it means they made it, and also to be at Wrestlemania is as big a deal, and is the pinnacle for wrestlers,” said Luraschi. “So you have to commemorate both those events. WWE has been a great partner and we discussed what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. The way it came together, it was like a no-brainer on both sides.”

The Wrestlemania patch concept isn’t just for this year, though. Each Wrestlemania going forward under Topps’ “long-term” trading card partnership with WWE will have a patch that reflects its own unique logo.

“(Wrestlers) who have had a Debut Patch, and then at some point if they’re at Wrestlemania they’ll have a second patch, but it’s one of the biggest events in entertainment and you have to tell the story behind it,” said Luraschi. “And that’s the great thing about these patches is that it’s narrowing down the idea of what a relic card is. It’s tying something to a specific event. It’s truly telling the story. … Guys and gals are gonna hit second, third, fourth Wrestlemanias and we’ll be telling the story along the way.”

“Storytelling” is a term that comes up a lot in discussing this patch program and it helps bring into focus the wider possibilities that are now starting to take shape for it. The long-term partnership between the two companies, which Topps also has with MLB and will soon begin with the NFL, NBA, and more, means the milestone moments of a wrestler’s entire WWE career can now be represented in one-of-one patch cards — from their main roster debut to each climactic Wrestlemania match they have.

This is starting to play out in baseball cards now, as well, where the Debut Patches began in 2023. In March, Topps, Fanatics, and MLB announced that starting this season, individual award winners will wear gold-embellished versions of the MLB logo patch on their jerseys, which will go into trading cards. The record sale for a Debut Patch card also came in March, when Paul Skenes’ was bought at auction by Dick’s Sporting Goods for $1.11 million.

But does the Wrestlemania patch indicate that there could soon be a World Series patch or one for other premier events?

“We’re always thinking about what the next thing is,” Luraschi said. “We’re always innovating, we have an incredible creative team, and I just think the idea of, again — and I just keep beating on the storytelling piece — but it’s so important as the tie-in to the patch. It’s just going to keep evolving and it’s going to keep unlocking even more interesting (elements) and even more innovation.”

As the patch concept expands from the debut to other milestones of an athlete’s career, the potential to overdo it grows, however — something Topps is cognizant of.

“We’re being very mindful of how we release these concepts,” said Luraschi. “The great thing is that they’re all one-of-ones, they’re very scarce, so there’s not a ton of them out there. When you have something (that’s working) sometimes the knee-jerk reaction is to, lets just keep doing it or lets do a bunch of it, but we understand what we have here and it’s our responsibility as a leader in the industry to make sure it’s presented and parceled out in the right way for people to enjoy and to give it its highest level of collectability.”

Patches aside, the partnership with WWE has shown early signs of success. In January, 2025 Topps WWE Chrome, the first release under the new license, sold out online in five minutes, according to Topps. The print-to-order Topps Now card featuring The Rock, John Cena, and Travis Scott to commemorate the moment Cena made his long-awaited heel turn at Elimination Chamber in March had a print run of 55,211 — the fifth highest total for any Topps Now card across all sports.

“The response was tremendous,” Luraschi said of Topps WWE Chrome. “It was best case scenario. … This segment of the business, WWE trading cards, has so much runway, and you saw with Topps Chrome. And if we keep doing the right things and we keep supporting (it), and WWE continues to do what they’re doing, this can really be an important part of the trading card business. I truly believe that.”