Let's time warp back to the early 90s with WCW Impel cards

 

The United States defeated Canada in the Olympic hockey gold medal game this morning, so I am going to blog about WCW wrestling cards.

I'm a big wrestling fan. I have been since I was a little kid. I write a Substack that reviews old wrestling, which winds up being a personal journal of my own nonsense. My connection to wrestling is a bit like my connection to cards, comics, and video games. These are things I loved as a kid, and think about too much as an adult. But it's better than thinking about all the other silly stuff adults have to think about.

 These WCW cards were released by Impel in 1991. Impel was a company that made a lot of non-sports cards that I collected when I was young, including some GI Joe and Marvel cards. I didn't have these WCW cards back then because WCW was never popular in Canada, but I bought a couple packs at Fan Expo in Toronto last summer.

Here are a few cards I pulled, not everything. 

 The cards are pure 90s bliss. The borders, the colours, and WCW itself screams early 90s gibberish aesthetic. Sting in his surfer garb is also iconic 90s pop culture. He's rocking the pink face paint and a flamboyant jacket. I preferred surfer Sting to crow Sting, even though he spent decades as the latter.

Here's Ric Flair in a lime green robe. Flair would quit WCW in 1991, around the time this set was released. He was the best wrestler in the world during the 80s and among the best during the early 90s. His behaviour outside the ring is gross, but as a performer he can't be denied. That goes with a ton of wrestlers from this era, by the way.

The card says it's the Steiner Brothers, but only Scott Steiner is pictured. He looks jacked even then. Later he would gain fame as Big Poppa Pump, but by then steroids had cost him most of his amazing athleticism. The Steiners in WCW from 89 to 92 were one of the all-time great tag team. They had a short run in WWF, which had a few highlights, but wasn't great. WWF didn't push tag teams, and after that their work really declined.

 I'm a big fan of Brian Pillman. I he lived, he would have been a major star during the Attitude era in the WWF. His passing was unfortunate. He was ahead of his time and if he came along nowadays he would likely be a main event performer, too. What held him back in WCW was his size, but he still managed to get over. I suppose timing really is everything.

Last but not least is Arn Anderson. I included a picture of the card back, which has a brief bio and a clear headshot. I like the simplicity of the card back. Anderson was always entertaining, and one of the most underrated promos of his era. He's way younger in this picture than I am now, which is so weird to me because he will always look like a middle-aged Dad to me no matter his age (or mine). 

So, those are five cards from the 91 WCW Impel set. I have a bunch more, maybe about thirty cards in total. I'm going to complete the set. I should have just bought the full set outright because it's cheaper than building it, but it was fun opening a couple packs and building the set is more fun than just buying it.

Are you into wrestling cards?