Riiip with Brody the Kid #8
Hi people! I am super excited about this month’s blog, so let’s jump right in!
The Topps Kids Program, “Topps of the Class” has a new reward! Free packs!!!
Kids bring your report cards into your local card shop and get free “Topps of the Class” packs from Topps for good grades! These cards are super cool and made just for us kids! Visit your LCS and let me know what cards you got!
Topps Big League is out! These cards are great for kids! Blaster boxes are cheap, and you get 5 packs of ten cards, plus a pack of 4 Blue Parallels, all for ten dollars! I have opened two blaster boxes so far and my favorite cards were a Paul Goldschmidt Blue Parallel and a James McCann Artist Reproduction #’d to 50. Go White Sox!!
We are also getting closer to the National Sports Collectors Convention, aka “The National”! It will go from July 31st thru August 4th in Rosemont, just outside Chicago. Are any of you making the trip or live close enough to go? It is HUGE! And a lot of fun. All the manufacturers are there, and you can see a lot of cool stuff. Some of the auction companies will have displays of old cards and memorabilia, like vintage bats, gloves and uniforms. It is super cool so hopefully most of you can make it out there. My favorite day at The National is Sunday, because when the show is almost over, some of the dealers may give you really good discounts on stuff so they don’t have to pack it up and take it home. Make some deals! I will be there and am hoping to have some fun extra stuff lined up so make sure you look for me if you go!! If you can’t make it, don’t worry. I will be posting lots of pictures, videos and interviews. I got you!
Our monthly check on the MLB season shows me that the Astros are red hot!!! Right now, they are one of the best teams in the league. They are hitting really well, and the pitching is solid. If they keep it up, they may be winning their second World Series in 3 years. Let’s see if this continues. We will talk more abut the season next month and I will do some midseason awards!!!
This week, Gary Vaynerchuk AKA Gary Vee released a new cartoon for kids called The Adventures of Lil Vee. Gary is an entrepreneur and a big card collector. He even collected and sold baseball cards when he was a kid! Lil Vee looks cool and the story is awesome. You can learn so much, like starting your own business, how to run social media and even how to keep going if a bully throws slime in your face! I can’t wait for more episodes and I hope he does one with Lil Vee collecting cards! You can watch the first episode, Slime is Money here: https://youtu.be/TL5jL8NU94E .
Now, on to the main topic of this month’s blog…I had a chance to talk to and interview WWE Superstar Heath Slater!!! He is a 4-time WWE Tag Team Champion, once with Rhyno and 3x with Justin Gabriel. He was awesome to talk to and I had a lot of fun. Here are some of the highlights of my interview:
-Did you always love pro wrestling since you were a kid?
“Yeah! Of course, I did, man. My grandfather got me watching wrestling when I was like 5 years old.” He joked around that it was all his grandfather’s fault that he got into and is now a professional wrestler.
-Who were some of your favorites growing up?
“One of my favorites forever has been Sting. For some reason that bleach blond hair, face paint and bright colors got me when I was a kid. He was on of my favorites, and of course, I liked Bret Hart growing up, I was always a Hitman fan! I also liked Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair…I had a range of guys that I liked. Ultimate Warrior. I should just start putting face paint on and running out with bright colors!” He really got me laughing with that one!
-What did it feel like the first time you stepped into a WWE ring?
“Honestly…I don’t know. I think I was nervous, but excited, and wanting to be there, but scared to be there. So, I probably had a lot of emotions running through me, I was probably like a rainbow of emotions. I was a little bit of everything”
–What do you think is your best or favorite accomplishment in WWE so far?
“Shoot, I have a few of them. I am a 4-time tag champion, 3 times with Justin Gabriel and 1 time with Rhyno. We were the first ever Smackdown Live Tag Team Champions. Those were good feelings. I still think the best one hasn’t come yet, I’m still waiting on it.”
Yeah, I figure that, too. I think there is going to be something better even… I hope so, I keep my fingers crossed.
–First of all, you and Rhyno are my favorite tag team, but news broke that Rhyno will not be returning to WWE (that makes me want to cry!) …
“Don’t cry, man. I talked to him and he’s doing what he would like to do, and I still love him to death. I know July is what everybody is saying, but you never know…he might stay, but then again, he might go. I don’t know. It’s up to him.”
Even if he does leave, I know we will see him doing other cool things.
“Oh, of course! He’s a cool guy”
-So, since this a blog about kids who collect cards, let’s talk about that. I know you were a collector when you were a kid, so what did you like to collect?
“Man, I was always into basketball, football and baseball and then Marvel, I was always into that.”
-Did you have a favorite team or players you liked to collect?
“When I was a kid, it was Michael Jordan. I was growing up in his era, when he was The Man…I was a huge Michael Jordan collector. Of course, wrestling cards, I had so many of those. I still have a lot of my cards that I had as a kid.”
-So now that you have gotten to be on some Topps cards, how does it feel to have those…it’s got to be super cool?
“It is super cool, bud. It’s one of those things where I collected cards and action figures when I was a kid, so now having cards and action figures is like ‘Wow! That’s really me?’ I can’t believe it, you know. I remember collecting Topps cards as a kid, and now Topps is creating WWE cards, so it’s just one of those things that is surreal to me…. it’s pretty cool just to have them.”
-Yeah…. like I would LOVE to have my own Topps card one day, that is one of my dreams.
“Hey man, just keep following your dreams, because if there is anything that Topps covers and that’s what your dream goes to, I’m sure you’re going to accomplish it and you will have a Topps card.”
Thank you!
-So, I saw your tweet showing your signatures after signing a bunch of Topps cards. How was that experience? Was it fun? Was your hand tired?
“Of course, my hand was tired! I had to sign like 500 of them!!! Ha Ha. My wrist was hurting! My thumb was hurting! But then again, it’s one of those things where I know a kid or a collector or someone who likes wrestling or likes me, would enjoy getting it, so I don’t mind doing it. I know I wouldn’t mind to have a signed card from one of my favorites.”
I always see the stacks of hundreds of cards people are signing and feel like my wrist would fall off!!
-I hope you can sign a Slater card for me some day!
“Man, of course! I’ll get you one, don’t worry about it. I know a guy!”
I was really laughing at that one!!! LOL
-Thanks for being so cool. It’s amazing to talk to you! Sorry if I was a little nervous, it’s not every day I get to talk to a WWE Superstar!
“No problem, thank you for wanting to do an interview with me. It was a lot of fun.”
HUGE Thank You to Heath for taking the time out to let me interview him! Slater, it was awesome, and I look forward to talking to you again in the future!
I hope everyone enjoyed this month’s blog, make sure you follow me on Twitter and Instagram for fun contests, giveaways, breaks and other awesomeness from “The Hobby”.
I will see you next month,
Riiip,
-Brody
Have a question? E-mail me at brodythekid1@gmail.com
Find me on Twitter @BrodytK and Instagram at brodythekid1
