Welcome to the latest issue of Video Games Insider – FREE VERSION
Today I’m going to look into a copy of WWF Wrestlemania that is IPOing at Rally Road on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021 at 12 PM ET.
Table of Contents
1989 NES WWF Wrestlemania
About the Asset
Released in 1989, this is a copy of WWF Wrestlemania for the NES graded as a 9.6 A+ by WATA. It is a Rev-A, Round SOQ variant which is earlier than the Oval SOQ variant that is more commonly traded. It is one of 3 9.6 A+s. It was the first licensed wrestling video game and featured superstars like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, who we’ve written about when their sports related items have dropped.
It was originally purchased by Rally for $15,000.
About the Drop
This asset will drop on Rally Road at 12 PM ET on September 22nd for $18,000. There is no retained equity. Rally Road typically schedules the first trading window between 3-5 months after the IPO funds and the assets are supposed to then trade quarterly, but the schedule has been erratic and some assets are going 6+ months before opening for trading.
Add IPO to calendar
Recent Sales and Current Valuation
[Detailed Valuation available to Insiders Only]
Category Strength
The Video Game Cartridges category posted a 12% ROI in Q2 2021.
Subcategory Strength
Subcategory Risk
Past Asset Growth
Growth Outlook and Future Catalysts
There is a 9.2 A+ Round SOQ copy up for auction at Heritage next month which will go a long way in determining the market value of this game. It should hit $7-8K to be in line with this IPO valuation.
In general, the recent Goldin and Heritage video game auctions have seen flat or downward results for non-blue chip games while the blue chips (Mario, Zelda, Punch-Out, etc) have continued to gain. I wouldn’t consider Wrestlemania to be a blue-chip game — it wasn’t critically or commercially memorable in the way blue chip assets are.
Verdict
I expect this IPO to sell out quickly — the past three video game IPOs on Rally all sold out within 5 minutes. Last week I wrote up the TMNT game and there was a fairly negative auction result at Goldin immediately after — so if you think that all video games are a sure thing, be wary. Keep an eye out on the auction mentioned above in October for when this hits the secondary market whenever that may be. And be aware that if the video game market is flat or down in the next 6 months you might be sitting on a losing asset. [Full Evaluation for Insiders Only]