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The WWE, known for its roster of wrestling stars and personalities, has signed a deal with sports platform Fanatics to design and release trading card NFTs through Candy Digital, Fanatics’ digital collectibles company.
The NFT trading cards, according to a joint statement, will feature some of the WWE’s biggest celebrities and depict some of its most-talked-about moments. NFTs are unique tokens that exist on a blockchain like Ethereum or Solana and signify ownership over an asset, like a digital trading card.
While this might sound like a great opportunity for die-hard wrestling fans to get their hands on some digital merch, they’ll have to be patient. The WWE has existing licensing deals for trading cards, which will expire “over the next few years.” At that point, Fanatics and Candy Digital will become the exclusive provider of WWE trading cards.
It appears the WWE will start making NFTs later this year. Candy Digital will be a “primary partner” for WWE NFT projects and will spearhead the creative process and technical execution. Trading cards will feature the Topps logo, a card brand Fanatics also owns.
The WWE is far from the first sports brand to get into NFTs. Freshly unretired NFL superstar Tom Brady has launched a number of different NFT drops for various athletes through his platform, Autograph.
NFTs as digital trading cards appears to be catching on as well—just last month, Warner Music Group announced it was partnering with the play-to-earn blockchain card game Splinterlands to potentially integrate musicians into future games.
Neither company specified which wrestlers would first appear on the NFT trading cards, but for those of you desperate for a Web3 version of John Cena or Hulk Hogan, your wait could soon be over.