1985 WWF Stickers: Topps vs. O-Pee-Chee

[Facilitypro]

Hi all,

A couple weeks ago I submitted a batch of 1985 Topps WWF stickers and cards to PSA. I am 100% certain they are all Topps because they all came out of the same wax box I have owned for decades.

However, when I reviewed the order, I noticed PSA had all the stickers incorrectly listed as OPC, and the cards (correctly) as Topps. I submitted an error ticket and it was denied, and the stickers are STILL listed as OPC. I have put in a call but have not heard back yet.

From what I have seen/researched, OPC stickers have two asterisks in the card number circle, and Topps has one, but I have also seen stickers with one asterisk slabbed in an OPC labeled holder.

I have submitted two previous card/sticker orders to PSA before this with no problems.

My main questions are: Are there any other ways to tell an OPC sticker from a Topps one? And has anyone else had any issues like this with respect to PSA labels?

Thanks!

[sthoemke]

O-Pee-Chee has 1 star.

Topps has 2 stars.

Topps is much more common.

PSA might have got a few slabs wrong early on.

[Facilitypro]

I see, thank you sthoemke.

I wonder if at some point they just used the same stock, because all the stickers from this box had one asterisk. I'll have to see what PSA says if/when they ever reply to my inquiry.

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by Facilitypro

I see, thank you sthoemke.

I wonder if at some point they just used the same stock, because all the stickers from this box had one asterisk. I'll have to see what PSA says if/when they ever reply to my inquiry.

I don’t think they would be as OPC were made out of one factory in London Ontario with all their other brands


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[steve B]

Seems like PSA has no clue at all as usual.

The one they use to illustrate the "article" on the Topps set is graded as a Topps, but with one star.

[Facilitypro]

I just got off the phone with PSA and basically they have no idea whats going on. The rep said they will get back to me as soon as they have an answer. My cards and stickers are currently in "Assembly" and the stickers are still labeled as OPC and cards as Topps.

And for reference here is the ended eBay auction with a sticker from the last submission I made, one asterisk and labeled as Topps (and came from a Topps box.)

And to further confuse things, I looked at the set registry galleries and there are a mix of * and ** cards labeled as Topps.

[sthoemke]

I think PSA graded the stickers before they even realized there was an O-Pee-Chee set.

It might be possible that Topps printed the stickers for O-Pee-Chee and some were inserted into the Topps packages by mistake.

[philliesfan]

I had the same thing happen to me recently. I had a Hulk Hogan sticker come back noted as OPC when I thought it was Topps.

I purchased about a 1,000 card lot from a friend who opened many boxes. They were all Topps cards but the stickers had both 1* and 2**. I posed this same question many months ago and if I remember correctly, the only responses I got was that the Topps stickers were printed both with 1* and 2**.

So, is it sure that Topps was 1* and OPC was 2**? I would love to know for sure so I can sell them marked correctly.

Thanks,
Bob

[Facilitypro]

Thank you everyone! Based on all your comments, looking at PSA's set registry albums, and watching many videos of wax breaking 1985 WWF packs on youtube, I am pretty confident that Topps cards come with BOTH 1 and 2 star variations.

Perhaps the only way to tell would be if the card stock differs in thickness or something.

[Facilitypro]

I finally heard back from PSA about this issue. They said (in part) the following:

According to the research team, the difference between OPC and Topps for this specific set is that there is a slight gloss on the back of Topps stickers where the OPC is completely matte.

I hope this helps. And I'm not sure if there is any correlation between the asterisks and the gloss on the back. But if anyone here thinks they have mislabeled stickers, feel free to ask PSA to re-slab them, as I am sure they will. (They offered to re-slab my last order's sticker, but I already sold it.)

[philliesfan]

Het thanks for this post. Now I need check mine.
Thanks,
Bob

[Facilitypro]

OK, I have a two year follow-up.

(Yes, I have been cracking packs, researching the matter, and fighting PSA on it for two years.)

The short take: It's my educated guess there is no truly reliable way to discern Topps from OPC 1985 WWF Stickers. It's possible they even shared stock. My guess is that the glossy vs matte back issue is similar to what Topps did with Series 1 GPK in 1985--they came with both, perhaps dependent on the sticker stock they had available at the time for what Topps thought would be small sets or sets they were "testing" on the market.

The long take:

Given OPC cards are MUCH rarer than Topps (I've never actually opened an OPC pack, or seen an OPC wax box listed for less than about 5X a Topps box sells for.) It's probably a safe bet that ANY 1985 WWF sticker came out of a Topps pack.

Things I have learned:

1. I have only ever seen Glossy-back stickers come out of Topps WWF rack packs.

2. One of my wax boxes had Woolworth price tags on the stickers, and the price tags were dated 9-9-85. All the stickers from them were matte backs. This suggests that matte back stickers were later production versions.

3. Looking at my purchase history of this product, I've opened approximately 600 1985 Topps WWF wax packs since I made this thread, and the glossy vs matte rate seems about even. (I do not have actual stats.)

4. Any given wax box has had ONLY gloss or matte back stickers--not both.

5. I've attempted to contact Topps about this, and their answer is always the same. From an email dated 3-13-2023: "Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to provide any insight for cards that old. Please reach out to Beckett, PSA, SGC, Cardboard Connection, or Tuff Stuff for any further information."

6. I did see a video of someone opening OPC packs, and the stickers had a "rough cut" on some or all edges, much like they typically do with OPC products relative to Topps. Unfortunately I can no longer find this video.

7. I took two videos of myself opening Topps packs with matte-back stickers.

8. I opened a BBCE-sealed box and they had matte stickers. I have one more BBCE-sealed box that I will record myself breaking the seal and opening packs that I suspect are also matte back (from the same seller as the packs in point 7/)

9. I am 100% positive the asterisk thing (1 or 2 asterisks) is irrelevant to manufacturer. It's likely more related to position on the printing sheet. I do have a photo of an uncut sticker sheet, but it's not high res enough to tell how many asterisks are on the cards or in what spots they are on the sheet. I was considering buying it, but it sold while I debated, and now I'm kicking myself because I would easily snap it up now at the price at which it was listed.

10. Apparently other Topps sticker sets of the era contain both glossy and matte backs. I purchased a few of these sets and packs out of curiosity:

Topps Michael Jackson: All stickers had matte backs
Topps Return of the Jedi: All stickers had matte backs
Topps Supergirl: All stickers had glossy backs, but had a different feel than WWF glossy backs.

(Anyone with these stickers, feel free to weigh in what yours are!)

Now, onto the PSA fight.

1. I send off batches of 40-80 cards to grade every couple months (the quality control on these cards was pretty bad..) and it can be hit or miss as to whether they change the matte stickers to OPC or not. It likely depends on who files them. So PSA is still inconsistent on the matter.

2. If they change the set to OPC, they will NOT change it back.

3. PSA will NOT consider changing their labeling policy on this, and they are starting to get really snotty to me so I'm probably just going to give up the fight. My latest response from PSA (today, 5-28-25):

I am sorry that I don't have a better answer for you, but our Research management team have reviewed your concerns, and your evidence, and based on the information we received from Topps, they are not willing to make a huge change with these sets based on your video/experience.

Research management team does not communicate directly with our clients, and I'm sorry that we are not able to change the set names to meet your expectations. I don't have any further information to share with you about their reasoning for labeling OPC stickers as they are, or make the changes to Glossy/Matte Topps. --I provided all of your information, and received the answer that we were not going to make any changes to the manner in which we label the stickers based on the feedback we received from Topps years ago.

I'm sorry that this is not the answer you wanted, but it's all I can share at the moment.

4. In their communications to me, PSA has claimed several times they are basing their decision on information gleaned from a Topps representative, which is at odds with the responses I have gotten from Topps. It's my hunch that PSA is lying about this, but it's also possible that Topps is more willing to communicate with a big outfit like Collectors than a lil ol' enthusiast like me.

5. I've sent PSA the videos and other evidence/info I have and they just disregard it. I'm guessing changing labeling rules is a pretty big ordeal and they are not willing to go to that length for such a minor set. They'd probably get a lot of requests to reholder already graded cards too. But it would be great if they could even note on the flip whether the stickers are glossy or matte backed. (Like they do with Series 1 GPK.)

6. I've taken to only sending gloss-backed stickers for grading, as I am a Topps collector. If I find a really nice matte back I'll submit it as Topps in hopes they don't change it.

7. On a side note, I do suspect PSA is pop-controlling high grades on the two key Hulk Hogan cards--Over all of my subs, I've gotten at least one 9 MINT on every card in the set with the exception of numbers 1, 16, and 51, of which the first two are the Hogans. I have not calculated the actual number of each card/percentage of grades on each, however. So this is pure speculation on my part.

Anyway, I hope that any of my fellow 1985 Topps WWF enthusiasts here found this information interesting, enjoyable to read, and/or thought-provoking!

[D. Bergin]

Not a set I’ve ever gotten into, but very interesting breakdown nonetheless.

My hunch would be that all the stickers in both Topps and OPC packs were printed identically in sheets by the same facility and then shipped to the respective OPC and Topps facilities in each country to be cut and collated into packs.

Only difference being the cutting process, and if that is the case, I don’t think the stickers should be differentiated one way or another by grading companies or collectors.

Straight cut Topps, jagged cut OPC, just seems too arbitrary and prone to shenanigans for me, especially if OPC is truly that much rarer.

Of course that puts all the grading companies, along with OCD afflicted set completists in quite the pickle, so I’m not sure there’s any solution at this point that many people are going to be happy with.