1981 Popy Hulk Hogan MOC signed and the 1981 Marusho at the Hogan's Beach Shop in Orl

[Dpeck100]

I have been giving some thought to getting the back of the 1981 Popy MOC Hulk Hogan signed and was on the StairMaster this morning and said I am going today. Hulk was signing at the Hogan's Beach Shop in Orlando. I got my stuff ready and drove over there and it was sweltering outide.

When I parked I thought I don't know if I can do this. The line was wrapped around the building and the heat index is 105 and just scorching. I went inside to buy my tickets and saw Ron who runs it and said will Hulk sign these. I opened my Lucky's Market paper bag and said yeah it is the holy grail and one of Hulk's most rare wrestling cards from Japan. He said OMG and signaled to someone to come over and check it out.

I indicated that I wanted 1981 Ichiban Hulk Hogan signed on the back and he said no problem but it would be a super premium item. I said no issue but I am not waiting in that line and I need to skip to the front and be able to sit inside in the AC. He said I have guys out there spending $1,000 and I said too bad I am not waiting in that line in the heat. He said no problem.

When I got to the booth Hogan was like WOW. I have only seen a few of these and I said with the card and he said yeah my Mom had one. He had never seen the Marusho card and really stared at it for a while. I got him to sign it in a silver pen and when he signed it I was so pumped. He wrote Hulk Hogan on the left and Ichiban on the right. When I got to my car it was easily 120 inside of it and I reached into my bag so excited and the ink was melting and sticking to the card saver. I was like NO!!!! Thankfully I had a red solo cup with some melted ice and was able to wipe off the Ichiban part and salvage the item.

The Popy came out amazing and I couldn't be happier to have it signed and for Hogan to see it in person. Money well spent!!!

Here are the pics.

[Dpeck100]

Pics

[Dpeck100]

More photos

[Dpeck100]

1981 Marusho

[Dpeck100]

1981 Popy Hogan

[samosa4u]

What a good read! We need more threads like this on here.

It really sucks about what happened to your Marusho card. The damage is pretty evident, especially on the last two letters of "Hogan." I don't think PSA/DNA is going to give this one a green light now, but hey, you could always send it to Gary Moser and he'll fix this one up for you.

The Popy looks amazing. You made the right decision by getting him to sign the back. If you had gotten him to sign that plastic on the front and you were to take it outside in the Florida heat - yikes! It would have been a mess! I definitely think you should get it encapsulated by one of those toy grading companies - AFA? Is that what they're called?