Flea Market Findings VI
The 400 Market is one of my go-to stops on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Located in a small town called Innisfill, Ontario (roughly 30 minutes from where I live), it's a combination flea and antique market, and there are usually at least a few wrestling things of note for sale.
The 400 Market has also been a mixed bag for me, purchase-wise. Sometimes I will take home a decent amount of merch and unique finds; sometimes I'll find absolutely nothing of interest. How did it go this time around?
The flea market side of the building was fairly barren when it came to wrestling merch, so I quickly made the rounds and headed over to the antique mall.
The first thing I found were a series of wrestling biographies, including The Rock Says, Have A Nice Day and Hitman - all of which have been reviewed here. The lone book I haven't reviewed (The WWE Championship) I probably own, and certainly wasn't worth $15 to find out.
There were also a decent amount of wrestling VHS, DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs on display throughout the place, including the criminally-underrated D-Generation X from the early days of The Attitude Era.
Although the price was right at just $5 (and I still have a working VCR in Bulldog's Basement), I find it hard to justify these, given I own approximately 6 zillion tapes and DVDs and almost never watch them any more, thanks to the wonder that is the WWE Network.
What the hell?
Although I've seen these made-up "fight" posters before for various events, I've never seen one that claims WrestleMania X was to be headlined by Hulk Hogan vs. Bret Hart. That wasn't even a rumored match at the time, as Hogan had already left the company by then and was about to debut for WCW months later. Nice try, "The Wiz."
There were hundreds of video games throughout the antique market, including a handful of wrestling titles.
And while the price was certainly right for both titles displayed here ($8.99 for SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for PSP, and $4 for WWE '12), not only do I have both games somewhere in the vast resources of my collection, but I don't own either of those gaming consoles. A for effort, guys.
The only wrestling title worth noting in the entire place (in my opinion) was the original WrestleMania for the Nintendo Entertainment System, which was the first console game ever created by the World Wrestling Federation.
While the price was a little steep ($22), I would have absolutely considered it... only I'm certain I already have that game for NES, and probably own more than one copy, in fact.
The only item I even came close to buying was above... a CM Punk Slam City playset that included an ice cream truck. I have a few pieces from this kid-friendly series lying around back from when I started this website.... but they're definitely not must-haves by any stretch. It became a question of, is $15 really a responsible price to pay for something that I'd likely just stash away in a Rubbermaid bin for the next decade or two?
Truthfully, it wasn't.
Last but not least.... I stumbled across about a dozen wrestling figures (which is usually what I end up walking away with at these places), but none of them caught my fancy. Deuce of Deuce & Domino fame? One Of The Headbangers? Billy Gunn? Debra? King Kong Bundy with black marker all over his face? Brian Christopher? British Bulldog (no relation)?
None of these were worth finding a staffer to open the locked bins to buy, and I left the 400 Market a little disappointed that I couldn't find even one cool item. But, hey, at least my wallet was unaffected.