Quoted from Rarehero:Bingo. Fear of not getting it should not be a factor anymore. Only two LEs have become hard to find & gone up in value like crazy. Tron & AC/DC. Lets look at some factors.
Tron sold many overseas & many to hardcore arcade collectors. Also the game was $5k-or-so when it came out, so it was $2k less than today's LEs. I hate to say $5k is an impulse buy...but in the pinball world, definitely more of an impulse than something in the 7's.
AC/DC was the return of THE KING Steve Ritchie, theme that resounds world-wide, and the LEs had massive "cool factor". Also, only 300 BIB and 200 LTBR....very low numbers for a hot game. Regardless of Premium, increased in value. Price when released - about $1000 less than today's LE's.
So here we are with WWE. Way more expensive from the getgo than the 2 LE's that went up in value, so you're not gonna have many people "impulse" buying it. Collectors are fatigued from code issues. Does WWE have the worldwide appeal that Tron or AC/DC do? I'm going to say no...so - I don't think you'll see tons going overseas, which will increase the likelyhood that you'll find them in the US down the road. Will the hardcore WWE fans rush to buy it like the Metallica fans did with METLE? I'm going to say "no", based on the fact that there already is a "classic" WWF pin & there's virtually zero demand for it. You can look to Star Trek to test this theory. ST has HUUUUGE hardcore fanbase, but they didn't rush out to get Stern's new ST pin....there are already 3 other ST pins, and those have remained affordable and attainable.
So - if you're going to buy WWE - do it because you're the biggest wrestling fan in the world...not because you're afraid of it becoming the next Tron or AC/DC.
I agree with everything you said but you missed the most important factor:
Lyman Sheats non-involvment on rules. Name a Stern title that didn't have either Lyman or Keith on code that has gone up in value? Maybe Ripley's but that was over 10 years ago. Even though the layout and theme look great when you have a less then stellar rule-set people get tired of it after a little while. STLE is the perfect example of this. On a Pro model I could probably live with mediocre rules but not on a $7500 LE..
Futurama.jpg
Uniontown, OH
