Benzinga | Jun 16, 2021 02:16PM EDT

The Best There Is, The Best There Was: Bret Hart NFTs Are Coming For Pro Wrestling Fans

NFT startup WRARITIES has announced it will be expanding its NFT collectibles lineups in the coming weeks to include two legends of professional wrestling.

What Happened? On July 5, WRARITIES will launch its first ever officially licensed Bret "The Hitman" Hart NFTs. The Bret Hart NFTs come just a week after WRARITIES launches Jim Cornette's first set of officially licensed NFTs on June 27.

Why It's Important: Hart is one of the most recognizable names in the history of wrestling and enjoyed a 22-year career that included stretches as world champion of both World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) and competitor World Championship Wrestling.

Cornette has spent six decades in the wrestling business as a manager, booker, color commentator, promoter, trainer and broadcaster.

WWE jumped on the NFT bandwagon early by launching its first like of NFTs featuring the career of the Undertaker back in April. NFT marketplace BitSki reported that the four-tier Undertaker NFT auction generated a total of $132,200 in sales.

See Also: WWE Launches Undertaker NFTs With Extra Perks: What Investors And Wrestling Fans Should Know

The NFT market could be an important source of new revenue for WWE and other wrestling promotions in coming years as companies test out the waters. Investors spent more than $2 billion on NFTs in the first quarter of 2021.

The success of the Bret Hart and Jim Cornette NFTs could set the tone for future NFT sales by other independent pro wrestlers and industry legends.

Benzinga's Take: The $132,000 in revenue for the Undertaker NFTs is only a drop in the bucket for a company the size of WWE. However, it proved there is money to be made in wrestling NFTs, which could set the stage for a larger-scale roll-out of a WWE NFT business in the near future.

Photo credit: Mandy Coombes, via Wikimedia Commons