JHawk
“This isn’t Cirque de Soleil. This is professional wrestling.” –Terry Funk, accepting his surprise Reel Award during the Bockwinkel Blowout at the Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion.
I have been saying for the past ten years that anybody remotely associated with the professional wrestling business needs to become a member of the Cauliflower Alley Club and attend its annual reunion in Las Vegas. Every year, I meet a ton of people who are there for the first time who rave about how great it is and about how they wish they would have started coming sooner. The annual reunion is my lone vacation every year. I save up all year long for it, and every year I make new friends, reunite with old ones, and come back with a lifetime of memories.
If you’re not familiar with the Cauliflower Alley Club, it is a non-profit fraternal organization, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers (and in some cases, Hollywood stars as well) in North America. It raises funds primarily to help those in need of medical assistance, especially since the older wrestlers did not have health insurance in their primes. This video probably sums it up better than I ever could.
What I love about the annual CAC reunion is that it isn’t a fan festival. Yes, some of those in attendance will sell pictures or T-shirts. But if you’re an aspiring wrestler looking for advice? Just ask. The vast majority of those in attendance are more than willing to provide you a few minutes to ask questions and pick their brains.
This year, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the organization, was probably the best of the eight I have attended in my ten years as a member of CAC. The event began on April 12 and 13 when several different wrestling promotions came together for the Casino Royale wrestling events that took place over both nights. Over the two nights, fans were treated to 25 matches featuring a combination of young talent, big names, and legends in the industry. Plus how often can you sit in the same crowd as former WWE Women’s Champion Victoria…
…and legendary actor Kris Kristofferson?
For some, the highlight every year is the battle for the Cauliflower Alley Cup. On Sunday night, Rock Riddle, the original “Mr. Wonderful”, drew number one in the Casino Royale rumble but claimed an injury, so he introduced “The Golden Boy” Dylan Drake as his replacement. Drake went the distance in the rumble to advance to the finals in night two. Monday night saw Tokyo Monster Kahagas win a traditional battle royal to advance to the finals, and it was Kahagas, managed by Kevin Sullivan, pinning Drake to win the fourth annual Cauliflower Alley Cup.
For some, the highlight of the wrestling events was Jax Dane defeating Tim Storm to unify the NWA North American Title with the NWA National Title.
For others, it was seeing the familiar names on the card. Brian Kendrick lost to Greg Anthony on the Sunday show. Sam Houston (with his brother Jake Roberts at ringside) went to a double disqualification against Sinn Bodhi in a match Roberts said “was a great wrestling match until they fucked it up with that finish” (his words, not mine). But for me, the highlight of the show was this.
Yes, that is Jushin Thunder Liger, and getting to see him perform in person – from the front row no less – is a moment I can permanently check off of the bucket list. Liger would lose the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title to Steve Anthony in a fabulous match.
Over the final two days, many of those in attendance host seminars for any active CAC member who wishes to attend. From former Tough Enough competitor A.J Kirsch discussing how to transition from wrestling to other forms of entertainment to Bodhi and Roberts discussing in detail how important it is to listen to those who have succeeded in business, these are easy ways to gain additional knowledge and improve one’s standing in the business. As Bodhi said prior to his seminar, “those who feel they don’t need to come to these seminars are probably the ones who need them the most.”
But the highlight of the reunion every year are the Baloney Blowout (now dubbed the “Bockwinkel Blowout” after former CAC President Nick Bockwinkel) on Tuesday night and the awards banquet on Wednesday night. Here everybody gathers for dinner, shares stories, and of course, CAC honors the past, present and future of the wrestling business with awards presentations on both nights.
Among those receiving awards this year were Victoria, Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, The Almighty Sheik, The Romero family, “The Grappler” Len Denton, and Christopher Daniels, among others. CAC also awarded its first ever tag team award, giving it to Demolition, although “Ax” Bill Eadie was unable to attend.
There were some surprises as well. The Future Legend Award, which is always a surprise to the winner, was given to Wes Brisco, who gave a tearful speech about how proud he was to win it and how his goal is still to return to WWE. In addition, Terry Funk was given an unannounced Reel Award for his contributions to Hollywood, and Jimmy Hart was given just the CAC’s second ever Manager’s Award.
Among the top awards given out were to Diamond Dallas Page, who was not only honored for his in-ring career, but was also given the Jason Sanderson Humanitarian Award for his work on improving the lives of Jake Roberts, Scott Hall (who was also in attendance) and countless others. “When I started DDP Yoga, I wanted the work I did with it to surpass my wrestling career. Now it’s actually happening and I’m not sure I’m OK with that.”
Gerald Brisco received the Lou Thesz Lifetime Achievement Award. He gave a long speech about his career, but couldn’t help but make a comment about how Thesz has finally stopped rolling over in his grave from Michael Hayes receiving the same award the previous year.
But the main event, and the man who stole the show, was Larry “The Ax” Hennig receiving CAC’s biggest honor, the Iron Mike Award. The award, named after CAC founder Mike Mazurki, is designed to go to somebody who is known both inside and outside of wrestling. After being introduced by Harley Race, Hennig went on to give an entertaining speech, telling some hilarious stories, noting that this was his first sell out since 1985, and saying he always wanted to sing in front of a sell out crowd before leading the audience in a rendition of “Ghost Riders in the Sky”.
Not shown in the clip: Race saying “Thank God you became a wrestler.”
After his speech, Hennig was presented with a painting by Rob Schamberger of “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig that Schamberger had worked on in the hospitality room most of the week.
I cannot do this event enough justice. If you’re in the wrestling business, want to be in the wrestling business, or simply love the wrestling business as much as I do, you owe it to yourself to go to the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and attend at least one Cauliflower Alley Club reunion. You’ll come home with lifelong memories, lifelong friends, and enough stories to make you feel the slogan “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” cannot possibly be upheld.
