Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion 2014
I got to fulfill a bucket list item this past week when I attended the 2014 Cauliflower Alley Club annual convention in Las Vegas. I attended the event after being invited by Troy Peterson of Impact Pro Wrestling to help with spreading the word about the Lou Thesz/George Tragos Wrestling Museum in Waterloo Iowa.
The week started smoothly as we flew to Vegas without a hitch. Soon after landing fellow IPW wrestler James Jefferies and I headed down to the ballroom to find out about working the wrestling show Sunday night.
We were disappointed to find out the only spot on the card was for the battle royal at the end of the night. But after talking for a bit we agreed it was a chance to participate in the weeks events and meet wrestlers from all over.
As we got settled in the back, the first surprise of the night for me was seeing the referee for my very first match at the Sportatorium in Dallas Texas, James Beard. I gave Beard a hug and introduced him to Jeffries who is a huge Texas wrestling fan. The following day, as a gift for all his hard work for IPW and his love for the Lone Star states rasslin, I got a copy of James Beard's book for Jeffries. I bought a copy myself for my Kindle a few months back and knew it was a great read.
James Beard was in the back to say hello to Kahagas "The Tokyo Monster". Kahagas is a former N.W.A. Heavyweight champion and an athlete James had been touting as a great wrestler the past couple years. I was very interested in seeing Kahagas wrestle in person. He has been busy on the Indy scene the past couple years wrestling all over the country. His reputation was as good as the work I saw in person.
As the card progressed and we met more and more of the talent backstage, it was obvious this was a big show for the West Coast wrestlers. The Bay area, L.A. as well as Las Vegas was heavily represented.
The battle royal went well and I was glad we participated in the event representing IPW. Also two girls from IPW, Kiandra and Miss Franki Jay got to be a part of the women's gauntlet match.
The next morning we set up the table in the conference room to showcase the HOF museum and weekend coming up July 18th that would include a tryout evaluation with Gerald Briscoe and Jim Ross.
At the conference room there was all kinds of memorabilia for sale. Old school pictures, programs and magazines from different eras were for sale. There was a display of great 8x10 pictures of wrestlers from the golden age to present.
As the event progressed we got to chat with fans and wrestlers from all over the country. I went over to the Destroyer Dick Beyers table and bought a copy of his book. It was nice talking to a fellow masked wrestler. We chatted about his time in Japan and his matches with Mil Mascaras. I learned he spent his time in Verne Gagnes AWA under a different mask and moniker, Dr X. I had always heard of DR. X being a Midwest guy but I never knew they were the same man.
After buying a few other books and memorabilia, we closed shop for the afternoon. Monday night we saw some of the night's card. The highlight was the outstanding tag team match featuring Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. That was followed by the final match that saw a title change between Japanese star Satoshi Kojima and Rob Conway. Conway regained the NWA belt in a great match. The highlight for James Jeffries and I though was watching James Beard officiate the title bout!!
Tuesday morning I worked the table again and as I bought a few pictures of Mil Mascaras the vendor told me he thought Mil was going to be here today. I didn't get my hopes up as I hadn't heard anything about any Mascaras sightings. But a few hours later I spotted him from across the room and was as excited as a kid seeing his first live wrestling show.
I got my picture taken with him and chatted with Mil for a few minutes in Spanish as well as English. I told him about how I patterned my character after studying his career. I told Mascaras about seeing his movies as a child. He was very gracious with me and I was not disappointed in meeting him finally.
After the buzz of meeting Mil Mascaras slowly wore off I attended one of the many seminars The Cauliflower Alley presented that week. This one was on how to use social media to build your career. The presenter was A.J. Kirsch and it was well worth the time. There were great seminars offered all three days.
On several days of the reunion we were visited by Jim Ross and Gerald Briscoe at our booth. Both are big supporters of the museum in Waterloo with Gerald being a board member. Jim Ross is a member of the HOF and will be hosting the banquet as well. The amount of awareness and star power both bring to the Waterloo George Tragos/Lou Thesz museum is great.
Adam Pearce and Gerald Briscoe at the Cauliflower Alley Club
The final night of the evening brought us the award banquet hosted by Terry Funk and J.J. Dillon. It was great to see the W.W.E. have a table with numerous representatives including Sergeant Slaughter. The banquet was a fun night with Terry Taylor and Micheal P.S. Hayes receiving the final two awards. Both gave great speeches telling stories of their formative years.
For me the surprise of the evening was a very personal one. When Terry Taylor was thanking people in his acceptance speech he acknowledged Dennis Brent. Denis Brent had a long career in wrestling starting with writing programs and taking pictures for the World Class and UWF promotions. Later he wrote the Wrestling Wrap Up for W.C.W. followed by their newsstand magazine. He later worked for the W.W.E. magazine and co wrote Steve Austin's book.
The past couple years Dennis has suffered some health issues. But over twenty years ago I bought a mail order book on how to get into pro wrestling. It was written by Dennis Brent and Percy Pringle. Through the book I found Skandar Akbars wrestling school and began my journey in pro wrestling. As soon as the night ended I made a bee line to Dennis and finally got to thank him in person for writing that book so many years ago.
Thank you Cauliflower Alley for that moment.
Latin Thunder