The day after the Roast of Mick Foley, the 59th Annual Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion, at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, kicked into high gear with two full days and nights of events, superstar signings, and awards.
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 featured two seminars, “Florida Championship Wrestling: A Legacy of Legends” hosted by Bruce Tharpe featuring Jody Malenko, Fidel Sierra, Ricky Santana, The Grappler, Abdullah the Butcher, and Luke Williams, and then “The Evolution of the Women’s Revolution in Wrestling” hosted by Paula Sierra featuring Patricia Summerland, Malia Hosaka, Judy Martin, Big Rig Betty, Holly Swag, and Jazz.
Fresh off of her match against Becky Lynch on Raw, 2025 CAC award recipient Natalya Neidhart came in for a superstar signing and meet and greet with the fans in Las Vegas.
The first night of the CAC Awards began with a buffet of Italian food and a variety of desserts, which attendees enjoyed, but many seemed to long for the days of the Baloney Blowout. The night’s master of ceremonies was Joe Dombrowski, who received an assist from the Mouth of the South, Jimmy Hart.
The first award of the night was the Red Bastien Friendship Award, given to Wayne Palmer, then the 2025 Independent Wrestler Award Honoree was “The All American” Steve Rivers, and Jazz received the Women’s Wrestling Award.
After the first few awards, an in memoriam video was shown to honor all of those lost the previous year, followed by a ten bell salute.
The awards continued with El Fantasma receiving the 2025 Lucha Libre Award. El Fantasma was introduced by his son, WWE superstar Santos Escobar, who previously wrestled as El Hijo del Fantasma (and King Cuerno in Lucha Underground). Escobar gave a stirring introduction to his father, who gave his acceptance speech in Spanish, afterwards Escobar asserted, even if you couldn’t understand what his father just said, you could feel it.
Next, the Ron Hutchison Trainers Award was given to Dr. Tom Prichard. Dr. Tom Prichard was introduced by his brother, Bruce Prichard, which seemed like a surprise to all, including Dr. Tom himself. I must acknowledge here that I observed a pretty significant security presence during the evening’s ceremony, which I attributed to the number of active WWE talents in the room (since no one was taken out in handcuffs).
After this, Kenny King introduced the recipient of the Courage Award, which was being presented to Chris Bey, who broke his neck in Detroit the day after he main evented TNA Bound for Glory 2024, but is miraculously on his feet, walking less than one year after the in-ring accident.
Jimmy Hart took the stage in a more prominent role to introduce the Tag Team Award, which was awarded to The Bushwhackers. Bushwhacker Luke is obviously the surviving member of the team from New Zealand, so he accepted it alone on their behalf, and enthusiastically licked the head of Jimmy Hart.
For the final award of the evening, Tyson Kidd/TJ Miller introduced the Lou Thesz Award, which was given to Natalya Neidhart, who became the first woman to receive this prestigious honor.
On Wednesday, August 20, 2025, the 59th Annual Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion included two more daytime seminars, “Portland Wrestling: The Final Years (1986–1992)” hosted by Roy Lucier featuring Ricky Santana, Top Gunn, The Grappler, and Joey Jackson, and “The Road to Stardom: Climbing the Wrestling Ladder” hosted by Ricky Santana featuring Herb Simmons, Gary Jackson, Paul Lee, Tom Pritchard, and Steve Rivers.
The signing and meet and greet for this day was an extra special, first time ever combo signing with Mick Foley and Abdullah the Butcher.
The awards ceremony began at 6pm, like the day before, but this time, instead of a buffet, dinner consisted of salad, chicken, shrimp, mashed potatoes, and asparagus, served at the table, which lent to the more formal atmosphere of the evening.
The first award of the evening was the James C. Melby Award for wrestling historians Pat Laprade and Bertrand Hebert. Laprade and Hebert graciously accepted their shared award while giving credit to a long list of wrestling journalists and historians, including Greg Oliver, who was the one who initially offered them the award.
Next, the Karl Lauer Independent Promoter Award was given to Herb Simmons, of SICW (Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling). When Simmons got on stage to accept the award, he removed the microphone from its stand and took off his jacket, then spoke for nearly an hour, and while Simmons acknowledged how much time he was taking, he also didn’t cut it short, citing how long he had been in the business, and how long it took him to drive to Las Vegas (30 hours one way)
After this, Harley Race was honored with the Posthumous Award, which was introduced with a brief video from son Justin Race, and concisely and respectfully accepted on Race’s behalf by Attila Khan. The brevity was appreciated by all.
The Men’s Wrestling Award was introduced by Rhonda Orton, who presented it to her brother, Cowboy Bob Orton Jr., who gave another mercifully short acceptance speech.
Next it was time for a live auction of a one-of-a-kind, custom Mick Foley championship belt, created by Main Event Belts. After a lively back and forth, the highest bidder won the belt for $2,300.
Chris Bey received the Courage Award the previous night, but on this night, the Courage Award was presented to Joel Goodhart, who urged those in attendance to listen to their doctors, especially those with diabetes.
With two awards remaining, the International Award was presented to Abdullah the Butcher. The award was introduced by Bob Johnson and Ross Hart. Before he spoke, Johnson pretended(?) to fix his dentures, which earned a needed laugh, and Hart provided a thorough biography of the Madman from Sudan. Abdullah became visibly emotional while accepting his award, and while much of his speech wasn’t quite picked up by the microphone in his hand, Abdullah still has a face that demands an audience’s rapt attention.
Finally, for the main event, Mick Foley received the “Iron” Mike Mazurki Award, which was introduced by his daughter Noelle. Noelle and Mick are obviously very talented public speakers, and they kept the crowd invested, even as the clock approached ten o’clock PM. Foley was the final recipient of the year, so it was likely assumed that he would go longer than most, and even though so many people have read his books, listened to his interviews, and watched his one man shows and/or standup comedy act, he can still hold a crowd in the palm of his hand.
After Foley concluded his acceptance speech, before the audience dispersed, B Brian Blair announced that they had one final thing to announce. To summarize, Mick Foley had personally given over $25,000 to CAC, thus inspiring the creation of the new Philanthropy Award, which will be awarded annually, from here on.
With that, the 59th Annual Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion came to an end. They’ll be back next year, August 17-19, 2026, for the grand 60th reunion, and once again, there’ll be no resort fees!
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