From Sunday, August 17th through Wednesday, August 20th, the Cauliflower Alley Club hosted its 59th annual reunion at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2025 CAC reunion consisted of live professional wrestling, the Roast of Mick Foley, seminars, superstar meet and greets, silent auction and raffle, and two awards banquets, but what I personally was most looking forward to was what CAC refers to as the Nostalgia Room. The Nostalgia Room is where attendees can socialize over a game of cribbage, play a wrestling video game, or partake in a round of “cornhole,” but it’s also where vendors set up shop to sell their wares. It’s where writers sell their latest book, where wrestlers sign autographs, and where collectors sell wrestling merchandise and collectibles. Leading up to CAC, I was hopeful the Nostalgia Room would be full of vendors from around the country selling wrestling collectibles that I couldn’t readily find in the Metro Detroit area, and I would say that I got what I was hoping for, and much more.
The first table in the Nostalgia Room to catch my eye was staffed by Joe Dombrowski, the play-by-play commentator, content producer, voiceover artist, ring announcer, and MC for the CAC awards. Dombrowski’s table was piled high with wrestling magazines and programs, autographed 8x10s, action figures, and trading cards. And he didn’t have the usual selection of common wrestling cards often seen at card shops and flea markets, he had the good stuff, like vintage WWF ice cream bar cards and Monty Gum Wrestling Stars, and he had a wide selection of them too. It was difficult to narrow down my purchase from Dombrowski, but there were so many other tables to visit, so I picked out a Randy Savage ice cream bar card, a Monty Gum Hulk Hogan card, and issue seven of Marvel’s WCW comic book, and moved along.
My next stop was at the table directly across from Dombrowski’s, which belonged to Pat Laprade and Bertrand Hebert, who received the James C. Melby Award for wrestling historians. Laprade and Hebert’s table was covered with copies of the many books they wrote, but what immediately drew me to their table were the binder pages full of colorful wrestling cards on display. Hebert explained that they designed a Golden Age of Quebec Wrestling trading card set as a way to promote their book Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screw Jobs: The Untold Story of How Montreal Shaped the World of Wrestling, with different packs of cards containing assorted wrestlers from the book. Well, that was enough to sell me, so I bought several packs of cards, including a special El Generico pack, and happily proceeded to another table.
The next vendor to grab my attention had a colorful display of Halloween masks behind the table. This table belonged to Ron Rivera, who previously wrestled as the American Wild Child. Rivera’s table stood out from the rest because of the variety of masks he was selling, including Japanese and Mexican wrestling masks, as well as highly detailed latex Halloween masks. Rivera had masks of Andre the Giant, Sting, Kane, Rey Mysterio, Mankind, Pagano, and a wrestler who recently made a big splash in the United States, Mr. Iguana. The Mr. Iguana mask really stood out, even among so many other great and notable masks, but I decided to leave it for another customer, as I’m not a mask collector, although I’m starting to regret that decision.
The table right next to Rivera’s belonged to Steve Ogilvie, whose collectibles were like the polar opposite of Rivera’s, in that Ogilvie strictly dealt with paper merchandise and collectibles, such as vintage (Type 1) photographs, magazines, and programs. Ogilvie had a smaller selection of items for sale, but they were all rare and unique, so I purchased a vintage Fritz Von Erich photo postcard, because I tend to collect paper items, as well. Ogilvie was advertising that he’s always looking to purchase vintage paper wrestling collectibles, so if you think you might have something of interest for Ogilvie, you can email him at stevewantswork@gmail.com.
There were many wrestling fans and collectors in the CAC Nostalgia Room, including Roy Lucier, who arrived with 2025 Lucha Libre Award recipient El Fantasma, but Lucier brought another notable friend along with him, an extra rare Super Puroresu Popy action figure of CAC International Award recipient Abdullah the Butcher. As it was my first time meeting Lucier, and my first time seeing a Super Puroresu Popy action figure in real life, I had to commemorate the moment with a quick photo.
As I continued to shop around the Nostalgia Room, another CAC member in attendance was veteran wrestling manager and photographer Johnny Bradford/Brad McFarlin, who used his camera to document the events of the reunion. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know McFarlin the past couple of years while covering a variety of live wrestling events in the Metro Detroit area, and thanks to McFarlin, I have a new friend by the name of “Dirty” Tex Monroe, who traveled to Las Vegas with McFarlin. Like myself, this was Monroe’s first time at CAC, even though Monroe has been actively wrestling since the mid-1990s, and is the reigning International Bigtime Wrestling Street Fight Champion. Monroe is chock full of wrestling stories and memories, including some about Abdullah the Butcher, who he got to reconnect with in the Nostalgia Room, so Abdullah gave Monroe an extra special gift to remember him by, an autographed fork. And he even got it for free!
Another new friend hanging out in the Nostalgia Room was Kurt Nielsen, who was at CAC to promote his book, Howdy, Neighbor!: Stan “Plowboy” Frazier and his Appetite for Life. I’d never met Nielsen before this past Monday, I’d never even talked to him, but we ended up as roommates for three nights when Greg Oliver paired us up to share a room at the Plaza Hotel. As it turns out, Oliver must’ve known what he was doing, and I’d like to think that Nielsen agrees that he and I became fast friends this week. Other than McFarlin and Monroe, I spent more time at CAC with Nielsen than any other person (hell, we slept in the same room for three nights), and I have him to thank for some unforgettable memories, like meeting Brian Solomon at the awards banquet and having martinis and oysters at Oscar’s Steakhouse with original GLOW wrestler “Hollywood” Jeanne Basone. Nielsen gave me one of the best CAC souvenirs I could have hoped for, an incredible, one-of-a-kind work of art of his book’s subject, Stan “Plowboy” Frazier, as well as his friendship.
And speaking of friends, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that on the last day of CAC, I finally had the chance to meet someone I’ve known for nearly a decade, Michael Chin. I first got to know Chin when I published him in Working Stiff: The Anthology of Professional Wrestling Literature & Art, and I’ve been an admirer of his writing ever since. Chin currently teaches at UNLV, so when I finalized my plans to fly to Las Vegas, we arranged a time to meet. Being a wrestling fan, Chin suggested we get together at The Nerd, a wrestling and pop culture themed bar in the Neonopolis mall on Fremont Street, and as soon as I saw their mural of Sabu outside the bar, I knew he picked the right place for us to get a beer before the CAC awards dinner.
This was my first Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion, but I hope it’s not my last, because I may have checked out of the Plaza Hotel on Thursday morning with sore feet and an empty wallet, but I came home with a full heart … and a suitcase overflowing with wrestling merch.
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