EXECUTIVE BOARD
ADVISORY BOARD
To financially assist those in the wrestling industry that have fallen on hard financial times.
“I will adhere to all CAC bylaws and principles and promise to do what is in the best interest of the CAC with integrity, kindness, humility, and gratitude to all of our members, peers, past associates, and honoreesas we conduct ourselves with these principles to all.”
LetusrecognizethattheCACwasestablished as a club for wrestlers, boxers, movie people, assorted friends and companions.
Now, we are people from the world of wrestling that are dedicated to the belief in the need of a club of kindred souls who enjoy camaraderie, companionship, togetherness and friendship of each other.
We believe in the history of wrestling as well as promoting the future of wrestling. We further believe that through our selection of officers and staff (who have given, for free, their personal time, talents and finances) that they will make the correct decisions to build the reputation and membership of the club and continue its business into the future.
Under a Lone Ranger-style mask and handing out roses to female fans at ringside seems worlds apart from the character that World ChampionshipWrestlingfanscame to know as “Buff” Bagwell at the height of the Monday Night Wars. But it was in Dallas, Texas, wrestling as the Handsome Stranger that Marcus Bagwell first attracted the attention of WCW for what would be a fruitful decade-long associationwiththe company.
At the apex of one of the hottest eras in professional wrestling, Bagwell emerged as one of the company’smostcolorfulandcelebrated characters. In fact, while fans bit on “I’mBuffandI’mthestuff!”theymay have forgotten that one of wrestling’s top villains has just years before been presented as one of the company’s most wholesome heartthrobs.
WhenhefirstlandedinWCW,wrestlingunderhisfullname,ashortsingles career soon gave way to success as a tag team performer. With
championship reigns alongside 2 Cold Scorpio, The Patriot (as Stars and Stripes), Scotty Riggs (as the American Males) and Shane Douglas, Bagwell was among one of the mostprolificchampionsinWCW.All before he became a member of the NewWorldOrder,oneofthehottest wrestling properties of the era.
Following the closure of WCW in 2001, Bagwellseemed to bea man without a home, recruited for short stays with multiple promotions and
remaining active on the independents for much of the past twenty years.
The ups and downs of his career in the ring are almost eclipsed by the hurdles he has had to overcome away from the spotlight of professional wrestling.
In 2012, Bagwell was nearly fatally injured in a car accident which saw himsufferbrokenbonesinhisneck, face and jaw. It was several weeks until he was able to walkagain.
Another car wreck in 2020 left him with broken ribs, a broken right hip and a broken left socket bone among other injuries.
Professional wrestling fans love a good comeback and that story is still in progress as Marcus “Buff” Bagwell will join us at the 2024 CACReunionasthelatestrecipient of the Men’s WrestlingAward.
The first four honorees of the Cauliflower Alley Club Lucha Libre Award have all been extremely deserving luchadores, from Blue DemonJr,toReyMysterio,toKonnan, and last year, Damian 666. But one thing that all four of them have in common, is the four of them had a long career where they were visible to the public inside of the United States. This years honoree, Negro Casas, may not have the visibility the others have here in the States, but the impact that he has created worldwide puts him in any Hall of Fame, and especially here at the CauliflowerAlleyClub.Infact,Itruly believe you cannot have an award that is called the “Lucha Libre Award” without having Casas in it. This is something Casas was born to do, with his family tree showing no sign of slowing down.
Hewasbornin1960,theeldestson of José Casas Granados aka Pepe Casas, who started wrestling in 1964.While Pepelearnedthe craft, he brought his eldest son with him, andtheylearnedtheinnerworkings of the business together. So even before his first match, Negro had over a decade of being under the
learning tree in the crowd and behind the scenes. He learned what the crowdliked andhated.
AyoungCasasimpressedearlyon. A few months into his career, he switched over from Pepe Casas Jr to “Negro” (the color black in Spanish) Casas, the name that would stay with him, even today. Less than two years after his debut, Negro would really be the focus of the fans and reporters, with a couple matches against Fuerza Guerrera in 1981 involving the Distrito FederalLightweighttitle,takingplacein Arena Mexico in Mexico City, and also Arena Coliseo. The matches weresoiconic,especiallytheArena Mexico one at the CMLL 48th Anniversary event, that there are still reporters today who were there live and talk about it as one of the best matches they ever saw.
The showdown between El Hijo del SantoandCasasin1987theOlympicAuditorium in LosAngeles. With no television and only promoting through newspaper ads, this match drew 7,500 for the WWAin that era with Santo ending Casas’ 301 day reign as lightweight champion.
It was after matches against Jushin “Thunder” Liger in Mexico in 1989 that Negro Casas was invited to compete in Japan the following year. It was the start of recurring appearances over the next several years for Casas including participating as one of eight lightweight champions in the 1996 J Crown tournament.
In 1992, Negro Casas jumped from the UWA to make CMLL his home promotion. It was here that he became a focal star of the company winning multiple titles - 11 singles title reigns and 4 tag team or trios titles. He would also be involved in more hair vs hair matches, many headlining the topCMLLevents.
Forthenextcoupledecades,Casas would be the ‘go to’ guy for CMLL, the one that could be counted on, show after show, week after week, to be there and give the fans their monies worth, to help to train and get over the “hot new babyfaces” for the company (his feud with Mistico, in particular, helped get the fans to accept that Mistico was the “real deal”), and do everything, in the ring and behind the scenes. He would adapt with the times, so that hecouldstillperformintheringand do what he does the best.
It was a huge shock when Casas, along with his wife, luchadora “Dalys la Caribeña”, left CMLL to joinAAAin 2023.
I literally cannot think of any other current living luchador that deservesthehonorofthe“Cauliflower AlleyClubLuchaLibreAward”more thantheiconicNegro“4:40”Casas.
- Roy Lucier
Asturdyandreliablecompetitorinthe mid-west, the familiar face of “Night Train” Gary Jackson has become a welcoming smile for annual attendeesoftheCauliflowerAlleyClubreunion over the past several years.
Though he is glad to greet old and new friends alike, his graciousness and humility often keep him from boasting about his forty year carer between the ropes.
The native of New Orleans, Louisiana first got drawn into wrestling in St. Louis, where he would sneak into the matches presented at Wrestling at the Chase, despite being underage. He knew, even at an early age that he had found his calling and it wasn’t long before he stepped through theropes himself.
A veteran of the U.S. military, Gary wrestledsomeofhisearliestmatches in the Central States Wrestling territory in 1984 under promoter Bob Geigel in Kansas City. During the era when local wrestlers would be picked up to fill out the card for travelling house shows, Gary wrestledfortheWorldWrestlingFederation on cards in the midwest, appearingagainstthelikesofKamala,
Ron Bass, Dino Bravo and Demolition duringthe1980’s.
Among his peers, a common joke is that the Night Train never ages. Always keeping himself in tip top condition, he doesn’t look that much different than when he first entered the sport.
“Gary is a family man first and a professional wrestler second,” says long time friend and promoter Herb
Simmons.“He’saworkerthatevery promotershouldhaveintheirlocker room. His attitude and professionalism in our business is top notch. He tells the new guys to always ‘be prepared’ and always travels with hisgearincaseheshouldbecalled to action.”
Alittle trivia for the members of the CAC, Gary was given his enduring monicker “The Night Train” by the later Bruiser Brody during one of Brody’s stays in the Kansas City territory.Ifyouwantthewholestory, be sure to track Gary down at the reunion to ask him about it and learn more about his enduring career and undying love for the sport of wrestling.
The Cauliflower Alley Club is pleased to welcome “The Night Train” Gary Jackson to the Ring of Friendship as the 2024 Independent Wrestling honoree.
While today’s wrestling fans best recognize Bill Alfonso as a wrestling manager, stemming from his notoriousriseinECWinthatroleas a manager for Taz, Sabu and Rob Van Dam, many overlook the close totwodecadesthatAlfonsospentin the wrestling industry as a referee.
As the third man in the ring, referees aren’t typically celebrated and immortalized with their own action figures and trading cards though their role is crucial in the sport. Even researching the career of Bill Alfonso, the focus of most published resources talk about his rise to notoriety in Extreme Championship Wrestling that earned him Pro WrestlingIllustratedManagerofthe Year in 1997.
Still, his origins in the sport as an official are worth celebrating, and is the reason for his participation in the 2024 Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas. Alfonso will be honored with the Charles Smith Referee Award, recognizing his
achievements asa referee.
By his own account, Alfonso cites his earliest assignment in Texas, working for the Funk family’s Amarillopromotion,assignedtoabloody battle between The original Sheik andTerry Funk. From there, his career took him through all the major wrestling territories, as an official for the National Wrestling Alliance,
including stays in Florida for Eddie Graham’s Championship Wrestling from Florida, Jim Crockett’s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling,and even for Vince McMahon on the World Wrestling Federation, now WWE. In fact, as pictured below, Alfonso was one of the officials on hand for WrestleMania9, alongside the late Joey Marella. Alfonso presided over the Undertaker - Giant Gonzales contest.
It was actually because of his wellknown track record as a manager in the U.S. that Shane Douglas recruited him to Extreme Championship Wrestling to be a traditional referee, ruling against the popular “hardcore” wrestlers, whose actions fell outside of the recognized wrestlingrulebook. Hisroleas“The Man Who Calls It Right Down the Middle” spurred a chain reaction that ultimately led to his managerial career.
The Cauliflower Alley Club welcomes Bill Alfonso into the Ring of Friendship as the 2024 Charlie Smith RefereeAward recipient.
In recent years, the face of 23-year olfPeyton Lee has becomea familiar one at the CAC reunions. Son of 42-year veteran wrestler and promoter Paul Lee, he is excited to confirm his attendance as soon as the event dates are announced.
Thoughbornwithaconditionknown as Laurence-Moon-Biedl syndrome which affects kidney function and vision, it hasn’t stifled his enthusiasm for life nor his creativity. In addition to being a fixture at the commentary table at wrestling shows in Georgia, he has also created an illustrated cartoon book called “Imaginary Ivan”.
Unfortunately, around the time the book was due to be released in June 2022, Peyton suffered kidney failure that resulted in complete blindness. His condition has now placed him on thekidneytransplant list-whichcouldseehimwaitingfor up to eight years to find a donor organ. While testing showed that his dad is not a match, Paul is registered for the “share list” to donate a kidney to a stranger in hopes that someone on that list may do the same for his son.
Attendees at last year’s reunion had the chance to see Peyton back in action at the Plaza and to see the finished product of his publishing debut. Peyton was particularly thrilled to exchange a few words with C.M. Punk, Rey Misterio and Nasty Boy Jerry Sags.
“I’m so proud of himn. He’s an inspiration to me”, says Paul, a Life-
time member of the Cauliflower Alley Club and a repeat attendee of our annual reunions. “Even going through all of this, he’s still such a positive guy. And he’s already at work on his second book.”
Paul shares that while Peyton can’t commithisthoughtstopaperasbefore,hehasbeendictatinghisideas to hisparents, who write it down.
All the proceeds from Imaginary Ivan are invested into Peyton’s medical needs and he has been actively on tour at wrestling events and comic conventions to get the book out there.
If you’re looking to pick up a copy, you can buy directly and direct 100% of the proceeds to Peyton at: awfwow.com/shopandthebookis also available onAmazon.
As of this writing, Peyton is looking forward to attending the 2024 reunion.
