DressleMania goes Hollywood this year.
This weekend, GAW TV — Mickie James, Lisa Marie Varon, and SoCal Val — will head to California to host their third annual fundraiser, DressleMania III. In addition to its usual auction of celebrity-worn items, proceeds from this year’s event will go to Childhelp, whose mission is to assist abused, neglected and at-risk children.
In a new interview with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay, SoCal Val reflects back on the team’s two previous fundraisers, and previews what fans can expect from DressleMania III.
“I think it’s going to be the biggest one, it has to be. It’s obviously on the biggest scale yet…the first one was — and this is just an idea that we had. We thought we want to do more charity stuff. We’ve talked about doing like Charity of the Month for GAW. We thought, okay, an annual charity event. DressleMania was just too cute and adorable to not have it go there and having it around the time that we’re all there for WrestleMania anyway, WrestleCon, things like that, who have been amazing to be our host, our location for the event [this year]. Same one as WrestleCon, the Biltmore Hotel.”
“Basically, if you don’t know what DressleMania is, it was an idea that we had to kind of ask all of our girlfriends in wrestling, like we all have to wear dresses for red carpets or a meet and greet or whatever. Even if it’s not a dress ring gear, if it’s, for example, ODB donated some things that were not dresses. It’s to everyone’s preference,” Val explained. “But DressleMania just means like event worn items, and we all have our own stores and sell things anyway. The first one was virtual. It benefited Girl Up, which is a female empowerment charity, and we raised almost $10,000.”
“Just the second year DressleMania II, we were in person at the event….But that was amazing. That was a lot of fun in Dallas. It was fun for us because we did the whole cowboy thing, which was hilarious. That charity, we try to mix it up every year was for Tag Me In and NAMI, which we thought was a perfect fit because we had just lost Daffney. We wanted to honor her and it was all about mental health. Then that year we raised over $10,000. So, now this year, DressleMania III is going to be at the Biltmore Saturday, April 1st, around 9 p.m (PST), because we’re going to do it right after the first WrestleMania day. Mickie, myself, and Lisa will be there with Mick Foley,” Val said.
Mick Foley, of course, will serve as the special guest host of DressleMania III. And according to SoCal Val, after hearing about the purpose behind DressleMania, Foley insisted he lend a hand in this year’s showcase.
“Mick Foley, who is wrestling Santa, the biggest heart and giving spirit in wrestling. Everyone knows that about him. I think it was Mickie who reached out [to him]. He had an event in the Biltmore and things got kind of confused with the time. So, we kind of lost the room and we’re like, ‘Oh, what do we do?’ Then [Mickie] said, like, ‘Hey, can we just do like a half hour before your event or like a half hour after? We have a little event.’ And he goes, ‘What’s it for?’ This is where I want to cry.”
“So, we explained what it was for. It’s for Childhelp.org, which is an amazing organization. We have all the information on DressleMania.com and GAWTV.com, which leads you to their initiative and what they do for many, many years. A lot of celebrities help them out and against child abuse, child trafficking and just amazing work that they do. Mickie’s been telling us about Childhelp for years. She’s been a celebrity ambassador for them for, I think want to say like 20 years, something insane. And she also has such a giving heart, as you know. Mick Foley heard about what it was for and was like, ‘Well, that’s more important than what I’m doing and what you girls are doing means more and it’s going to touch more people’s lives.'”
“He gave us his entire event space and his entire time. No one’s making money at this thing. It’s a benefiting Childhelp situation. He let us you know, not only have have the room, but he said, ‘I’ll host it’. And he also said, ‘any year you want me to do it, I’ll do it.’ So, this man who I saw him, he did a video for DressleMania, and I saw it yesterday. Hearing Mick Foley, who is such a wrestling legend, who donated his time and his and his money and just the entire event to us for this cause. Not just because he loves us, but he loves the fact that it’s for children. When he was on camera doing this ‘DressleMania, it’s going to be the biggest party.’ I put my head into my hands, and I cried because it just means so much.”
This year’s auction will include items from the likes of Molly Holly, Kelly Kelly, Nikki Cross, Deonna Purrazzo, Bret Hart, Kenny Omega, and many more. Learn more about DressleMania 3 on the official DressleMania website. Tickets for the in-person event are still available at this link.
RELATED: DressleMania Goes Hollywood: GAW TV Teams With Mick Foley For Annual Fundraising Event
