Diva Dirt correspondent and Beth Phoenix super fan, David aka Mr. Glamazon is on hand at this week’s WrestleMania festivities and will be checking in daily with his experiences in Phoenix. Check back everyday to find out which Divas he’s rubbed shoulders with in Phoenix — complete with exclusive pictures!
Wednesday, March 24th (Day 1)
MR. GLAMAZON MEETS THE GLAMAZON AT THE WWE ART AUCTION
On Wednesday March 24th, the WWE kicked off WrestleMania week by hosting the 3rd annual WWE Art Show at the magnificent Montelucia Resort & Spa in Paradise Valley, AZ. The weather was perfect and the resort was set in the Arizona hills – a great backdrop for the event which served as a fund raiser for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. I loved the Art Show last year in Houston so I was pretty excited! (Random note… we’re checking in at the hotel before the Art Show and standing right next to us: the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase! Then, out by the pool – Triple H and Steph (with their private security). Not a bad start to the week!)
Fans cheered while the WWE Superstars and Divas arrived on the red carpet and met with the local press. There was a nice list of WWE Superstars at the event: The Miz (who got a HUGE pop), Jerry Lawler, the Hart Dynasty, Cryme Time, Santino, Hornswoggle, Tony Atlas, Slam Master J (celebrating his birthday), Matt Striker, Tony Garea, and the true star of the night, Bret Hart. Bret got a great reaction from the crowd and seemed genuinely touched. (In general he seems to be enjoying this run through the WWE, and as a former Hitman mark, that makes me smile.)
Outside of the Hitman and the Miz, though, nobody arrived to bigger cheers than the beautiful Divas! What a group – Alicia Fox, the Bella Twins (with Momma Bella, an Arizona resident), Beth Phoenix (yeah!!), Natalya, Layla, Tiffany, Vickie, and Rosa Mendes. (No Gail? Booo! And Mickie was attending a signing in downtown Phoenix, bummer). I saw the posting on Diva-Dirt.com discussing their outfits, fashion, etc. I have to say they each looked beautiful and, better yet, seemed to be very happy to be there. They each signed for photos and signed autographs with the fans outside the event, and then once inside the auction, they mingled for the entire 3 hours and were very warm to everybody.
I spent a good deal of time chatting with Layla who could not have been nicer. I told her that we (at Diva Dirt) were very proud of her for the improvements she has made as both a wrestler and a performer, and she was very excited about the direction of her career. She said that she, Vickie, and Michelle have a blast working together and everybody on the blue brand is motivated at the direction of the product. She checks out the site from time to time and thanked all of us for our support. What a sweatheart. She even filmed a brief video for us that can be seen here. I bought her art piece… a cute blue piggy bank with all kinds of decorations on it. She signed it to “Mr. Flawless” which made us laugh. PS – she said that the Divas work so hard to advance their careers by coming up with their own storylines, costumes, etc. Anything they can do to better their performance. I give them credit for their hard work, it is to be respected.
I also spent some nice time with Natalya (my son’s favorite because of the pink hair – kids are so easy), Tiffany (excited to be wrestling more – she was saying how hard she has been training), Vickie Guerrero (so happy to be back), and finally the magnificent Beth Phoenix (oh wait, I’m supposed to be impartial…) For those of you who don’t get WWE magazine, there was a photo in the February 2010 issue of Beth and myself from last year’s Art Show. I had her sign it and had a real nice time chatting with her. She also said how much fun SmackDown has been and that it has been energizing working with Michelle, etc. The change of scenery was good for her. Plus she loves working face and is amused by the difference in the crowd reactions; both in and out of the ring (I am proud to say I love her either way, so there).
I mentioned I won the Layla piggy bank, but there was a lot of other cool Diva art work on display. Beth sketched a great picture of 2010 WWE Hall of Famer Stu Hart, Vickie Guerrero made some awesome shadowbox pieces of Layla, Eddie, and Michelle (each with a signed item inside – I lost the Michelle McCool piece by $10, which is probably OK since I’m not sure my wife wants a McCool bikini hanging in the house…), Rosa painted a pretty picture of a flower, and Tiffany put together a shadowbox of some of her best photos. The stand-out piece of the entire auction, though, was the original sketch Bret Hart drew during the event…it went for over $3,000! Welcome back Hitman!
Overall it was a stellar event and reaffirmed what I felt last year: the WWE Art Auction is the premier event of the WrestleMania week. You get to see a different side of the Superstars and Divas in a more relaxed setting before the true craziness of the weekend sets in. I can’t recommend it highly enough. My buddy and I are off tonight to the WM Axxess session; Bret Hart and John Cena are appearing tonight which is cool. But a last thank you to all the staff members, Superstars, and Divas who made the Art Auction a great success! More tomorrow…
Pictures from the Art Expo:
[nggallery id=374]
