Mick Foley Talks Visit With Jim Ross, Raising Money For Daffney’s Family & Jimmy Rave

Mick Foley recently weighed in on his visit to Jim Ross as well as his efforts to raise money for Jimmy Rave and the family of Daffney. Foley spoke with Wrestling Inc and you can check out some highlights below:

On his visit to Jim Ross: “It was great and Jim is doing really well. The thing is, it wasn’t really that nice of a gesture because I should’ve done it a long time ago. Jim and I only live an hour apart. It’s something I should’ve been doing more regularly anyway. But it was great to catch up, and now that we know how close I am? Jacksonville is one of the only places in the Southeastern United States that has a What-A-Burger.

“I travel regularly. The one thing the pandemic did for me is it made me see that I don’t like flying. When I go to visit my mom, I would rather drive. I’m lucky that I can do these one-man wrestling storytelling shows, book a show or two on my way up to New York, book a show or two on the way back, stop by a What-A-Burger, visit good old JR. It’s a good way to spend the day.”

On raising money for Jimmy Rave following Rave’s health issues: “I don’t want to sound really dramatic to say it filled my heart with joy. Both those events greatly exceeded my expectations. When Michael from Highspots told me, when I came to my virtual signing there a few weeks ago, that they had to cut off orders, on the way driving back home I was like ‘wow, there are more orders.’ I was thinking about Jimmy and how Jimmy’s Go Fund Me really needed a boost. Losing both legs, it’s devastating emotionally, psychologically, and also financially.

“He’s got bills that go for $100 thousand. He believes they’ll be able to whittle that down to $50 or $60 thousand, but it’s still a mountain of money. I just thought ‘hey, if there are some orders out there to be had, and I can combine that with some of my memorabilia, and also some personal interactions like the 2 nights in Georgia. Actually, it was 3 nights, and we had a fantastic time with a couple that bid a nice amount of money. It really exceeded my expectations. I thought we’d get maybe $10 or $12 thousand. Michael said ‘we’re going to try and get you and Jimmy to his goal’, which was $22 thousand. And we get it. It was really incredible.

On also raising money for Daffney’s family: “The same thing with the fundraiser for Daffney. One of her organizations of choice was the National Alliance of Mental Illness. Daffney had struggled for a long time, and her mom, in the days following her death, had a link to NAMI Georgia. So I had raised some money by auctioning the shirts off my back when I did my shows in September. And because I was going to Atlanta, which is where Daffney lived, I wanted to do a fundraiser.

“And Nick, I might’ve lied to you. I have a little bit of an ego when it comes to these shows. And I was a little bit disappointed that Atlanta was shaping up to be one of the least attended venues on the tour. So I thought ‘alright, maybe we raise $4 thousand, because I’m donating the entire gate, minus the club’s fee, and I’m doing the shirt off the back, and I’m donating the merchandise. And then people just really exceeded all of my expectations.

“The shirts went for $1300. A friend of mine from high school donated an extra $500, another guy made a $1 thousand donation. We came out of there with almost double of what I was hoping for, $7,750. Just as importantly, maybe, more importantly, Daffney’s mom and her brother were there. And just knowing that people cared, representatives from NAMI were there, they were overjoyed. It turned out that, in the economic downturn, the Coronavirus, where people are unsure financially, that their donations were down, they did not know how they were going to fund something called In Our Own Voices, which is a suicide prevention program designed for teenagers.

“And that shirt off my back money that we raised, the $1500 in September, was able to fund that program, specifically for an entire year. The whole thing felt kind of serendipitous to me. And it was one of my favorite shows. I told a few stories that I don’t usually tell. And it was a really great evening, made me proud to be part of the business. That’s not always the case…no it is. Sometimes you’re just prouder than others. And I thought it was a great night. I love it when we, as a wrestling community, come together to support our own and this was one of those cases.”