ECW original Francine took to an episode of her Eyes Up Here podcast, where she talked about a number of topics including pro wrestling veteran John Cone giving her a call on October 17th about making an appearance on NXT at the 2300 Arena and what WWE wanted her to do.
Francine said, “Hi Francine, this is John Cone from WWE Talent Relations. We crossed paths back in 2006 when I was a referee for the relaunch of ECW. I have something I want to run by you if you have a minute. NXT will be running a show at the ECW Arena. We’d like to know if you would be available to be the special guest referee for one of the matches? It would be with the NXT talent Jaida Parker and Lola Vice.’”
On wanting to talk to her husband first about things:
“I then talk to my husband and he said, ‘Did you not forget about the five surgeries you’ve had on your abdominal?’ ‘Well, yeah.’ ‘Do you really think you can be quick enough with the way these girls work.’ These girls are good and they can work. ‘Do you think you can get down and get the false finishes and run around?’ I was like, for me, because my core is so weak, just lifting myself up getting into the ring is slow. I was like, ‘I guess I’m not going to be able to do it.’ I contacted John the next day and I explained what happened to my stomach. He wrote, ‘No problem. We can do something different. Let me talk to creative and get back to you.’”
On suggesting that she be a guest time keeper instead and how they sent her a script to be a backstage interviewer:
“I pitched an idea about me being a guest timekeeper. I thought of a spot I could do with one of the guys on the card. He said, ‘Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll send it to creative. Then I get a text the following Tuesday, this is the night before, I hadn’t heard anything for two weeks and I’m thinking, ‘I’m booked, I think, but I have no idea what I’m doing.’ On Tuesday, they send me a script to be a backstage interviewer. I go, ‘Ah, I can’t do this.’ My voice is shot. It was bad. He’s like, ‘Did Johnny Russo get with you about tomorrow?’ I said, ‘I haven’t heard from him, I wasn’t contacted since last week, I don’t know anything about tomorrow.’ This is at nine the night before,” she recalled. “Johnny Russo texts me at 10 with the script for the backstage stuff. I type back, ‘Johnny, I’m so embarrassed to say this. I have no voice. I don’t have a voice.’ It just wasn’t going to work. I literally say, ‘If you want to pull me off the show, I totally understand. No heat. This is on me.’ I can’t work the way they want me to, I can’t talk, what am I going to do? A couple of the boys were like, ‘You can sit front row. That’s what they do with a lot of the legends.’ I said, ‘Do you still want me to come even though I can’t talk?’ He’s like, ‘We’ll figure something out tomorrow. Let’s see how you are in the morning and go from there. We could have you sitting in the crowd or being a timekeeper. We’ll make it work, don’t worry.’ I did offer to stay home, but at that point they put out the opening and they put me in the opening of the show. I guess it was too late to pull me, or they thought I should be there, which I was appreciative of that.”
On how being in the crowd was enough for her:
“Looking back at socials and seeing some of the old school fans mad and saying, ‘They could have done something more with you than just stuck you in the crowd.’ Yes, they could have, but it was me who couldn’t do it. I just wanted to make that perfectly clear. Would I have liked to have done more? Of course. I would have loved to have an entrance and walked to the ring and did something. It just wasn’t in the cards for me. Just being included was enough for me. I didn’t need anything more than that.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
