Eyes Up Here Xtra: Freestyle (ECW on TNN)

also wanted to see what the hype was about. And I've been taking it for about two weeks and it doesn't taste like it's super healthy, but it's got kind of a mild tropical taste that I actually look forward to each morning. With one delicious scoop of AG one, you're absorbing seventy five high quality vitamins, minerals, whole food source superfoods, and probiotics that help you start your day right.

This special blend of ingredient supports your gut health, your nervous system, your immune system, your energy, your recovery, your focus, and of course, your aging. Every morning I start off with my Athletic Greens. I get up before I have anything to eat, I load it up, I take a squig, and I'm ready to start my day. Rolling in the right direction. What I've noticed, I've noticed a lot of

extra energy. I've noticed a little bit more awareness and a little bit more of that extra push that I need to get everything done in a daily routine that normally I'd be dragging and I'd be complaining the whole entire day. But I was also in the group of the tons of people that take some kind of multi vitamin and every day having to replace each pill, each vitamin, each supplement, and I decided it's important to choose one with high quality ingredients that your body will actually absorb.

One thing I'll say about Athletic Greens It's lifestyle friendly. Whether you eat keto, paleo, vegan, dairy free, or gluten free, Athletic Greens is the supplement for you. It contains less than one gram of sugar, no GMOs, no nasty chemicals or artificial anything, while still tasting good. It supports better sleep quality and recovery, supports mental clarity and alertness. It's the one thing with the best things. Athletic Greens uses the best of the best products based on the latest science,

with constant product iterations and third party testing. And the most important part, it costs less than three dollars a day, So you're investing in your health and it's cheaper than your cold brew habit at Starbucks. But it's also cheaper than getting all the different supplements yourself. You're simply investing in an all in one nutritional insurance. But don't just

listen to me. Athletic Greens has over seven thousand and five star reviews, it's been recommended by professional athletes and is trusted by leading health experts such as Tim Ferriss and Michael Gervais. So right now, it's time to reclaim your health and arm your immune system with convenient daily nutrition. It's just one scoop in a cup of water every day. That's it. No need for a million different pills and

supplements to look out for your health. And to make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a free one year's supply of immune supporting Vitamin D and five free travel packs with your purchase. All you have to do is visit Athleticgreens dot com slash francine again, that's Athleticgreens dot com slash francine to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutrition insurance.

All right, let's continue the week here on Patreon. Adds up here extra freestyle three What you want to be? I just like saying it in freestyle because it's kind of a free flowing conversation, throwing some questions at you. Very clippable most of these. So that's why I like asking him. So you have some questions, Yes, I do. This is a good way to get some some really good topics out there that we don't always talk about.

As I said to you on the watch along, I'm not sure if I'm going to flip the order of how these broadcasts. But as I said as we recorded our watch along, ECW on TNN, okay, huge for you guys to get onto the network and to get onto a big television platform like TNN was it was the Nashville Network for those of you that don't remember, but unfortunately not really. I think what everybody kind of expected. What was the general tone in the general feel of the jump to ECW on TNN. I think TNN was

our downfall. I think that destroyed us. You know, we had a pretty strong show on syndication and everybody loved it. It was great. The problem was it was syndication. Not everybody received it, so you had to do tape trading underground crap blah blah blah blah blah. When we got on TNN, we thought this was going to be our savior and it was a disaster. They had their thumb on us. There were certain things we could do we could not do, and that's where the whole angle of

the network came from. Because the network didn't want us to do this. The network didn't want us to do that. Blah blah blah. So we ran with it and we made Cyrus the network and it you know, it fit. It worked out right. Then we find out that we were the guinea pigs for that channel to see if wrestling would sell, but they already had a deal with Vince McMahon waiting for now. We only signed for one year contract, so as soon as our contract was up,

we knew he was going to write to Vince. Right, So in that year, you have a company that's not even running commercials for you. I've said this too many You couldn't find a commercial for us. But when they did air, it was like Friday night at like six and we were on what time, eight, nine, eight or nine. I think maybe it was eight eight o'clock. I think so a commercial would run like right before, Oh catch ECW and TNN. It would be like seven to fifty

five and oh, okay, there's a commercial. Awesome. Now, no promotion whatsoever, you know. I remember when we first signed and they made us go to like a party. I think I told you about this before. They uh not,

the whole the whole locker room didn't go. I was one of the chosen people to go to this network party, and I remember they had like goodie bags and inside it was like TNN stuff, you know, And I was like looking around, I'm just like I don't even know how to hell I'm here, like what is going on? You know what I mean? But we did not feel like we fit in. We didn't feel like we were a part of the network because they didn't treat They treated us like the ugly stepchild or something, you know

what I mean. It was. It was not a good fit. I don't feel that they were honest with us. I don't know if Paul knew the deal ahead of time, like hey, you know, we're gonna give you a year. We're gonna sign with Vince like I don't know did he know that, We don't know, you know, but I was rumored almost after you guys started that when USA's contract with WWF was up, that they were going to move to another network, and TNN was pretty well known that they were going to make the play for WWF.

Well they did, and they they they got them, and uh, it just to me. I feel like if we could have stayed, you know, if we would have stayed syndicated and found somebody else that might have been better for us. It couldn't have been worse. It couldn't have been How could it have been worse? Now with Paul changing some things for TNN, you know, they things they wanted, there's things they didn't want. Do you think it affected booking?

Because the roster was also changing at that point in ninety nine, We're seeing folks starting to leave, We're seeing some of the long term ECW stars departing, We're seeing a lot of newer faces. Do you think it changed

the way Paul booked the shows? I feel like in a way yes, because again, like we at this point, we have two shows, so the edgier stuff would go on this hardcore TV, which was our syndicated show, and ECW on TNN got the water down version of what we were right, So there were things, like I said, we were not allowed to physically do on the network, on the national network, but on syndication. I mean, look

at what you just saw. That that was If that that was on TNN with the Homeless Guy, right, if that was on syndication, we probably would have let them fire something. It would have been so much more, you know what I mean. It was just it was apples and oranges. It was a completely different ballgame when we got to TNN. Misers. Yeah, it's just funny because you know, TNN was not anything except for the Country Music Channel

before CMT. It was a lot of Western based programming, you know, in terms of like cowboys and classic movies, concerts, you know, like if they had a talk show on, they're bringing on, you know, some country acts. And when you heard ACW was going there, you're like, uh, that's completely backwards and shouldn't be the case. But now let me throw this one to you too. Years later, TNN would become Spike TV. Right had been able to penetrate Spike TV Nashville Network or Spike TV now come on

You tell me incredible. It would have been better if it was Spike TV. It was. It was a whole different format, The programming was completely different. It was an edgier demographic. Wise, it was a younger crowd who watched Spike TV. You know what I mean. It was it wasn't our demographic. TNN was not aimed for people who liked wrestling. It just wasn't. It was not a good fit. And you know, while it brought us to the national stage, it brought a watered down version of what we were

to the national stage. Right. It's gonna get your casuals that are channel surfing on a Friday night and just so happened to see wrestling on television, right, and and not the good stuff. Right. But that's where I remember seeing Dusty Rhodes for the first time in ECW was ONNN, and that's where like, okay, that could draw on the casual Who's just well, Dusty fit the Nashville Network pretty good. He did. Yeah, I mean there was you know, I just feel like if you looked at their programming and

what they offered, we were the lead. What were we the lead into roller jam or roller ball or whatever? It was the city. Eventually, I think eventually it turned it was yeah, roll the rebirth of Roller Derby or

something like that. Exactly. It was like the good old boys stuff, and it was just that's not you know, if WCW were to be on there, I think that would have been like a better fit than many CW was, Like, I just never I know that that's probably the best deal Paul could have got at that time, but I just felt like it was such a waste. It was a waste of time for us. It just it didn't help us. I think it hurt us, you know, I

don't know. And again, if social media was what it was, then we could have been you know, we could have moved to maybe YouTube premium where you could have paid for a subscription to watch our show. Like, there could have been so many more options to save the company. But back then there wasn't you know, there wasn't all

this stuff available. So that's okay, it's unfortunate, you know, but it is what it is, Yeah, really is because again a year later is the WWF's arrival and then the slow burn away from the Nashville Network into what would become Spike TV. Yes, yes, and we all know how successful they were with that. Exactly good on you. Wwe Now let me ask you this. So, when we were on our Live with Mickey James, people were asking her about comparing feuds from her history with current feuds

that she has with Chelsea Green and Deanna Pirazza. Right, So I was thinking about while that you guys were talking how you could have used social media back in the day. Right, let's just say you and Beulah, let's put you in take you out a ninety five ninety six. But in twenty twenty two, would you use social media specifically Instagram and Twitter as it means to further storylines or would you use it strictly to promote your product?

Because these girls argue they're throwing barbs at each other, they come little promos and their phones. See the problem with that. You have to either use it for work or use it for personal reasons. Right. I feel like the two don't really mix well because a lot of times you're promoting an angle which is contradictory to your real life. Right, And you know, let's give an example if in today's day and age, I was working with Shane Douglas and we were an one air couple, but

I had a husband and children at home. I could not use social media as like a personal outlet. I could not say, can't wait to take the family of the Disney World and show that picture in front of the county. To me, that's a conflict of interest right there. You either use it for one or you use it for the other. So the way I use social media now, I don't really put my family on there because that's private to me. And plus people are creeps and I'm

afraid that people are going to be looking. Yeah, it's just weird these days, you know. So I feel like I would use it. I promote, you know, That's what I do with social media. I saw girls I think they were from Impact or AEW the one signing I

was at in Baltimore. They just went into the middle and started shooting a promo against each other, and somebody was filming it, and they started pushing each other and then they started running after each other through like the tables, and I just sat there and I was just like, come on, like really, like this is what it's come to now, And then they started giggling, and then they walked back to their two and I'm like, okay, I just saw you hate each other. Now you're giggling and

you're running back now. Granted, the people who are on social media will not see that part, but the people who were at the convention or watching you right. So it's kind of silly if you think about it. But if you can live the gimmick and not cross over, you know, you have to just pick one or the other. I hate when it contradicts each other. That is a pet peeve of mine. You know, we all know it's a work. I get it. We all know that, but it just looks stupid when you're saying one thing and

then you're doing another. I don't like it. Yeah, it's a little counterproductive, especially if you're in, you know, one of the two bigger organizations and it's not sparaging any of the other federations and independent promotions out there in

those top two that have the most TV time. It just hurts when you're out there using your social media I think to further angles and then five minutes later talking about how you know your besties are in the car with you on your way to you know, go get something to eat after the show, and it's one of the people you're just ripping three weeks before. I

think that's the problem. And I don't think it could have worked in the nineties if there was a social media because I think there's still that mentality that you guys would have gotten called the hell out if that was the case, right, somebody backstage would have pulled you aside. I'll never forget when this one time because in the beginning, Buel and I we roomed together. We were roommates, and but we were against each other every weekend. But here

we were staying in the same room. We were driving in the same car, like we were getting ready together because she was my best friend at the time. And we were in the hotel and we were walking to

the elevator. There was a bunch of fans. The door opens, and like we I kind of gave her a look and I was like ill, and I walked to one side of the elevator and I went like this, and I just gave her the death stare and she got on and she was like all kind of timid, and she stayed on her We got off at the same friggin' you know thing. But she went this way and I went this way, and then when we first closed, we

started hysterical amb and we ran into our room. But I was like, shit, you know, like they're everywhere, fans are everywhere, they're watching us. You have to be really careful because you know, back in the day, they didn't even dress in the same locker room. There was a heel locker room and a face locker room. Yeah, but you know, by the time I came around in the nineties, that had stopped. But we still tried to maintain a

little bit of k fabe. You know, the heels usually drove with the heels, and the baby faces with the baby faces, and that's the way it worked out, you know, but we tried to be careful. Uh. You know, I I just don't I don't know. I think that I think it's dumb if I wrestle you and then I tweet, hey, man, hell of a match. You're you're a good kid, blah blah blah. Really I just get the shit out of you. And now I'm saying, oh, thanks for putting me over do it with the guy almost that he had the

match with and said, why you tweeted? How you know they didn't do any flips they didn't do any of this, but they had one of the greatest matches in the night and blah blah blah, and he tags the guy and it's like you just were trying to kill him. Yeah, and you don't like him. Why are you tweeting at him?

But you've said you know that Shane didn't want you to sign autographs at one point, and then when he wasn't looking, it made me so sad because like those people would stay untill three four o'clock in the morning, and he was so mean. He was so mean. Like I don't know if you would like him back then. He's a different person now. He has really softened up since then. Like I think we speak the same language.

I think we would have found I don't know, like they there were times when I wanted to choke him back in the day. But yeah, I just remember always leaving and and they'd be standing there like with their signs and their poster boards and their their pictures, and they'd be like this, and I'd go like this and go get in a car and I'd be like, oh, you're terrible, You're that's awful, but you know, and I

would go sorry, sorry, sorry, that's so. I just heard a story from Kevin Nash on his podcast that Vince had gone to them at one point and said to the click like, can't ride together, especially you know Seawan and Razer they're in a program. They can't be riding together. And Shawn Michaels had a Shawn Michael's you know, huge blow up and said, I'm on the road three hundred

days a year. I should be allowed to ride with whoever the hell I want to ride with, because you mushould be to the limits and I just want to be with my friends. So he allowed it. But what Nash said they would do is sometimes who if it was two babyfaces in the front or two heels in the back, they duck down. Makes sense. That's how you get around driving out of the arena where you know.

I mean, I've been on the sides of the road while the wrestlers drive out of the arenas, and we've done just as many people on the outside we've done that. It would be like if I, you know, if I was in the car with Dreamer or something and we were again tcha, you know, I would have to duck my head or whoever is in the car you know, you would duck down when you were leaving, but then again, you're in the car for four hours. You know. I understand what Sean's saying, but for him to say it

to Vince is kind of ballsy. He's the only guy that could really like down talk Vince apparently over the years. So yes, hell half, no fury like a HBK talking to Vince McMath. I don't think it's a problem driving together. I just feel like, don't tweet it out right. You know, just well the nineties, you'd have to get a picture of them, run to the Kodak developer, and then get your pictures back six weeks later, and then find somebody. You could show a very blurry picture of somebody in

the back. You can barely see it. It's fuzzy, it's blurry, it's dark. You know what's funny? Too recently either, I think it was yesterday, Brian Myers put up a tweet about how him and ma Cardon are gonna take the tag titles from Heath and Rhino. But prior to that, he was just putting over how he's so excited to sit with me and Heath had sat him. Don't worry I'll sit between you guys to keep the peace. It's like you're fighting him, but we're all gonna sit together

at wrestle Gate like you know what I mean. It's like, I don't know, it's I know, it's silly, you know, But if you're gonna keep angling, Yeah, if you're gonna keep angles going like stick with either hating a guy or loving a guy like I don't know, don't flip flop, you know what I mean? Yeah, I agree, I don't know. Okay,

last last topic here for the freestyle. Uh, somebody, somebody just made their debut in ae W that has a lot of people talking, and only because it seems like when the last Days of Verse hit, there's gonna be one guy who's gonna find a wrestling promotion to get in to. And that's one double J Jeff Jarrett. I know, I saw that he's been in everything, but I don't think he's ever been in ECW. Well, so that's what

I was going to get to. So he makes a grand debut in AW is actually very cool the way they did it, and you know he was in WWE this year. He was he obviously wrestled Rick Flair's last match. Now he's in AW. He wrestled in GCW earlier this year. You know, he's been all over the map. He founded TNA, you know, wwf WCW ANDWA. He's been everywhere, but he never was in ECW. So let's go back to the nineties.

Let's put the old time machine in play. Take a guy like Jeff Jarrett, and I'll give you two choices. You have when he shaved his head and he had his guitar and he said, don't piss me off, Jeff Jarrett or the cowboy hat with the flashing lights, male stripper attire Jeff Jarrett. What do you think Jeff Jarrett would have done or how do you think he would have fared in ECW. I feel like if we used him with the flashing uh, the flashing lights and that song,

who sang that song? Was that? A? Yes? Was that? That was him? Not saying that right? It was road Dog. So I feel like he would have came in as a huge heel and he would have got booed out of the arena. Just because I don't want to call it cartoonish, but it's kind of Is corny the right word to use for that? Kind of a Yeah. So I feel like even if he was trying to be like a babyface, like an over country star, Uh, he would have got booed out of the buildings for just

being a ridiculous cowboy like that newbody cared about back then? Right, Yeah, the the classic w w F Jeff Jarrett would not have worked in e CW. But the pre WWF you know, super mega babyface in Memphis, Jeff Jarrett. Who actually know him in Memphis? Oh, I even just saw this for the first time. He had a dark match in nineteen ninety two with the WWF as the babyface Jeff Jarrett. Where you know, it's just the heel Jeff Jarrett in

regular ring attire, not the weird. I don't know what you would call that with like the like suspense, yeah, suspenders, right, just a regular old babyface worker Jeff Jarrett. How do you think that would have fared in ECW Like, how was he back then? Was he a good worker? Was a great babyface? F a fire? You know, got over? We had a lot of you know, if you could work then you would have got over with the crowd, right, I'm just talking about the gimmick like they would have

shipped on the gimmick. But if he came in no gimmick like Chris Candido. Chris didn't have a gimmick. I mean, no gimmicks need it, you know what gimmick? Yeah, but he just plain pants, you know, and then nothing flashy. He could work. He could at work everybody. So if you come in and you're talented, you'll get over. But you know, if you have some stupid ass, corny gimmick going for you, they're gonna shit all over you. Yeah, so you know, can you turn it around with your work?

Maybe you can. And then Paul might have said, you know, this gimmick's not working for you have to change it with to change something, you know what I mean. Yeah, I'm curious to see though, how that late nineties early two thousand's Jeff Jarrett would have fit the guy who

basically found a TNA. That character would have fit in NI c W because he could have probably been a real big top heel to that crowd, because they want to know the name, two know the history, right and the you know, shattering the guitar over people's heads, don't piss me off, you know, slap nuts, all that stuff, nuts, I have a feeling would have got over. Yeah, slap nuts would have been the chant going around the arena for sure. And I guess he never needed to come

through ECW. You know, he had so much success everywhere else that he went. I feel like you came into ECW for two reasons. You either needed a place to work because nobody else wanted you, or you were rusty and you wanted to pass through before making it to one of the bigger organizations, so you want to wet your feet a little bit and get some ring time in. Those are the only two reasons. I gotta tell you, I'm surprised he didn't pop up there at one point.

I would be. I would be very curious to know if when he left the WWF in ninety five before he got to WCW. But also remember he could always just go back to Memphis because of his dad and the connections the promotions they had running there. But I wonder if that was the time. If in ninety five he shows up, I think he just he would have been booed out of the building one because he had a lot of heat as a heel. But I just think that ninety five that character that crowd was not

going to be ready for Jet Jarrett at all. Yeah, but he's super successful. He's had success in every organization. I mean, it's and he's aging gracefully. He looks great. I just saw him again at the gathering and he looked fantastic. So, you know, we'll see what happens. Now, what are they going to do with them that? I don't know. I think he's a part of a group, you know, as as most people are in are going on there actions, you know. And that's the funny thing.

Two factions ECW, think BWO, Triple Threat, Raven's Nest, you know, the FBI, the Dudley's. You have a couple factions covering a smaller roster. But it's like everybody in Aw's got like ten people backing them up. It's like it's odd everybody has a gang. You know, nobody comes to the ring alone. There's always back up. It's a it's changed, the business has changed, you know. I don't know, am I am I too old to understand what's going on anymore? Or is I mean? I don't I don't I don't

get it. Once we captured me, once we put that Cando stick in your hands. Magical things happened. I don't remind me because I'm already thinking about next month and I'm getting so sick to my stomach i can't even well anyway, Well, we'll wrap it up here for today. The freestyle number three. That's right for the Queen of extreme. This is the Chad sir. We'll catch you on the

flip side. I'll be the first to tell you that martial arts training is one of the best forms of fitness, but it can be intimidating to start, and a lot of people don't know how to get started. Those fntique boxing gyms can be expensive, and sometimes you're not getting the best instruction. If you have kids, it makes all of this even more difficult. So allow me to introduce you to flight Camp, the interactive at home boxing. Fight Camp brings the best workouts in the world into your

home and makes it fun. Their workouts are great for beginners. Their training has decades of experience teaching boxing and kickboxing to you can be confident you're learning proper form and technique. They have thousands of workouts, so even more advanced people can find challenging workouts as well. Fight Camp workouts can

be done in as little as twenty minutes. They also have live punch counting stats that motivate you and help you to map out your progress, knock you out achievements, or go head to head against other members from across the country or across the living room. One of the best things about flight camp is that it makes boxing accessible well to everyone. No matter what fitness level you're at, what your age is, or what your experience with boxing is, you can do it and you're going to have a

great time. So no more excuses. It's time to join the biggest boxing community in the world without leaving your home. Fight Camp packages start at just ninety nine dollars. They even offer some great financing options so you can get started for as low as nine dollars a month. To get everything you need, just go to fightcamp dot com forward slash eyes up here to learn more. That's fight caamp dot com, Forward slash eyes up here and tell them that the Queen of Extreme Francine sent you