Francine REVEALS original plans for WWE NXT appearance

how are you doing? Do you have anything to add to this conversation.

is always a pleasure. Bubba and Devon just you know, good dudes for my brothers. It was. It was just a great time. And thanks to Signed by Superstars for bringing me into that one. It was a long one, but it was fun. You know. We had a really good time. Got to go to dinner with Bubba, Divon, Me, Betty, Matt Hardy a couple of times, hung out with him and uh, you know it was It was a lot of work. The hours were very long, but we got

to hang out afterwards. And I don't get to see Bubba and Devon that much, so that was a treat for me to spend you know, that time with them. So it was it was a good time. But even prior to that, let's go back, what two three weeks something like that. Yeah, I was sitting at home. I don't even know what day it was. I have all the text messages to.

know the number, everybody's always like, oh, what's WWA? Call it a Stamford, Connecticut berberber. You know what I mean. We all you know, we always pop nine times out of ten. It's always a telemarketer or wrong number or something like that. So when I saw my phone ring, I said, I was by myself. I just popped myself. I was like, Oh, must be WWE calling for something.

Well guess what that time it was WWA. So John Cone, who I knew back in two thousand and six with the fake ec du talent relations, such a nice man. I liked him back in two thousand and six, always got along and I'm a perfect gentleman, very sweet. It was him, and he had called he had got my number from Brian Myers, who is a friend of mine. We all know that and we're gonna put the actual text messages up when we do the YouTube, so I don't get any haters telling me I'm lying or I'm

fabricating the truth. But initially they had contacted me because they were working NXT was working the ECW arena in a couple of weeks, and he wanted to run something by me, and I was being very cautious. I'm like, this is a rib who's ribbed me? Who you know? Blah blah blah. But it wasn't a rib. But I had asked what is this in reference to? And then he started explaining everything. You can see these text messages, and I guess I should read it because we're on,

you know, for people listening on iHeart. The initial text message was Hi, Francine, this is Jan Kuhne from WWE Talent Relations. We crossed paths back in two thousand and six when I was a referee for the relaunch of ECW. I have something I want to run by you if you have a minute. I wrote, Hi, John Hipball as well. Man. I asked what this is in reference to, and I remembered exactly who John was. He said on Wednesday, November third, NXT will be running a show at the ECW Arena.

We'd like to know if you would be available to be a special guest referee for one of the matches. It would be with NXT talent Jada Parker and Lulla Vice. And then he writes the compensation will be blah blah blah. I wrote back, really, why me because at this point he didn't say anything about the ECW connection. He just said it would be at the ECW Arena, So I was curious, like, why me? On n XT show it didn't make any sense. I also said, November third is

a Sunday, not a Wednesday. He said, sorry, it's Wednesday, November sixth at the ECW Arena. He said, we want this to be kind of a celebration of ECW and a crossover with NXT. The writers came up with some ideas on how to do that, and your name came up. Then he says, we also have and he gives me a list of names confirmed and he's reaching out to a few more. Then he puts more names. I'm not going to mention because some people came through and some

people didn't, he said. He left them messages and I said, okay, I have to talk to my husband. Blah blah blah. May I contact you tomorrow? Have it repped in years, I'll need to buy a ref outfit. Not thinking at the time of my stomach and the problems that I've been encountering. Right, So he said, absolutely, call me your text anytime. It should be a really fun show. I said, okay, let me talk to him. I appreciate you guys thinking

of me. I'll be in touch. I then talked to my husband and he's like, did you not forget about the five surgeries that you've had on your abdominals? And I was like, well yeah, And he's like, do you really think that you can be quick enough with the way these girls work? Because these girls are good. Let me just tell you these girls can work, right, He's like, do you think you can get down and you know, make the false finishes and then run around. We didn't

know what kind of match it was. It ended up being a hardcore match and all this stuff. And I was like, you know what for me now because my core is so weak, just lifting myself up getting into the ring is slow. And we've talked about this before. When I do the reunion shows and stuff. How we're all like a little bit slower than we were with her. So I was just like, well, I guess I'm not

going to be able to do it. So I contacted john the next day and I told him here's my problem, and I went on to explain what I had to my stomach, blah blah blah. He wrote, good morning, no problem, we can do something different. Let me talk to Creative and get back to you. Then I pitched an idea about me being a timekeeper guest timekeeper, and I thought of a spot that I can do with one of the guys on the card. He said, thanks for the suggestion,

he'll send it to Creative. Then I get a text the following Tuesday, did Johnny Russo get with you about tomorrow? This is the night before. I hadn't heard anything for like two weeks, so I'm kind of like sitting there thinking, well, I'm booked, I think, but I have no idea what I'm doing at this time. I went to Rhode Island Comic Con for the four days, and I talked and I talked and I talked and I lost my voice.

So on Tuesday, they send me a script to be like a backstage interviewer, and I go, ugh, oh, man, I can't do this either, shot right because it was bad. It was bad. And he's like, did Johnny Russo get with you about tomorrow? And then how cute he sends me directions to the twenty three hundred arena. It's horrible, okay, 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 o'clock, the night before the arena. So

he goes, I'll reach out to them now. I'm sorry about that, I said, no worries. He rates, Johnny's supposed to reach out to you. If you can arrive around one o'clock tomorrow, that would be great. Please text me when you arrive and I'll meet you. So I had talked to Guido because I'm a horrible driver. Everyone who knows me knows that I am the shits at driving. I can with that. I do hate driving, especially at night. I can't really see that well at night. I'm not

a good driver. So I didn't want to drive alone. So I contact Wido. No problem, meet me at exit, blah blah blah, we'll get it done. So I was like, okay. So his call time was at noon, so we were gonna meet at eleven. So I was already getting there super early, which was fine. Johnny Russo, who is a

very nice man, got to meet him, lovely person. He calls me at ten o'clock or texts me at ten o'clock right with the script for the backstage stuff, and I type back Johnny, I am so embarrassed to I have no voice, Like I don't have a voice, and it just wasn't gonna work. And I you know, and you'll see the text messages, but I literally say to them, if you want to pull me off the show, I totally understand, like no heat, because this is on me, Like I can't I can't work really what they the

way they want me to? I can't talk? So what am I going to do? You know? I have no idea? And a couple of the boys were like, you can sit in the front row. That's what they do with a lot of the legends. They just put them in the front row. I said, well, you know, do they really want to pay me the same amount to I don't know. So I tell him and he says, uh, hold on, now I have to go to Johnny's messages.

Oh I'm sorry. Prior to this, they make me cut a promo, a thirty second promo, put it on socials and that's how I announced that I was going to be at the show. At that point is when it first happened, like the two, three weeks ago whatever it was, so I had my voice. I was fine. I was like, Okay, I'm going to do something. This is great. Everybody saw the promo, they retweeted it. It was it was good. You know, it was a.

make it work, don't worry. So I did offer to stay home, but at that point they had put out the opening and they put me into opening this show. I guess it was too late to pull me. I don't know, or they they thought I should be there, which you know, I was appreciative of that. So when I got to the building, it was eleven twenty or my call time was one, so super duper early. Me and Weido pull up John. We text John. John comes out, exchanged pleasantries and there's a camera crew and they video

Guido and I going into the building. I'm trying to save my voice, so Guido's doing all the talking and I'm just pulling my bag behind him, and they videotape us going inside and everything, and the arena has changed so much, you know since we've worked there before. So as soon as we went in from the back, hair and makeup took up the whole back of the the arena. So I'm looking around. I'm the only girl there so far, So I said, can I jump in the makeup chair

and get it over there? Because there were like, there was a ten girl thing, there was tag team, there were so many women there, and I said, I don't want to have to fight for a spot later. No one's here. So I went up to hair and making and I was like, would you ladies mind like starting a couple of minutes early, and they were so accommodating. Oh no, sweetheart, sit in a chair. It's great. I

got to know them. We you know, exchange pleasantries. And as I'm sitting there, Sewn Michaels walks in and I was like, I have to say hi to him. He's the head hauncho and blah blah blah. Such a nice exchange between him and I. He said, we appreciate you coming today, thank you for being here, and I said thank you for including me in this weird voice, and

he's looking at me like, oh, okay. I don't know if he got the memo that my voice was shot, but I did get to see him later on and I was telling him, you know, we were in Japan together, and he kind of looked at me and he goes, oh, yeah, I remember, and I'm thinking, nay, you don't. I don't think you do. But I did say to him, I apologize for my voice being late this and his response was you can just stand there and look pretty, and the nineteen year old in me squealed Sean. I loved

Sean when I was nineteen, so I was squealing. But I. You know, My point was they were just so accommodating to me. So I had to mention all of this because looking back at socials now and seeing like some of the old school fans mad and you know, saying, well, they could have did something more with you than just stuck you in the crowd. Yes, they could have, but it was me who couldn't do it. So I just

wanted to make that perfectly clear. Would I have liked to have done more, of course, you know, I would have loved to have had an entrance and walked to the ring and did something. It just wasn't in the cards for me. But just being included was enough for me. Like I didn't need any more than that, you know, it was it was fun. I got to meet so

many great people. The girls were so nice. Some of them had on ecw attire, which I thought was adorable, and I'm like, you weren't even born when we were around, you know what I mean, And like I was telling them, you know, I started in this building like thirty one years ago, and they were like wow, you know, they were very very they seemed appreciative that I was there, but they were also very nice. I didn't see any caddie, you know, with the NXT roster, like, everybody seemed to

get along and they can work their asses off. The talent is amazing there, and they all have really good attitudes, so it was very, very nice to just talk to some of them and get to know them a little bit. I followed I noticed some of them were following me on social so I followed a couple of them back, and who knows, I mean, it's you never know where you're going to see each other down the road. So it was real nice to watch how they put the show together. You know. There was one promo where it

was the five girls. They were in front of a couch. It was the Babyface team and I was sitting right you couldn't see me, but I was watching them shoot these promos the whole time, and it was giving me flashbacks to when we were downstairs and we were shooting our promos. Granted it was four in the morning, but

that's a different square all together. But just the way that they, you know, put the show together, and everyone from production to office to the talent, like everyone was really really just seemed happy that the legends of ECW were there. Very very nice crew, so I couldn't say enough about it now. It was a very long day. I was extremely tired by the end of it because you know, getting there at twenty after eleven. I think I got home at eleven ten thirty eleven, So it

was Yeah, it was a lot. It was almost a twelve hour day when you're there, a lot of sitting around, a lot of waiting. Plus I did not eat for thirty six hours. I was fasting one because I didn't want my stomach to be super weird and super bloated from you know, the foods that they had, because they had a beautiful catering offering for the guys and the girls there. And number two, you never want to go to the bathroom at the ECW, So I decided I'm not going to eat, So I didn't eat for like

the thirty six hours. I was just sipping my water and you know, just hanging out. But I'm really glad that I got to do it, and my nerves were bad leading up to it, but it all worked out in the end. It always works out in the end. Like my husband says, it's just there. I am, Yeah, are we allowed to show this? I don't know. I mean, you're gonna do your gimmick on it. You missed them announced me? What the hell's wrong with you? Crowd starting a nice little e c W champ. I was see.

I thought my name was going to be announced in the building. So I'm sitting there. First of all, they walked me out. It was pitch dark. I didn't know what section I was in, right, They just led me to this empty seat and I'm waiting because usually, like on the pay per views, I I thought that they announced in the buildings. But they don't do that. They don't announce you. They don't I announce you with the announced team for TV. That's all right, And I didn't

know that. So the the cameraman's in front of me and he's letting me know, okay, you got a minute to come back from commercial. You have thirty seconds. And so then he points to me and I'm sitting there waiting for my name, and he's like, stand up, and I go what because give up? I go now? He goes yes, So I stood up and didn't hear it. So I said, well what do I do? I said, I'll start an ec D up cham.

placement and their production equipment. How did they cram all that into that arena?

because there was a monitor. Yeah, there was a monitor where we were sitting, because I was sitting with Divon and there was a monitor. And when you walked maybe twenty not even twenty steps, that's where the agent sat, and there was like two monitors there and there was some kind of I don't know, bord in front of them or something that they were using for the show because they were doing the show, so that was like right there. But then behind me was like hair and

makeup and whatever else. I know. Once I was done with hair and makeup, they grabbed me to do my vitals and I had to go in this room. I never even knew it was there, So I mean, I'm assuming like when they broke the walls down, this little room popped up and they made me do my blood They took my blood pressure. They put the little gimmick on my finger for my heart rate and my oxygen, and my blood pressure is always one twenty over eighty, and that day it was not. The bottom number was

too high. Then my pulse was at my thing was at one oh six, which was high. So the guy's looking at me and he's like, are you nervous? And I was just like, well, right now, no, I'm very relaxed. I said, uh, but I was anxious to come today. Uh So, like I had to be on holding. They had to hold me until everything dropped or else I wouldn't have been able to go out there. And I said, listen, let's just talk a minute. I said, uh, I'm not doing anything really, but sitting in the crowd, I said,

are you going to fail me? I's like, no, we're not going to fail you. He's like, but you need to come down and I was like, oh. So I sat there for maybe fifteen minutes or so, and then he's like, well, you should really go to a doctor and check. Like I'm always perfect like this, it must be this environment because I'm fine usually like this is you know, I guess my heart rate was a little elevated.

Just it was just a little overwhelming, you know what I mean, Like I didn't know who I was gonna meet and what was gonna happen and blah blah blah. But you know, once I and then I just like after I saw the doctor, I went out and I watched the rehearsals and I got to meet some of the guys that were in charge and all this stuff. And that's where I saw Sean for the second time, and I got to speak to him a little longer.

And then they started taking pictures of like me and Steve Corino, me and Rhino, anybody that was in the area. We would they would say, can we get a quick picture. They made me go on the ramp take picture, like on the ramp, stuff like that. So but to answer your question, I think they just shoved stuff in where there were openings, like for all their equipment, because there was stuff everywhere. It was everywhere. But the end result I think looked beautiful.

have been for it. Monitors even I don't even know how many monitors, but we had like the one and then there was I don't know if it was I was sitting at one point and that's the fit Finley. I don't know if it was him or somebody else. But when they would go to commercial, our monitor would just turn to black, and somebody goes, didn't you pay the bill here at the arena or something whole hall? You know, But I, you know, I never really looked at how it was ran when I was there before.

I just didn't take the time. But I had so much time on my hands. On Saturday, I was just wandering around and I happened to look and just at the boards, and you know, they were filing people like if you watch the show, they took them the different locations around Philly to get those promos that they did. So they were doing that throughout the day. And then at one point I saw like all of the writers

and the agents like I met. I met a bunch of the agents and then the writers and they were like in a line, and I saw them all following each other. There were buses outside, so I don't know some of the talent dressed on the bus. I don't know who was on the buses. I don't know, because we didn't like there was this when you went up the steps, they separate talent females from males, and I don't know if it's like a because of well, I guess they always did it that way, like in ECW

you can room free. Like if I needed something, I would just knock on the door and walk right in. But not one male ever came into the locker room when I was there, except for when they were shooting that promo with the couch that I talked about, and they made it sure as everybody dresses, everybody okay, blah blah blah, and then they came in, but we never saw I never saw any male talent the whole time

I was in the female locker room. I didn't see they were on the opposite side in their room, or they were outside on these buses, and everything was like kind of blocked off with arrows like female talent here, male talent here, production here, you know whatever it said. So I don't know. I was just following signs and just wandering around trying to occupy my time.

that kind of stuff. So I thought all the girls did a great job, and the guys as well, Like a lot of the guys were talking to me in the back and saying they were fans of BCW, and you know, it was just fun. It was fun to get to know them a little bit and see them work so nice.

know what I mean. Do you think this is how ECW would have evolved had ECW been around, was to be like NXT because you had a little bit of everything, And we always talk about this is how ECW kind of was. If you look really deep, there was a little bit of everything. And when you looked at this show, you had your legends, yes, because it was obviously the tribute, but then you had some of these guys doing these

amazing moves and these high flying spots. But then you also had hardcore and you had these you know, trash cans and Kendo sticks and this and that. So when I saw that as a criticism, maybe that, oh ECW wasn't like NXT. Do you think maybe it kind of was if it was around today and had stayed ECW.

So I'm sure Paul or whoever else would be running in in twenty twenty four would have to start using female wrestlers because I mean, it's the trend right now. They main event at the show. It's hot, you know, people love to see the females work and they're good at what they do. They can hang with the guys. So I think if ECW was still around today, that's the one thing that would be implemented in there would be a female division for wrestling because we just didn't have that back then.

a WWE run production. And I think that's the difference maker is if, Okay, if I have the choice to watch A or B and A is a WWE production, if you're a longtime fan, I think you're gonna go A. But remember this as well. You were on the CW. You were not on Sci Fi or USA or a cable network.

vision of ECW. If you look back to everything that they've done, they tend to use the same people over and over again, and I think this time was a little sprits of maybe a couple people that you would say hey, because everybody in the comments it's like, oh my gosh, haven't seen her in forever. I'm like, well, I'm kind of still around, but I haven't been on TV. You know, I haven't been on TV in years, and so to pop up it was nice and it was nice to be included, is what I'm trying to say.

So you know, I did didn't think I would be I didn't ask for it, but they contacted me so that that was very, very nice and humbling, and I was just happy to be a part of it. And that's all I can say about it.

makes the sign of the Cross. To watch that one, it was so fun, just everything was just so fun to watch because I watched the show from the beginning and to the end, and I thought it was a really well put together show and I thought it was a great tribute to us as well, and again just really really happy to be a part of it. There's nothing else I can say. It was. It was a great day.

It was just like in Unison. We all kind of looked at each other and we were like, wow, because we're in that building, we're at the ECW arena, you're hearing the music. We know we're going out there, and it's like, what year is this? Like ECW will never ever die. We're never gonna die. We might die physically, but that company is never gonna die ever. And I

don't want it to. I don't want it to because then Okay, so then after that, I was home for a day and then I got picked up and me the Sandman, Todd and Tyler went to uh Long Island and we did the big event and in our row it was all E C. Dub It was Me, Todd Hack, Steve Corino, Jerry Lynn, Shane Douglas. I saw Kimona there.

We were all Bubba Devon, we were all in like the same line, and we were like, this is the E CW line, this is this is all of us, and we were just there having such a good time and hanging out and I mean, yeah, which now I feel so bad. Bubba Tech Bubba and I had a conversation and He's just like sometimes I kind of feel left out and I'm like why, and he's like, because you guys take these pictures and I'm never in them.

And I totally forgot. His table was maybe six tables down and they grabbed us and just started taking pictures. And I should have went and got Bubba. So after I put that up on Twitter, Bubba goes, see this is what I'm talking about. I was like, oh my god, I said, from now on, I'm gonna grab you in, Devon for sure, because it's so quick, you know what I mean? Like this, we that group, we were all sitting together.

hanging out, so we all took a picture. So but again, when I get to do these things and hang out with these guys. And it was so nice because Steve Carino and I reconnect it through this, and we exchanged phone numbers and now we're going to try to, you know, meet up for a Disney day because I was very close with Steve back in the day and you kind of lose touch with people. But you know, now we found each other again. So I said, well, you're not going to get rid of me this time, and He's like, no,

it's going to be great. So it's it was nice. It's nice to just reconnect with people. I'm blessed. I'm so happy to have these guys as my friends and my brothers. And I don't know, I can cry just thinking about it. I was really happy this week.

they won't let me back there. So I was like, oh, could you imagine we go try and go back there, and they're like denied. I would feel so cheap, like, So we never went back there. We never call him just it just wasn't in the cards for us. He never came from behind that curtain, and they had like I guess security or someone blocking That's what I was told.

So I was just like, well, and like the boys were like, we're not going back there, and I didn't want to go by myself, and I was afraid they were going to say no. I would have been mortified. So yeah, I didn't see him. I didn't see him.

don't know. I think we we a lot of us want to go to dinner, drinks, do something fun. It'll be a great weekend, pressel Caid's a great weekend and we're pretty excited about it. And I know you have a guest that you're gonna bring.

So I cannot wait.

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