Francine Explains Origins Of Her ECW Career

Francine then met with Tod Gordon, the founder of ECW who would soon be replaced by Paul Heyman. According to the future wrestler, the first things Gordon said to her were that she was attractive and would never have to take bumps because of it. Training began immediately, and when Francine’s first practice match rolled around, the performer said she was so nervous that she vomited afterwards. However, it wasn’t long before she was directed away from an in-ring role.

Advertisement

“That’s when Paul Heyman was just coming into the company,” Francine stated. “They told me to go to this one show in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, where I was going to be a beauty pageant winner, and they were gonna call me Ms. Montgomeryville.”

For that show, Francine served as ECW’s “guest timekeeper” before taking a chokeslam from one of the wrestlers. From then onward, Francine served as a valet within ECW, with Heyman telling her that women’s wrestling “[did] not sell” at the time.

In addition to her work managing ECW stars like Stevie Richards, Shane Douglas, and Tommy Dreamer, Francine did go on to wrestle occasionally. Following the closure of ECW in 2001, she continued working as a valet and wrestler in TNA as well as various independent promotions until Francine was brought into WWE for a short stint in 2005 and 2006.

Advertisement

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Briscoe and Bradshaw” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.