ECW's Francine (Wrestling World - Febuarary 2001)
by Mike Greenblatt

   After Francine showed her strenght, bravery, beauty and blood at ECW's
New York City Hammerstein Ballroom debut, she once again, for the second
week in a row, hurt herself. But she's use to it. And, as you'll see from
the no-holds-barred interview, she has quite a lot to say about women's
wrestling, her competitors, and the way she allows her body to be totally
abused in the ring.

Wrestling World: You were good Saturday! You really knew how to react to
those tough New York fans who were hooting and booing you. Talk about heat!

Francine: I had a concussion Saturday, too. I hit the back of my head, and
suffered a big gash. I was suppose to to get stitches but I never got 'em.

WW: Man, I saw that and it looked like you were reallyhurt but I couldn't
tell.

F: I tried this new move on Steve Corino. It went for the ring apron to the
floor. But hit my head on the ring post, I'm not sure. They said I had a two
inch gash. I bled really bad, and got knocked out for a little bit. Do you
remember the spot where they fixed the table sideways and Corino and Justin
[Credible] were brawling? Well, they came over when I was standing on the
ring apron so I ran and wrapped my legs around Corino's neck and flipped him
over to the floor. That was when I got hurt. I wasn't lnocked out cold but,
again, it's the second week in a row I got knocked out.

WW: I know. YOu just broke your nose last weekend and suffered a concussion.

F: I havn't seen the tape of it yet, but that was Rhino and Sandman. Sandman
went for a Frankensteiner move on Rhino. I pulled Sandman's foot and instead
of going forward into the ring, they fell out of the ring onto the concrete
and, as they were falling, I was kicked in the face by Sandman and he broke
my nose. I mean, I think it was sandman. I don't exactly know. It was the
bridge of the nose, actually.

WW: And you didn't get it fixed?

F: No.

WW: Why?

F: I had a doctor look at it. He told me it wasn't so bad. The nose didn't
shift. That was a good sign. Hey, if the nose was crooked, it would've had
to  have been rebroken and rebuilt surgically. But it wasn't and there's
nothing you can do exceptlet it heal by itself. So that's what I've been
doin', but it blew up again after Saturday 'cause I got knocked in the face
like four times. I tried to avoid it but it's kind of hard 'cause you never
know what's going to happen.

WW: Damn! YOu are sure one tough cookie. That was an excellent card on
Saturday.

F: Thank you. Friday night was great, too. We had a really good weekend.

WW: My wife ran upstairs afraid of getting bled on! It was when BIlly Corgan
of The Smashing Pumpkins ran in the ring and belted Lou Dangerously over the
head with his guitar. That was so cool.

F: He bled pretty bad. All over me!

WW: It was totally sureal. The match between Corino and Credible was raging
- best match of the night, by the way - and Dangerously was crawling around
outside the ring on his hands and kneeswith blood just pouring from his head
and mouth.

F: He called me after he got stitched up the next dayto tell me he needed
seven stitches, 'cause his head would just not stop bleeding. I told him,
"You had great color." [laughs] When he came out of the ring I was standing
there, and my whole right arm was covered in his blood. He just bled like a
pig! There was a lot of stuff goin' on that night! But thank God, again, like
I said before, with my nose, it could've been a lot worse. So what? I dot
dizzy, I got back up, and I worked. That's what everybody does. It could've
been worse, but I have a really bad headache from it now. Hell, I'll live,
but I'm lookin' forward to some time off!

WW: You deserve it. Give us a little bit of your history.

F: I've been a wrestling fan in Philadelphia since I was a litle girl. One
day I was watching television, flipping the channels, and ECW came on.
Tuesday at 6 pm. The original show. They had a commercial saying if you
wanted to be a manager, referee, or wrestler, to go to their school. I was
such a big fan that I decided to give them a call and see if I had what it
takes to do this. Tom Gordon was in charge then. I called him, met with him,
and enrolled myself in wrestling school! It was me and four other guys and I
was the only one who emerged with a contract. I havn't seen any of those guys
ever since. I trained for about seven months and they put me on television.
It's been seven years now. I was fortuntate. I had JT Smith, part of the
original FBI, training me. He doesn't wrestle much anymore, and he's not
with the company, but I owe a lot to him, 'cause he told me a lot of things.
Plus, I learned every day that I worked. I'm still learning. It's great I
have such good people to work with.

WW: What were your biggest obstacles coming up?

F: It's hard being a woman in the sport. Some guys don't think women belong
in the locker room, and at the time there were a couple of them, I'm not
going to mention names, who forced me to earn their respect. But once I
started working - 'cause at the time Sherri Martel was really the only woman
actually bumping, doing what the men were doing - I wanted to take Sherri
Martel and throw Nancy Sullivan's sexiness into me character. I wanted to
bump but look halfway decent doin' it. So that's the character I've built up.
But, at the time, none of the women were really doing that, so I just told
[ECW prez] Paul [E. Heyman] to bump me as much as you want, and every night
I went there and took a beating, and went through a table, and started
gaining everybody's respect. After that, they all thought of me as one of the
boys. I wouuldn't have had it any other way. It taught me a lot. I learned a
lot from the veterans I worked with.

WW: Which males made you earn their respect at the start?

F: I'd rather not say. Everybody was basically nice to me in the beginning,
but it's just the fact that a lot of the women in the sport at that time were
just eye candy, and for me to go out and get my ass kicked every night, I
just earned everybody's respect. A lot of women can stand there and look
pretty, but not a lot of women can do what the girls in ECW can do. Nowadays
it's a different story, but back when I started, I was one of the first women
to do the table spot from the top rope, and now the Dudley Boyz grab every
woman that the WWF has - and more power to the women for doing it - but I did
it five years ago. It certainly wasn't common back then. Kudos to all the
women doing it now, because I feel women should be more involved than just
standing there and lookin cute. Women can do a lot more and I'm finally glad
that everbody is coming out and starting to do stuff so that's really good.
Once I had everybody's respect I had no problems whatsoever.

WW: The women's role has changed in wrestling. For instance, there's no
women's champ in the ECW.

F: No, we don't ha~e a women's division. We probably never will.

WW: Why?

F: Paul and I have talked about this many times. He thinks women-on-women
wrestling doesn't sell as well as the occasional cat fight or gimmick match.
I know wrestling with women is real big in Japan and they take it very
seriously. In the states, I think that more valets getting involved is a
bigger draw than two women actually wrestling.

WW: It's a marketing decision, basically.

F: Exactly. Hey, if it works for [WWF prez] Vince [McMahon], that's great.
We do a lot of mixed tags in ECW. We really don't do one-on-one with women
too often, just 'cause I think the fans want to see more of women rollin'
around on the floor or doin' one big high spot than goin' in and doin a
stupid gimmick match. There's a lot of stuff right now in the WCW and WWF
that the women are doin', and again, I give them credit for goin out and
doin' stuff, but it's ridiculous, and some of the moves, it doesn't really
tell a story. It's mechanical, In my opinion. It's not real women's
wrestling. And I give Stephanie [McMahon-Helmsley] credit for goin' in there
and learn how to do moves and stuff, and I'm glad that Lita's champion now
'cause I had a chance to work with her, and she's really talented. Now, if
they got somebody in there like an Ivory or a Tori or a Luna Vachon, then
you could have really good matches, but these little four minute things with
all the interference and stuff, it doesn't make a woman's wrestling match
to me.
   And l'm not putting anybody down, but I feel Stephanie and these other
women are better off in roles as managers. Stephanle, I gotta say, is the
best heel in the business right now. She has mic skills, she can go in there,
she does her spots, and I think that, in my eyes, I would rather see someone
like Lita be a champion, 'cause Stephanie doesn't need a belt to get heat,
all she does is open her mouth! And that's one of the things that I'm blessed
with too. I can get cheered for having this little tiny outfit on, but as
soon as I open my mouth, they boo me.

WW: You really know what to say back to them alright!

F: And so does Stephanie. We all have our talents. I'm not saying she wasn't
a good women's champion, I'm saying she's better off being the role of
manager, no matter who they're going to put her with. And Lita's better off
now wrestling.

WW: As much as I love to lust after Stephanie, she was a terrible champion,
making a mockery of that belt. Hell, the WWF made a mockery of that belt
earlier when they had a man be women's champion! It's the same as the mockery
they made of the hardcore title with that stupid 24/7 rule. Those titles mean
little now. Maybe Lita can restore that belt back. And what about you? You
can obviously wrestle.

F: I prefer managing. It's just something I choose to do. Now, every once in
a while I'll surprise folks, like with the spot I did Saturday night. Nobody
expected me to do something like that. Everybody worked really really hard
in that Corino/Credible match. The fans were into everything they did. And
for me to be a part of it, and for them to let me do what I did, it was just
such a big night for all of us. I felt so proud. I had told them what my
intentions were as far as my spot and they said no problem. We did it. It
worked. It's great when you have people who listen to you.

WW: It would've been nice if you could've got away without a concussion, of
course.

F: Yeah, well, y'know, it was a mishap, I hit my head, I got knocked for a
couple seconds, I got up, I shook it off, I had more stuff to do, and you
keep doin' it, and that's part of wrestling. If you can't handle pain, you
shouldn't be in the ring, y'know? And I know every time I walk through those
ropes that I could break a leg, or god forbid something worse happens, but
these injuries are minor, So I'll keep doing it. Some girls, they try, but if
you come out looking like t&a, they might cheer you, but it's when you have
enough skill to turn the crowd around, then you can wear what you want, and
still get your heat. That's something I learned from working with Shane
Douglas, 'cause he was great on the microphone. And from Paul Heyman. It's
all in the way you present yourself, and I present myself in a way that
everybody seems to hate, so it works out really good.

WW: What's in your future? What can we look forward to in ECW?

F: Well, you're going to think this is a lie, buf this is a total shoot. I
don't know any plans for the future. For this weekend, I didn't find out
anything until I got to the building. The matches were announced but we don't
know anything until the last minute, and that's how Paul works. All I know is
this weekend I have off, so I'm going to rest up, but as for the next loop of
shows, have no clue what we're doing and that's honest.

WW: Take us through a typical card.

F: I go to the building. If I want to practice something I put my sweats
on, I get in the ring, I practice. If not, I have a little bit of time to
socialize. I'll go, get dressed, put my makeup on and sit there until I'm
called. When I'm called, that's when I know what's goin' on. There's no
scripts to read, no clue what I'm doing. I get my verbiage a minute before
I walk out the curtain. Everything's really last minute.

WW: Do the wrestlers stay in the backstage area and watch the matches and
comment on them when the other guys come back, or do they do their stuff and
just go home?

F: No no no, we stay from the beginning until the end. If it's a TV taping,
we have a monitor set up in the back that we all sit around and watch. We
study each match. We applaud them when they come through the curtain, 'cause
we know if they do good, the company does good. Which means I do good, so
it's a win-win situation. We want everybody to do their best because it's a
team effort and that elevates the company to the next level. Nobody leaves
until after the show is over. And if you have promos, you might stay until
2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Last weekend in New York City, some of us didn't
get out until 3:00. We did location shots at the Coyote Ugly bar, in Times
Square, in Cenfral Park. Sometimes we're at an arena from 3 PM to 4 PM. You
can't just do your match and leave that's not something we do here. So it's
a very long day. All you see is us working for 15 minutes and you think
that's it, but by the time we drive and and get to the building and eat and
stuff, we're putting in 14 hour days.

WW: That thing with the cops at the end of the show was hilarious. Was that
a work or a shoot? I couldn't tell.

F: I don't know. All I know is I was backstage and the place just exploded
with cops. Hey, it happens. We've had scuffles with the police before. But
my head was cut open at the time and I was with the medics.

WW: Are you married?

F: Single, with a boyfriend for over two years.

WW: What do you like to do outside wrestling?

F: Basically, I'm the type to stay in, rent movies, relax. I don't go to
clubs. I don't drink or smoke. I spend a lot of time with my family. We all
live within six miles of each other. I have a really large family, and I miss
a lot of Sundcay dinners with them so when I can, I like to get together with
them and just relax. I also like to work on my website www.francineecw.com.

WW: Tell me about the feud with XPW during the ECW taping in Los Angeles.

F: There is no feud. It's them.

WW: I understand you were yelling at Kristi Myst from the ring.

F: Whatever her name is, yeah. It was all so ridiculous. The bottom line is
it's not even worth commenting on. They came to our show. They paid money
to sit in the front row to watch a wrestling program. The main event comes
out and the girl takes off her shirt and tries to get attention. They get
escorted out of the building. That was that. There was no altercation.

WW: What about in the parking lot afterwards?

F: I wasn't there. I was in the ring at the time. But I was told the XPW guys
swung first. For them to make a comment "Oh, you came into our territory" is
ludicrous. We travel all over the country! We're not gonna stop going to LA.
And we wouldn't stop them from doing a show in Philadelphia! I don't even
want to comment on it any further. It's just stupid. They showed a lack of
class and a total lack of respect for the business.