 Show: The Interactive
Interview
Guest: "The Queen of Extreme" Francine
Date: 6/03
Your Hosts: Daniel Edler & James Walsh
Transcript By: James Walsh
She's "The Queen of Extreme" and she's pissed!
In our recent interview with Jasmin St. Claire, things were said that Francine
took exception to. And, to clear her name and offer her side of the story,
the lovely one agreed to join us in an interview lasting 45 minutes!
NOTE: Francine was a regular guest-host on our
weekly live broadcast from June 2005 through May 2006. These shows are archived
within the interviews page though her name might not be listed as the
interviewee.
"THE QUEEN OF EXTREME" FRANCINE
-- Francine was a wrestling fan to a point. She would watch it with her nephews
but she only really became a fan in 1993 WWF. She got into ECW because it
was on Sports Channel in Philadelphia. She called up one night because she
felt she could do what she was watching. She had no idea about how hard the
work would be but she trained, got a spot on the roster, and feels it turned
out really well.
-- "Old Brown Eyes" J. T. Smith, the original member of the FBI, trained
her. She was the only girl with 4 guys being trained. This was before the
House of Hardcore was around.
-- She thinks the role of women in wrestling has evolved a lot since she
started. She was taught that if you learn to work, you'll have more job
opportunities. She says there are really no more "eye candy" girls but she
feels the more you can do, the more respect you'll get.
-- Stevie Richards was a fun guy. They both were relatively new in wrestling.
She feels they played off one another pretty well. The only thing she didn't
enjoy was when she sat in the stands because she says the Philly fans were
crazy at that time. She was just appreciative of the opportunity to be on
TV.
-- The infamous "original catfight" between Francine and Beulah was absolutely
horrible in her opinion.
-- She didn't like wearing the leather outfits because that style of living
just isn't her but it matched them. She feels a manager of a tag team isn't
as needed as a manager of a singles wrestler. She said it was a learning
experience and she is still learning to this day.
-- Shane Douglas was good to work with. She feels they were the heel team
for three years. She credits him for teaching her a lot.
-- In a recent edition of the Interactive Interview, Jasmin St. Claire joined
us giving us a rather unpleasant picture of Francine behind the scenes. We
bring up Jasmin's name and allow Francine to talk about the heat between
the two and she talks about her for quite some time. "I think she needs to
grow up and stop blaming others for her failures. She blames me for not working
when she was in ECW. She and I were friends in ECW. I wasn't the booker therefore
I had no control over whom he {Paul} booked and didn't book. I was told that
she was mainly brought in to do pictures for the website and that there was
no interest in her or Brian at that point." She goes on to say that she feels
when Brian (Meanie) lost his weight he lost his character and his draw. She
said he was a heavyset guy that could do one hell of a moonsault but thin
he just wasn't as much of a character. She says he is a good worker but he
lost something. She mentions that Jasmin and Meanie were only used on shows
that they could drive to and even some of those shows they weren't used.
-- The stint with Jasmin in TNA went as follows. Francine was talking to
Vince Russo and a guy came over to them and said Jasmin didn't want to get
her hair wet tonight. Vince Russo said, "You tell her that she's going to
do whatever I tell her to do." She says that she is not responsible for Jasmin
not being in TNA and says that if she (Francine) had enough pull to keep
Jasmin out, Francine herself would be on the show right now. She says that
the outburst by Jasmin is based on something called WrestleCom which Francine
and others are doing and the promoter told them point blank they weren't
interested in using her. She feels Jasmin can't take rejection so she blames
her for it. She says she's more than welcome to come but she {Francine} isn't
the booker so if they don't want her, she isn't to blame.
-- Francine mentions a magazine called New Wave Wrestling. Both Francine
and Jasmin got a 4-page spread a piece. One of the questions posed to Jasmin
was what the worst thing about the wrestling business is. Jasmin said the
worst thing about the wrestling business is people who get a break that haven't
worked for it at all mentioning that she has worked longer than Trish and
other WWE girls. Francine says she feels the statement is stupid and that
Jasmin is just making enemies left and right.
-- Francine would never work for 3PW saying she wouldn't work for someone
that makes idiotic statements about people that aren't true. Francine says
she always acts professional but feels Jasmin is not at all.
-- Francine thought TNN was a plus for the company at first but thinks ultimately
it wasn't. She had no idea that they would be the guinea pig for the WWE
to see if wrestling would draw on TNN. But, she always felt the Hardcore
TV show was far better than the Friday night TNN show. She talks about the
censorships being what lead to it's failure and said that they never promoted
the show properly so there was no way for it to be known. She compares the
commercial air for the WWE and ECW on the network saying that the WWE had
commercials on all day when they went and ECW had it maybe at 6 p.m. on Friday
night when they were on at 8. She says maybe it was 50/50 because they did
have a TV deal but they weren't really given a chance in the 11 months that
they were on TNN.
-- She enjoyed the "love triangle" gimmick between herself, Raven, and Dreamer
because it was the first time she was really given the opportunity to cut
promos and get mic time and that was something she hadn't really done a lot
of before. She tells a story about getting promos about five minutes before
she has to go out there and she had to remember what she was saying based
on no preparation.
-- On a recent edition of our show we had New Jack in an interview which
was widely talked about across the Internet for two different reasons. Francine
says that she knows New Jack very well and worked with him so she doesn't
know why he would get upset based on that [John Kronus] question. She then
says she heard the Heyman quote, which can be heard in full by clicking the
link at the bottom, and it was very funny. Francine does say that she doesn't
personally hate anybody that badly.
-- She said she knew ECW was in trouble when the checks started to bounce.
She said Paul made good on the first series of checks but not on others.
She says that they were doing four shows a week. She said it went from being
four shows a week to three, down to two, then one, then there was weeks off.
She then talks about the last weekend. "I never have seen so many grown men
cry before in my life."
-- Pine Bluff, the final ECW show, was horrible because she knew in her heart
it was the final show. "I was at ringside crying." She mentions that it was
the last time she saw a lot of those guys. She mentions that the worst part
of it was that Paul didn't even show up. She felt let down and feels they
did all they could as talent to make that company survive. She says she worked
there for seven years and feels there was just so much potential and all
of a sudden the rug was pulled from under then. She says she is happy for
everyone that works there.
-- The Indy scene does not compare to ECW. She says MLW does come close but
none of the other shows do. She also enjoys working for DCW. She says some
shows has an atmosphere where nobody talks to you. She talks about working
with people that don't know you and that you won't get to know and she feels
that is when it becomes a job and not fun.
-- She saw that Bob Ryder was involved in NWA TNA and emailed him. She sent
in a press package with an 8-minute video and photos and was booked for the
battle royal.
-- She laughs when asked what she thought of the battle royal. She says it
wasn't one of her high points. She says "I don't really want to be in my
bra and panties on television but if you want me to, I will."
-- She feels TNA should have used her as a manager to get more out of her
than they did. She says she respects the girls there now and that they are
"working their ass off."
-- She found out Paul Heyman would be on RAW the morning of that show and
knew that any chance of having that final pay per view, Living Dangerously,
was shot. She said she was glad he got a job but had no expectations of being
called to work for WWE.
-- As long as she is in wrestling, she will not release a book. She says
what she knows could get her in trouble if she told the story. But, she would
like to tell her funny road stories. She says you tend to lose your mind
when you are on the road with the same group of people for five days a week
and have fun so she thinks she could tell some great stories from that.
-- The problem with Shane Douglas stems from a court case that Shane was
involved in. She was issued a supine. But, she was not issued one the second
time. So, she didn't go the second time. A year later, Shane shoots on her
blaming her for not showing up. She feels that she didn't have to be there
the second time.
-- She tells a story about meeting Scott Hall in 1998. Hall wanted to see
an ECW event but Shane Douglas threw a fit about it. Hall asked how to get
tickets and Francine remarked that he had to stand in line with the rest
of the people. She says she "feels like a complete ass" for saying that.
She says she sat down Hall when he went to ECW in late 2000 and apologized.
She also issues an apology to Hall if he listens to the show or reads this
recap. She says she took everything Shane said to heart and says that Hall
is one of the nicest men she's met.
-- She feels that the situation between herself, Shane, and Jasmin is not
something she likes getting involved in and she wouldn't shoot on anyone
if they didn't "draw first blood" on her.
-- She has no idea why she wasn't brought back to TNA after the fifth program.
She said she was initially told it was money problems but she has no idea
now. She would love to return.
-- She feels Trinity is great saying, "God bless her, I couldn't do that."
She says she couldn't hold her own against a guy. Paul Heyman didn't like
female wrestling. But, she says she can give "one hell of a mixed match."
-- Rob Black was contacting her for a long time. She asked for videos of
their product to see what it was like and Rob sent her a DVD player and copies
of their shows so she could watch them. She said they talked a lot about
the Heatwave incident. "As for me working for them, I really have no intentions
of doing that."
-- On going to the WWE: "Right now, I'm really not interested. I'm at a point
where I don't want to be on the road 5 days a week. Maybe if they brought
the female manager back."
-- She wants to see MLW grow into the next ECW. She says she gets that feeling
when she does MLW events that she got with ECW. She'd like to see them do
more than one show per month.
-- She associates closest to Stephanie McMahon in terms of her own character.
"Sometimes I noticed she gets some of the same "crack whore" chants I used
to get." She feels every woman in the WWE adds something but she doesn't
watch much these days. She'd rather watch a good Indy tape and feels that
those guys are working so hard and trying new things and "is not some rehashed
angle from two years ago."
-- She thanks her fans for sticking by her even though she hasn't been on
TV for a while and can't thank them enough for continuing to support her
through her website, ForeverFrancine.com.
Plus, Word Associations with names like Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn, Elektra,
Paul Heyman, Raven, & a hysterical wrap up show!
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