Original WWE NXT 2300 Plans For Francine Revealed

WWE NXT’s recent visit to the 2300 Arena saw many names from the legendary ECW make an appearance, with Francine being one of several ‘extreme icons’ in the building for the show.

The ‘Queen of Extreme’ made a cameo appearance from the crowd during the show on November 6, and on the Eyes Up Here podcast, Francine revealed she was originally set to be the guest referee for Lola Vice vs. Jaida Parker, but had to turn down the role:

“Because my core is so weak, just lifting myself up getting into the ring is slow. So, I was just like, well, I guess I’m not going to be able to do it,” said Francine, who underwent abdominal reconstruction surgery in 2019.

Dawn Marie ended up filling the special referee slot, with Francine subsequently offered a backstage interview segment, but also had to turn that down after losing her voice at ComicCon:


“I went to Rhode Island ComicCon for four days, and I talked, and I talked, and I talked, and I lost my voice. So on Tuesday, they sent me a script to be a backstage interviewer, and I go, ‘Ugh, I can’t do this either; My voice is shot,’” continued Francine.

Francine offered to stand aside as she could not do much, but WWE kept Francine on the broadcast with her cameo appearance:

“Would I have liked to have done more? Of course. 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. Like, I didn’t need any more than that. 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,” said Francine.

Francine was the valet of Shane Douglas and Tommy Dreamer (amongst others) during ECW’s initial run, and was briefly part of WWE’s relaunch of ECW in 2006.

H/T: F4WOnline

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