November 12, 2024 • 53 mins
Possibly the most anticipated Eyes Up Here of 2024 is finally here! Today's ALL NEW episode chronicles Francine's appearance at WWE's NXT television taping at the 2300 Arena (former ECW Arena) and the original creative plans that went along with the pitch made to The "Queen of Extreme" about attending the event.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello everyone. It is the point of it strained Francy
and you are listening eyes up there with Francy the
iHeartRadio Network or where every Being podcast And as always
I am joying. I'm my co host Chad, and it's
so weird. I feel like I haven't been in this
chair for a month. And I know I have. I
(00:49):
know I have, but I just feel like I've been
on the road for twenty seven days. I'm still exhausted
from this past week. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, I can't blame yet.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, I haven't worked this hard in years. I'm not complaining,
I'm just observing. You know, tired. I'm tired. It was
a long one.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It's funny because the last place I saw you wasn't
in that chair, So I wonder if we're going to
talk about that today.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
We're going to talk about a lot of things. There's
a lot to discuss, a lot of fans asking questions.
People this weekend were asking me a ton of questions,
and I kept saying I'll explain everything on the podcast,
trying to get people to come on over and listen.
So if you would, if you are subscribed or following
me on here, share this episode with your friends and
(01:42):
family and let us know you care. There's a lot
to go over. Started the week. Well, first of all,
how are you doing? Do you have anything to add
to this conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I'm doing great. I'm just I'm glad to be sitting
here with you. I you know, dying to hear the stories.
I purposely didn't call you because I wanted to talk
about everything fresh on the air. Because I mean, we'll
talk about one of the other reasons I didn't call you,
but I really wanted to hear this live in front
of you on the air with the listeners, because I
(02:16):
know the lead up. But I want to know right
now how this all went down, What an amazing week
you had.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So I did got nothing? Okay, all right, Well, I
always give you a chance to put yourself over. So
my week started last week when I Halloween. It was
out Halloween. We went up to the Rhode Island Comic
con Convention and I was there from that Thursday to
(02:45):
Sunday night. That was a long one. That was like
a four day trip and it was a great turnout,
thanks to everybody who stopped on my table. Have to
say that got to spend the weekend with Betty, which
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
(03:09):
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
(03:30):
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
(03:52):
don't even know what day it was. I have all
the text messages to.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Prove it was a Wednesday it was, or we had
just record. Did we just recorded?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, trying to see on here. I should have had
this pulled up because I've gotten so many text messages
since this all came came up. I was sitting at home.
It was nine o'clock at night. Here's it here it is,
excuse me, nine o'clock at night, one Thursday, October seventeenth
(04:30):
and a fifty four pm is when the first text
came in. But my phone rang first, and it's it's
a joke amongst all the workers, like when area code
two three pops up on your phone and you don't
know the number, everybody's always like, oh, what's WWA? Call
it a Stamford, Connecticut berberber. You know what I mean.
(04:50):
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,
(05:13):
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
(05:35):
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
(05:59):
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,
(06:19):
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
(06:39):
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.
(07:00):
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,
(07:20):
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
(07:41):
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
(08:02):
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
(08:24):
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
(08:45):
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
(09:08):
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
(09:30):
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
(09:54):
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,
(10:16):
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,
(10:37):
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
(10:58):
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.
(11:21):
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
(11:41):
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,
(12:05):
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
(12:27):
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
(12:49):
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.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Good super successful. That was awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, it was really good. They were like, do you
want us to write something for you? And I was
like no, I said, I could do thirty seconds by myself.
That's good. So I said, do you still want me
to come? Even though I can't talk. This is what
I'm telling them, and he's like, we'll figure something out tomorrow.
Let's see how you are in the morning and go
(13:24):
from there. We could have you sitting in the crowd
or being a timekeeper, that's what he wrote back. We'll
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,
(13:46):
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
(14:10):
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
(14:33):
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
(14:54):
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
(15:19):
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
(15:40):
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
(16:02):
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
(16:23):
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
(16:44):
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
(17:05):
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,
(17:29):
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
(17:51):
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.
(18:12):
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
(18:33):
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
(18:56):
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
(19:18):
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
(19:39):
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,
(20:05):
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
(20:30):
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
(20:52):
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
(21:15):
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.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Just start a chating know what to do because I'm
waiting for my name to be called, and it was
never called, but I was told they did put me
on the Titan Tron or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
They call it these days, and I got to watch
the match up close and personal, which was a lot
of fun. And that was basically it. You know, pretty
easy work, long day, but easy work for me. And again,
just happy to be there, happy to be included, and
(22:04):
met a lot of good people.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Oh that's great. Yeah, I have some questions if it's
time to open up the floor a little bit, absolutely,
So my first question would be about the setup for
the arena itself, because obviously, you know, I've been there
for the indie shows that have taken over the arena
now and have done shows since. I got to think
that WWE has to expand a little bit more than those.
(22:28):
So how did they cram all of their sets, you know,
placement and their production equipment. How did they cram all
that into that arena?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I was told that it was seven hundred seats, so
they downsized the seats because usually you can fit what
do they fit like twelve fifteen hundred?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, I thought it was close to fifteen hundred.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I think there were only seven hundred seats set up,
seven hundred chairs. I could be wrong, that's what I
was told.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
But it could get a good gauge from the TV
how many seats.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
They It looked beautiful on television.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Oh yeah, I look fantastic gauge on.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
You know, from from the way the ramp was set up. Now,
I will say I was hoping it was going to
be the old school E CW bricks. That's what I
thought would have been cool, with the ECW logo on
the top. But I don't know if that's readily available
to use.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I'm sure they have it because I know they did.
Remember they had.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
They did it at the fan fest stuff for WrestleMania. Yeah,
I just thought, you know, maybe that's.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I like what they did. I thought it looked good.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Oh it was beautiful. But to get that old school
ec dub feeling, I was just hoping that they would
have put up the chain link fences with the bricks
and the E C double logo. But and I mean
to get past that in the back was so tight
between hair and makeup, and I don't even know what
else was set up. I mean, when I was watching
(23:58):
there was a camera set up behind me, so I
don't know if they were filming while we were watching,
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
(24:21):
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
(24:43):
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
(25:07):
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
(25:30):
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
(25:50):
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
(26:12):
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.
(26:32):
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.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, it's fantastic, I mean, and thank god they had
that expansion of the twenty three hundred arena extra room.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I was telling the girls, I was like, you have
no idea. I said, we had an outhouse practically to
go to the bathroom. I said, we never had like
a nice bathroom with mirrors. Because now they're upstairs there's
like the mirrors. And because the one toilet got clogged
and the girls like, oh, we got to get somebody
to unclog the toilet, and I was like, you're lucky
(27:21):
you have a toilet. They were like why, and they
were like, oh my god, that's terrible. I was like, oh, girl,
you don't even.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Know back in my day.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So, and I know this is kind of like a
you know, obviously there's going to be a little bit
of a difference, but compared to two thousand and six,
the advancements in the production, because in two thousand and six,
I mean, wwe still did a lot of stuff on film,
so now obviously we're in a digital age. Did you
see all these different differences in the advancements of the
(27:55):
production from obviously, John, what eighteen, you're almost eventeen years
ago at this point we were there. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
I never really paid attention to that. When I was
there in two thousand and six, I was like oblivious
to everything. I didn't know how anything worked back then.
I didn't see I saw more this past weekend than
I did for the six months that I was there,
I think because I never saw, like you see gorilla, right,
But I never really took the time to look like
(28:23):
I went behind and was looking at the equipment. I
was looking at the screens just to see there could
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.
(28:44):
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.
(29:04):
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.
(29:25):
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
(29:48):
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
(30:09):
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
(30:32):
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
(30:55):
just wandering around trying to occupy my time.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Should have given you an editing course.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
While you were there, I used to sit and watch
Paul ed at the show, you know, which was in
somebody's house on you know, minimal equipment, but they they
just had tons of equipment all over the place, and
it was interesting to just watch the dynamic of the
(31:21):
show being put together, and you know, how they did
promos and who was kind of the ringleader of uh,
you know, the promos, and how how they gave their
verbiage and stuff like that. I just I'm intrigued by
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
(31:43):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Before we get to my little wrap up on a
couple of questions, I have, let's take a quick break. Okay,
clows out the n XT NXTCW like that.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
I I came up with that.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Now she clows out with that experience. Right after we.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Come back from these commercial messages, all.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Right, we are back discussing the Nxtec W crossover from
last Wednesday evening. So you said you had another question, or.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yeah, this is one that I thought could be an
interesting one, maybe thinking outside the box a little bit.
One of the things I saw people talking about a
lot is NXT obviously being you know, the new wave
of how wrestling is evolving, right, and ECW was always
the counter culture of professional wrestling. It was kind of
an interesting meet in the middle kind of experiment, you
(33:10):
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
(33:30):
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.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I don't know because with the with the hardcore match
in the beginning with the girls, I wasn't sure if
they were billing that as a hardcore match or korch
street fight because we were in the ECW arena. Like
do they do that on NXT a lot with the females.
I'm not sure, you know. Plus, we didn't have a
women's division, so that's a difference right there, Like we
(34:16):
didn't have that women's wrestling that they do today now.
IFVCW was still around, you have to adapt with the times.
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.
(34:36):
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
(34:56):
have that back then.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Interesting, yeah, obviously see that. I can't imagine ECW might
put another little spin on it too in the ECW way,
but again, business has evolved, so.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Of course, and the unique part about this was we,
you know, wednes we were on Wednesday evening. NXT's usually
on Tuesday, so we were on Wednesday because of the election.
They went head to head with a W and they
actually beat a W in the ratings. So people are
talking that up to well, was it the ECW twist
(35:32):
that put them over the top. Who knows. I don't know.
All I do know is that the ECW themed show
was victorious that night.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
So I think a little bit of both.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I think it's gotta be a little bit of both
because I think everybody was used perfectly from ECW. I
think that the matches that they put on the card
were executed to the best that they possibly could have been.
And if I watch and this is not me being
a AW hater, if I watch an AW show, even
if it has the mix of the legends, it doesn't
(36:09):
hold me like the NXT show held me, because I
think it's that WWE polishing that the show has, because
even though it's got the NXT branding, you're still watching
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,
(36:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Right. Yeah, there's a difference there for sure. But I again, overall,
I just want to thank WWE. I want to thank WWE, NXT,
Sean Michaels, everybody that was involved, John con, Johnny Russo,
everybody for including me because I you know, I've said
(37:02):
it before, a lot of these WWE ECW throwbacks I'm
not a part of, and this time being called, I
was just like wow, I was literally surprised I got
a phone call because I've never really included in their
(37:23):
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,
(37:44):
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
(38:08):
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.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
You know who had my favorite non Queen of Extreme
moment of the night.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Of course it popped best for you. I mean you
were my favorite, of course stand out of course you
know my my other one was no rhino. Rhino Rhino
was all.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
That was great. They gave the old school E c
W blackout and Robert Stone had the line of the
night when he said, what is it they don't pay
the bills around here? Didn't you say that before? Is that?
Was that the black el line you used before?
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Was that? They also said that in the back when
the he said that in the ring when they cut
the Yeah, when they cut the lights. Robbie Soone is
one of the nicest guys on the planet. I really
really enjoy him. He's great. He took that spear like
(39:12):
a champ. I enjoyed. The spot that I enjoyed the most,
I think is when they had Guido up for what
did they give him a power bomb? They held him
up for something, and as they're holding him up, he
makes the sign of the Cross. To watch that one,
it was so fun, just everything was just so fun
(39:34):
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
(39:55):
great day.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Did you get to hear the music being played at
the beginning the theme when they were uh.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
So yeah, they played the intro and I hear the
music and I who did I say? It was a Carino.
I said it to somebody and I was like, this
might sound corny, but I just got chills and I
felt like it was nineteen ninety six all over again.
And every one of our guys was like, oh my god,
I'm freaking out. I'm about to cry. I'm getting chills,
(40:26):
Like we all felt it, you know what I mean?
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,
(40:51):
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
(41:11):
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,
(41:34):
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
(41:58):
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
(42:19):
sitting together.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
And like we've seen it. I've seen how it gets done.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Yeah, you know, and it's totally noose. It's always noose
because then he jumps in. So he takes it with
his camera and then texts everybody this the picture and
then we can do what we want with it. But yeah,
Bubba and Devon should have totally been in that picture,
but they were down. They were down like six tables
from us, and I don't know, they were probably with
fans because they're over and you know, we were just
(42:45):
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
(43:05):
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
(43:28):
thinking about it. I was really happy this week.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
It was a very profound thing you said about three
minutes ago. But like I've said a million times, you
don't hear him channing WCW. No, you don't hear him
channing a wa. You just hear E C dub in
your ears.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
That tells you something right there, you know. And I
just I am so happy to be an original and
so proud to be a part of something so special.
I know that sounds corny as hell, but not men.
People can say they're an ECW original, and I can
and that makes me happy. So you don't like it,
(44:06):
you can bite me, all right.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
You were with the guy the other day he said,
you don't like you could suck it so you could
steal that one. Was there anybody else in ECW at
the big event? You saw anybody related to CW that
was there?
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Anyone trying to think?
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Nobody?
Speaker 1 (44:26):
I think I mentioned everybody that was in my row.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Anybody else that not in the row?
Speaker 1 (44:32):
I don't know. I didn't. I didn't leave my table.
We got there and we had to what our stuff,
you know, really quickly because.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
It was that's a big venue too, that that you
guys are.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, it was really big. And I didn't I couldn't.
I did see JBL and it's he a big dude.
I kind of like he hugged me and I kind
of melted into his like it was like whoa I got?
I saw dustin Rhodes, gave him a hug. MJF winked
(45:05):
at me because he was in full MJF mood screaming
at fans. So didn't say hello, but I got the
little winki poo as he walked by, not to break
character and I laughed at that. I'm trying to think
of whose who am I missing?
Speaker 2 (45:26):
There's one guy at that show who was very instrumental
in ECW's growth.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Oh, oh my god, Oh my god, that's a whole nother.
So we get there. There is a line blocking our
tables from going out the door practically, and I'm like,
this has to be Paul's line, right, But when you
(45:54):
looked at the front of the line, it was like
the mighty and grand our Wizard of Oz or all
powerful Wizard of Oz. There was a curtain he was behind.
Oh wow, you couldn't see him. Well, I'm just like, oh,
so I think George Tahino's was like And initially they're like,
(46:14):
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.
(46:39):
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.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Yeah, I see the mighty powerful oz like's he's nowhere
to be seen, none of us.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Solemn Wow, incredible. Well if you paid like two hundred
and fifty, no what he.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Was charging, but I tell you it was a lot.
His line was out the door. Your boy William Shatner was.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
There, Yes, I know. I heard he was and I
tried to get him there about a year ago.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
So yeah, he was there, Pac Me and Jones something
with Hack at the bar. I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
That's another story they'll probably Oh my, I can't even
imagine that's.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Story happened there. Lawrence Taylor LT. Was there, but again
I didn't really get to see anyone because we weren't late.
But we didn't have much time to set up. So
by the time we set up, there were already fans
waiting at the table and we had to get going
and then we left. I think we left by three
o'clock to come home.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
So is it crazy. We've been talking about November all
year basically, and now here it is in November. It
is the nitty gritty of the November appearances.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Yes, which I have two done and I have our
three done rather and I have one to go, and
that is wressel Caid. If we want to start putting
it over Thanksgiving weekend. I'll be there Friday and Saturday. Friday,
I think it's from three to six. I land at
(48:19):
two oh six or something, so I have to high
tail it, so we might do from four to six
that evening, but we'll be there and then Saturday, whatever
the hours are, will be there all day and who knows,
maybe I'll go catch the TNA show watch that. I
don't know. I think we we a lot of us
(48:40):
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.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
I will be there on Saturday, just Saturday, just Saturday
with Kevin Thorn. But we will be there Friday. We
are both getting there Friday after noon.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
But we will only be doing the Saturday portion. Okay,
the convention, so we'll be there the whole time whatever
it's ten to three whatever, that whole time frame, and
we'll be there the whole time.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
Are you staying over Saturday.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
No, We're just staying Friday and Saturday.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Okay, all right, well that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Oh no, we got it all planned out. It's gonna
be really good. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
I'm pumped. I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
Yep. Yeah, hopefully we can wrangle up some guests for
the show. I got some guests over my NXT debut
that will be coming on later maybe this year or
early next year, and see what we can do. But
you know, overall, great week, blessed life. Can't complain. I
(49:49):
am tired, I will say that, but that's just because
I'm eighty seven years old. So it comes with the territory.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
This name of this episode, hashtag blessed.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Bless Yeah, one like one prayer. Yeah, all good stuff.
So do you want to tell people where they can
find you?
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yeah? Absolutely, you can find me on X at Chad,
E and B. I'm going to have all the Kevin
Thorne information on there. In the next week if you
want to get a pre order or two in going
crazy on them. So if you want to get them specifically,
you can DM me and we can go from there.
If not, you can hit me on Instagram at ib Exclusives.
But I can't wait. I'm so not stressed about WrestleCade
(50:30):
that I'm looking forward to it more than I have
probably any of the restle caides that I've ever done.
So I cannot wait.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
I'm pumped. I'm stressed because I have thirty minutes between
my flights and it's Charlotte to greens Borrow, and I'm scared.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
Sorry to hear that, I'm scared.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
I'm going to have to run like the wind. I'm
wearing sneakers, I'm sitting in row eight on the plane,
and so as soon as that lands, I'm grabbing my
gear and running for the hills to make that connecting flight.
So everybody say a prayer for me. But I am
looking forward to it. I've talked with some of the
boys and there's already plans for Shenatigan, so it should
(51:13):
be a good time. I do want to mention really
quickly our YouTube channel. We are finally over twelve thousand subscribers,
we have to keep going. If you're not subscribed, please
subscribe and start watching the videos liking them. I don't
know what's going on with the algorithm, hope. I'm hoping
(51:34):
it will pick back up because I don't know what's
happening with YouTube. But it's the same old story. But
our subscribers keep going up and we're putting out the content.
So we need you guys to you know, comment, like
and watch and tell a friend. And if you're not
(51:55):
following me here on iHeart or following me on Spotify
or Apple, please do so. And we really appreciate all
the support and love. If you want to follow me
on socials again, it is at ec w D for Francine.
I hope you're staying safe. I hope you're staying healthy,
and most of all, I hope you're staying extreme.
Speaker 5 (52:19):
Yeah uh uh, Francine, Francine Queen Extreme Extreme Odds up
here here ahead.
Speaker 6 (52:30):
The Queen Extreme podcast odes up here here ahead. It's
the Queen Extreme Podcast. It's the Queen of Extreme. Bring
in the Legendsy is the Woman of your dreams Lettend.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
On the scene.
Speaker 6 (52:44):
Francine Podcast, What you mean what's your tramplady?
Speaker 1 (52:47):
To show you what you need?
Speaker 6 (52:48):
You find the stand of Queens from the beginning of time.
Odds here our heart radio shine only ahead and tell
you a story from the wind, the legend odds up
and here the Queen. Somebody's like frand Scene, but
Hello everyone. It is the point of it strained Francy
and you are listening eyes up there with Francy the
iHeartRadio Network or where every Being podcast And as always
I am joying. I'm my co host Chad, and it's
so weird. I feel like I haven't been in this
chair for a month. And I know I have. I
(00:49):
know I have, but I just feel like I've been
on the road for twenty seven days. I'm still exhausted
from this past week. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, I can't blame yet.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, I haven't worked this hard in years. I'm not complaining,
I'm just observing. You know, tired. I'm tired. It was
a long one.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It's funny because the last place I saw you wasn't
in that chair, So I wonder if we're going to
talk about that today.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
We're going to talk about a lot of things. There's
a lot to discuss, a lot of fans asking questions.
People this weekend were asking me a ton of questions,
and I kept saying I'll explain everything on the podcast,
trying to get people to come on over and listen.
So if you would, if you are subscribed or following
me on here, share this episode with your friends and
(01:42):
family and let us know you care. There's a lot
to go over. Started the week. Well, first of all,
how are you doing? Do you have anything to add
to this conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I'm doing great. I'm just I'm glad to be sitting
here with you. I you know, dying to hear the stories.
I purposely didn't call you because I wanted to talk
about everything fresh on the air. Because I mean, we'll
talk about one of the other reasons I didn't call you,
but I really wanted to hear this live in front
of you on the air with the listeners, because I
(02:16):
know the lead up. But I want to know right
now how this all went down, What an amazing week
you had.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So I did got nothing? Okay, all right, Well, I
always give you a chance to put yourself over. So
my week started last week when I Halloween. It was
out Halloween. We went up to the Rhode Island Comic
con Convention and I was there from that Thursday to
(02:45):
Sunday night. That was a long one. That was like
a four day trip and it was a great turnout,
thanks to everybody who stopped on my table. Have to
say that got to spend the weekend with Betty, which
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
(03:09):
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
(03:30):
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
(03:52):
don't even know what day it was. I have all
the text messages to.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Prove it was a Wednesday it was, or we had
just record. Did we just recorded?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, trying to see on here. I should have had
this pulled up because I've gotten so many text messages
since this all came came up. I was sitting at home.
It was nine o'clock at night. Here's it here it is,
excuse me, nine o'clock at night, one Thursday, October seventeenth
(04:30):
and a fifty four pm is when the first text
came in. But my phone rang first, and it's it's
a joke amongst all the workers, like when area code
two three pops up on your phone and you don't
know the number, everybody's always like, oh, what's WWA? Call
it a Stamford, Connecticut berberber. You know what I mean.
(04:50):
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,
(05:13):
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
(05:35):
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
(05:59):
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,
(06:19):
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
(06:39):
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.
(07:00):
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,
(07:20):
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
(07:41):
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
(08:02):
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
(08:24):
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
(08:45):
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
(09:08):
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
(09:30):
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
(09:54):
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,
(10:16):
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,
(10:37):
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
(10:58):
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.
(11:21):
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
(11:41):
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,
(12:05):
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
(12:27):
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
(12:49):
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.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Good super successful. That was awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, it was really good. They were like, do you
want us to write something for you? And I was
like no, I said, I could do thirty seconds by myself.
That's good. So I said, do you still want me
to come? Even though I can't talk. This is what
I'm telling them, and he's like, we'll figure something out tomorrow.
Let's see how you are in the morning and go
(13:24):
from there. We could have you sitting in the crowd
or being a timekeeper, that's what he wrote back. We'll
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,
(13:46):
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
(14:10):
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
(14:33):
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
(14:54):
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
(15:19):
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
(15:40):
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
(16:02):
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
(16:23):
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
(16:44):
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
(17:05):
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,
(17:29):
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
(17:51):
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.
(18:12):
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
(18:33):
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
(18:56):
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
(19:18):
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
(19:39):
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,
(20:05):
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
(20:30):
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
(20:52):
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
(21:15):
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.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Just start a chating know what to do because I'm
waiting for my name to be called, and it was
never called, but I was told they did put me
on the Titan Tron or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
They call it these days, and I got to watch
the match up close and personal, which was a lot
of fun. And that was basically it. You know, pretty
easy work, long day, but easy work for me. And again,
just happy to be there, happy to be included, and
(22:04):
met a lot of good people.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Oh that's great. Yeah, I have some questions if it's
time to open up the floor a little bit, absolutely,
So my first question would be about the setup for
the arena itself, because obviously, you know, I've been there
for the indie shows that have taken over the arena
now and have done shows since. I got to think
that WWE has to expand a little bit more than those.
(22:28):
So how did they cram all of their sets, you know,
placement and their production equipment. How did they cram all
that into that arena?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I was told that it was seven hundred seats, so
they downsized the seats because usually you can fit what
do they fit like twelve fifteen hundred?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, I thought it was close to fifteen hundred.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I think there were only seven hundred seats set up,
seven hundred chairs. I could be wrong, that's what I
was told.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
But it could get a good gauge from the TV
how many seats.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
They It looked beautiful on television.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Oh yeah, I look fantastic gauge on.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
You know, from from the way the ramp was set up. Now,
I will say I was hoping it was going to
be the old school E CW bricks. That's what I
thought would have been cool, with the ECW logo on
the top. But I don't know if that's readily available
to use.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I'm sure they have it because I know they did.
Remember they had.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
They did it at the fan fest stuff for WrestleMania. Yeah,
I just thought, you know, maybe that's.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I like what they did. I thought it looked good.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Oh it was beautiful. But to get that old school
ec dub feeling, I was just hoping that they would
have put up the chain link fences with the bricks
and the E C double logo. But and I mean
to get past that in the back was so tight
between hair and makeup, and I don't even know what
else was set up. I mean, when I was watching
(23:58):
there was a camera set up behind me, so I
don't know if they were filming while we were watching,
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
(24:21):
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
(24:43):
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
(25:07):
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
(25:30):
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
(25:50):
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
(26:12):
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.
(26:32):
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.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, it's fantastic, I mean, and thank god they had
that expansion of the twenty three hundred arena extra room.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I was telling the girls, I was like, you have
no idea. I said, we had an outhouse practically to
go to the bathroom. I said, we never had like
a nice bathroom with mirrors. Because now they're upstairs there's
like the mirrors. And because the one toilet got clogged
and the girls like, oh, we got to get somebody
to unclog the toilet, and I was like, you're lucky
(27:21):
you have a toilet. They were like why, and they
were like, oh my god, that's terrible. I was like, oh, girl,
you don't even.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Know back in my day.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So, and I know this is kind of like a
you know, obviously there's going to be a little bit
of a difference, but compared to two thousand and six,
the advancements in the production, because in two thousand and six,
I mean, wwe still did a lot of stuff on film,
so now obviously we're in a digital age. Did you
see all these different differences in the advancements of the
(27:55):
production from obviously, John, what eighteen, you're almost eventeen years
ago at this point we were there. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
I never really paid attention to that. When I was
there in two thousand and six, I was like oblivious
to everything. I didn't know how anything worked back then.
I didn't see I saw more this past weekend than
I did for the six months that I was there,
I think because I never saw, like you see gorilla, right,
But I never really took the time to look like
(28:23):
I went behind and was looking at the equipment. I
was looking at the screens just to see there could
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.
(28:44):
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.
(29:04):
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.
(29:25):
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
(29:48):
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
(30:09):
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
(30:32):
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
(30:55):
just wandering around trying to occupy my time.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Should have given you an editing course.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
While you were there, I used to sit and watch
Paul ed at the show, you know, which was in
somebody's house on you know, minimal equipment, but they they
just had tons of equipment all over the place, and
it was interesting to just watch the dynamic of the
(31:21):
show being put together, and you know, how they did
promos and who was kind of the ringleader of uh,
you know, the promos, and how how they gave their
verbiage and stuff like that. I just I'm intrigued by
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
(31:43):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Before we get to my little wrap up on a
couple of questions, I have, let's take a quick break. Okay,
clows out the n XT NXTCW like that.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
I I came up with that.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Now she clows out with that experience. Right after we.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Come back from these commercial messages, all.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Right, we are back discussing the Nxtec W crossover from
last Wednesday evening. So you said you had another question, or.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yeah, this is one that I thought could be an
interesting one, maybe thinking outside the box a little bit.
One of the things I saw people talking about a
lot is NXT obviously being you know, the new wave
of how wrestling is evolving, right, and ECW was always
the counter culture of professional wrestling. It was kind of
an interesting meet in the middle kind of experiment, you
(33:10):
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
(33:30):
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.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I don't know because with the with the hardcore match
in the beginning with the girls, I wasn't sure if
they were billing that as a hardcore match or korch
street fight because we were in the ECW arena. Like
do they do that on NXT a lot with the females.
I'm not sure, you know. Plus, we didn't have a
women's division, so that's a difference right there, Like we
(34:16):
didn't have that women's wrestling that they do today now.
IFVCW was still around, you have to adapt with the times.
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.
(34:36):
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
(34:56):
have that back then.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Interesting, yeah, obviously see that. I can't imagine ECW might
put another little spin on it too in the ECW way,
but again, business has evolved, so.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Of course, and the unique part about this was we,
you know, wednes we were on Wednesday evening. NXT's usually
on Tuesday, so we were on Wednesday because of the election.
They went head to head with a W and they
actually beat a W in the ratings. So people are
talking that up to well, was it the ECW twist
(35:32):
that put them over the top. Who knows. I don't know.
All I do know is that the ECW themed show
was victorious that night.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
So I think a little bit of both.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I think it's gotta be a little bit of both
because I think everybody was used perfectly from ECW. I
think that the matches that they put on the card
were executed to the best that they possibly could have been.
And if I watch and this is not me being
a AW hater, if I watch an AW show, even
if it has the mix of the legends, it doesn't
(36:09):
hold me like the NXT show held me, because I
think it's that WWE polishing that the show has, because
even though it's got the NXT branding, you're still watching
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,
(36:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Right. Yeah, there's a difference there for sure. But I again, overall,
I just want to thank WWE. I want to thank WWE, NXT,
Sean Michaels, everybody that was involved, John con, Johnny Russo,
everybody for including me because I you know, I've said
(37:02):
it before, a lot of these WWE ECW throwbacks I'm
not a part of, and this time being called, I
was just like wow, I was literally surprised I got
a phone call because I've never really included in their
(37:23):
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,
(37:44):
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
(38:08):
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.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
You know who had my favorite non Queen of Extreme
moment of the night.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Of course it popped best for you. I mean you
were my favorite, of course stand out of course you
know my my other one was no rhino. Rhino Rhino
was all.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
That was great. They gave the old school E c
W blackout and Robert Stone had the line of the
night when he said, what is it they don't pay
the bills around here? Didn't you say that before? Is that?
Was that the black el line you used before?
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Was that? They also said that in the back when
the he said that in the ring when they cut
the Yeah, when they cut the lights. Robbie Soone is
one of the nicest guys on the planet. I really
really enjoy him. He's great. He took that spear like
(39:12):
a champ. I enjoyed. The spot that I enjoyed the most,
I think is when they had Guido up for what
did they give him a power bomb? They held him
up for something, and as they're holding him up, he
makes the sign of the Cross. To watch that one,
it was so fun, just everything was just so fun
(39:34):
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
(39:55):
great day.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Did you get to hear the music being played at
the beginning the theme when they were uh.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
So yeah, they played the intro and I hear the
music and I who did I say? It was a Carino.
I said it to somebody and I was like, this
might sound corny, but I just got chills and I
felt like it was nineteen ninety six all over again.
And every one of our guys was like, oh my god,
I'm freaking out. I'm about to cry. I'm getting chills,
(40:26):
Like we all felt it, you know what I mean?
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,
(40:51):
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
(41:11):
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,
(41:34):
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
(41:58):
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
(42:19):
sitting together.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
And like we've seen it. I've seen how it gets done.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Yeah, you know, and it's totally noose. It's always noose
because then he jumps in. So he takes it with
his camera and then texts everybody this the picture and
then we can do what we want with it. But yeah,
Bubba and Devon should have totally been in that picture,
but they were down. They were down like six tables
from us, and I don't know, they were probably with
fans because they're over and you know, we were just
(42:45):
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
(43:05):
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
(43:28):
thinking about it. I was really happy this week.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
It was a very profound thing you said about three
minutes ago. But like I've said a million times, you
don't hear him channing WCW. No, you don't hear him
channing a wa. You just hear E C dub in
your ears.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
That tells you something right there, you know. And I
just I am so happy to be an original and
so proud to be a part of something so special.
I know that sounds corny as hell, but not men.
People can say they're an ECW original, and I can
and that makes me happy. So you don't like it,
(44:06):
you can bite me, all right.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
You were with the guy the other day he said,
you don't like you could suck it so you could
steal that one. Was there anybody else in ECW at
the big event? You saw anybody related to CW that
was there?
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Anyone trying to think?
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Nobody?
Speaker 1 (44:26):
I think I mentioned everybody that was in my row.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Anybody else that not in the row?
Speaker 1 (44:32):
I don't know. I didn't. I didn't leave my table.
We got there and we had to what our stuff,
you know, really quickly because.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
It was that's a big venue too, that that you
guys are.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, it was really big. And I didn't I couldn't.
I did see JBL and it's he a big dude.
I kind of like he hugged me and I kind
of melted into his like it was like whoa I got?
I saw dustin Rhodes, gave him a hug. MJF winked
(45:05):
at me because he was in full MJF mood screaming
at fans. So didn't say hello, but I got the
little winki poo as he walked by, not to break
character and I laughed at that. I'm trying to think
of whose who am I missing?
Speaker 2 (45:26):
There's one guy at that show who was very instrumental
in ECW's growth.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Oh, oh my god, Oh my god, that's a whole nother.
So we get there. There is a line blocking our
tables from going out the door practically, and I'm like,
this has to be Paul's line, right, But when you
(45:54):
looked at the front of the line, it was like
the mighty and grand our Wizard of Oz or all
powerful Wizard of Oz. There was a curtain he was behind.
Oh wow, you couldn't see him. Well, I'm just like, oh,
so I think George Tahino's was like And initially they're like,
(46:14):
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.
(46:39):
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.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Yeah, I see the mighty powerful oz like's he's nowhere
to be seen, none of us.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Solemn Wow, incredible. Well if you paid like two hundred
and fifty, no what he.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Was charging, but I tell you it was a lot.
His line was out the door. Your boy William Shatner was.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
There, Yes, I know. I heard he was and I
tried to get him there about a year ago.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
So yeah, he was there, Pac Me and Jones something
with Hack at the bar. I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
That's another story they'll probably Oh my, I can't even
imagine that's.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Story happened there. Lawrence Taylor LT. Was there, but again
I didn't really get to see anyone because we weren't late.
But we didn't have much time to set up. So
by the time we set up, there were already fans
waiting at the table and we had to get going
and then we left. I think we left by three
o'clock to come home.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
So is it crazy. We've been talking about November all
year basically, and now here it is in November. It
is the nitty gritty of the November appearances.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Yes, which I have two done and I have our
three done rather and I have one to go, and
that is wressel Caid. If we want to start putting
it over Thanksgiving weekend. I'll be there Friday and Saturday. Friday,
I think it's from three to six. I land at
(48:19):
two oh six or something, so I have to high
tail it, so we might do from four to six
that evening, but we'll be there and then Saturday, whatever
the hours are, will be there all day and who knows,
maybe I'll go catch the TNA show watch that. I
don't know. I think we we a lot of us
(48:40):
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.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
I will be there on Saturday, just Saturday, just Saturday
with Kevin Thorn. But we will be there Friday. We
are both getting there Friday after noon.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
But we will only be doing the Saturday portion. Okay,
the convention, so we'll be there the whole time whatever
it's ten to three whatever, that whole time frame, and
we'll be there the whole time.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
Are you staying over Saturday.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
No, We're just staying Friday and Saturday.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Okay, all right, well that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Oh no, we got it all planned out. It's gonna
be really good. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
I'm pumped. I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
Yep. Yeah, hopefully we can wrangle up some guests for
the show. I got some guests over my NXT debut
that will be coming on later maybe this year or
early next year, and see what we can do. But
you know, overall, great week, blessed life. Can't complain. I
(49:49):
am tired, I will say that, but that's just because
I'm eighty seven years old. So it comes with the territory.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
This name of this episode, hashtag blessed.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Bless Yeah, one like one prayer. Yeah, all good stuff.
So do you want to tell people where they can
find you?
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yeah? Absolutely, you can find me on X at Chad,
E and B. I'm going to have all the Kevin
Thorne information on there. In the next week if you
want to get a pre order or two in going
crazy on them. So if you want to get them specifically,
you can DM me and we can go from there.
If not, you can hit me on Instagram at ib Exclusives.
But I can't wait. I'm so not stressed about WrestleCade
(50:30):
that I'm looking forward to it more than I have
probably any of the restle caides that I've ever done.
So I cannot wait.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
I'm pumped. I'm stressed because I have thirty minutes between
my flights and it's Charlotte to greens Borrow, and I'm scared.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
Sorry to hear that, I'm scared.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
I'm going to have to run like the wind. I'm
wearing sneakers, I'm sitting in row eight on the plane,
and so as soon as that lands, I'm grabbing my
gear and running for the hills to make that connecting flight.
So everybody say a prayer for me. But I am
looking forward to it. I've talked with some of the
boys and there's already plans for Shenatigan, so it should
(51:13):
be a good time. I do want to mention really
quickly our YouTube channel. We are finally over twelve thousand subscribers,
we have to keep going. If you're not subscribed, please
subscribe and start watching the videos liking them. I don't
know what's going on with the algorithm, hope. I'm hoping
(51:34):
it will pick back up because I don't know what's
happening with YouTube. But it's the same old story. But
our subscribers keep going up and we're putting out the content.
So we need you guys to you know, comment, like
and watch and tell a friend. And if you're not
(51:55):
following me here on iHeart or following me on Spotify
or Apple, please do so. And we really appreciate all
the support and love. If you want to follow me
on socials again, it is at ec w D for Francine.
I hope you're staying safe. I hope you're staying healthy,
and most of all, I hope you're staying extreme.
Speaker 5 (52:19):
Yeah uh uh, Francine, Francine Queen Extreme Extreme Odds up
here here ahead.
Speaker 6 (52:30):
The Queen Extreme podcast odes up here here ahead. It's
the Queen Extreme Podcast. It's the Queen of Extreme. Bring
in the Legendsy is the Woman of your dreams Lettend.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
On the scene.
Speaker 6 (52:44):
Francine Podcast, What you mean what's your tramplady?
Speaker 1 (52:47):
To show you what you need?
Speaker 6 (52:48):
You find the stand of Queens from the beginning of time.
Odds here our heart radio shine only ahead and tell
you a story from the wind, the legend odds up
and here the Queen. Somebody's like frand Scene, but
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