Francine Speaks On The Complicated Process Experience At WWE NXT 2300 Arena Show

While speaking to Fightful‘s Sean Ross Sapp in a recent interview, Francine discussed being booked for the WWE NXT event at the 2300 Arena. This was NXT’s debut at the venue last year, an arena that used to be the home of ECW. Here are the highlights:

On the process: “Well, here’s what happened. It was a very, very complicated process. I received a phone call and it’s funny like, all the boys say the same thing. It’s like anytime 203 popped up on our phone, ‘We’re always like, it’s WWE calling,’ and 9 times out of 10, it’s never them. I don’t know if it was a Monday or a Tuesday night, nine o’clock, which for me is late because I am an early bird. I’m in bed by 10 every night. So a phone call comes in and it’s a 203 area code. I popped myself, nobody’s in the room with me. I’m popping, I go, ‘WWE is calling, blah, blah, blah,’ and I ignore the call because I’m like, ‘Well, it’s probably a telemarketer or something.’ So I’m just like, ‘Eh,’ I ignore it. Not even five minutes go by and a text message comes through and it’s John Cone. I knew John from the fake ECW in 2006 when I worked there and he was a referee at the time. Well, now he’s talent relations. So he moved on up that ladder. I always liked John. He was such a nice man. Got along with him great. Really, really sweet man. But he sends me this text message and he’s like, ‘Hey, Francine, it’s John Cone,’ and then he explains who he is. I’m just like, ‘I know who you are, I remember.’ But all he said was something like, ‘We’d like to know if you would like to make an appearance for NXT.’ He doesn’t give the background on it’s like an ECW team. But he does go on to say, ‘You will be the guest referee for that Lola Vice and Jaida Parker, that girl’s hardcore match. So I look at the text and I’m like, ‘This is a rib. Who’s ribbing me at 9:07 at night, I’m gonna kill somebody.’ Like, who’s ribbing me, right? I wrote back, ‘Hi John, hope all is well,’ and then I wrote, ‘Why me?’ Because I didn’t get the connection because he didn’t explain the whole thing to me.”

On keeping up with the pin attempts: “Then he does and he sends all these text messages and he’s explaining how they’re going to the arena and it’s like an ECW night kind of throwback vibe and all this stuff. So anybody who follows me knows the problems that I’ve had with my stomach. I’ve had, between my two kids—which were two C-sections on top of that—I had three surgeries to try to repair my abdomen and it never got repaired. So now, like for the longest time, I wasn’t allowed to do any core strength. So I’m very weak in my abdomen section. So I said to my husband, I was like, ‘They want me to do this referee thing.’ He’s like, ‘How are you gonna get down with those girls and count?’ He goes, ‘They’re good and they’re quick.’ I was like, ‘Ooh,’ and I’m old and I’m not quick. So there’s gonna be a problem with that. So I text John and I’m like, ‘Listen, I have to talk to my husband.’ I said, ‘Can I get back to you tomorrow?’ Cause I didn’t wanna say no right away. He was just like, ‘No problem. Sleep on it, get back to me. Your name came up in the writer’s room. We would love to have you,’ blah, blah, blah. So I wake up the next morning and I’m just like, ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ So I text him back and I was just like, ‘You know, here’s the deal,’ and I just told him what I told you. I said, ‘I don’t wanna look slow and methodical at this stage on television.’ I said, ‘That’s a bad look for me. I’m gonna have to pass, but I appreciate the offer.’ He writes back, ‘We want you here. We will figure something out.’ I go, ‘Okay,’ and he’s like, ‘So consider yourself booked. Keep that date open,’ blah, blah, blah. I go, ‘Okay.’ So two weeks go by, and it’s a night before the arena show. So I call Guido, and I’m like, ‘Can we meet up?’ Because I didn’t want to go by myself, and I’m not the best driver at night. I was like, ‘Can we meet up?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ So I had my ride set up, but I still didn’t know what was going on. So in the meantime, Johnny Russo, who is head writer, he texts me before this and he’s just like, ‘Can’t wait to meet you, we’re so happy you’re coming in.’ Very nice and I’m just like, ‘Oh, this is great. So excited.’ But I didn’t know what I was doing. I went to two conventions in that two week time span, and I had gotten laryngitis and I lost my voice. So I had no voice. So I’m like, ‘Okay, whatever I end up doing, hopefully they won’t want me to talk.’”