Francine on WWE NXT appearance: ‘Just being included was enough’

Francine commented on her appearance on WWE NXT last week during the latest episode of Eyes Up Here.

She was one of several ECW legends who participated in the show at the 2300 Arena, along with The Dudley Boyz, Nunzio, Rhino, Dawn Marie, and Rob Van Dam. However, Francine’s role was limited to appearing in the crowd.

She revealed on her podcast that she was first offered the guest referee role in the Lola Vice vs. Jaida Parker match, which eventually went to Dawn Marie. However, she turned it down because she felt she wouldn’t be quick enough to keep up due to having had multiple abdominal surgeries in recent years.

“Because my core is so weak, just lifting myself up getting into the ring is slow,” she said on the show. “So, I was just like, well, I guess I’m not going to be able to do it.”

Francine had abdominal reconstruction surgery along with a hernia repair in 2019.

She was then offered a spot on the show as a backstage interviewer, but Francine had to turn that down as well because she lost her voice while attending a ComicCon.

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

She continued to say that she offered to be pulled from the show since she was limited in what she could do, but WWE decided to have her come in and appear in the crowd.

Francine said:

“Would I have liked to have done more? Of course. I would have loved to have had an entrance and walked to the ring and did something. It just wasn’t in the cards for me, but just being included was enough. Like, I didn’t need any more than that. It was fun. I got to meet so many great people. The girls were so nice; some of them had on ECW attire, which I thought was adorable.”

Francine also mentioned she thought it was “cute” that WWE sent her directions to the ECW Arena. The full episode of her podcast is available below: