Francine Fournier

Francine Fournier

Francine in 2009.
Born February 19, 1972
Delaware[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Francine
Miss Montgomeryville
Billed height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Billed weight 117 lb (53 kg)[1]–126 lb (57 kg)[2]
Trained by J.T. Smith[3]
Debut 1995[1]
Retired December 2006

Francine Fournier (born February 19, 1972), known simply as Francine, is an American former professional wrestling valet best known for her work in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Fournier decided to train to be a professional wrestler after seeing a commercial for a training school in 1993.[3] She trained with J.T. Smith for approximately one year at the House of Hardcore.[1][3] She worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) at house shows until the owner of ECW Paul Heyman booked her to appear on television.[1] In the summer of 1995, she debuted in ECW as a devoted fan of Stevie Richards and later became his manager and on-screen girlfriend.[1][3] The new partnership angered both Richards's tag team partner Raven and Raven's valet Beulah McGillicutty.[1] This rivalry eventually led to several catfights between the women.[1] Richards eventually turned on Francine due to the influence of Raven.[1]

Francine (right) with Chris Candido in 1998

Francine then allied herself with The Pitbulls tag team, who had left Raven's Nest, adopting a leather-clad dominatrix persona to fit with the Pitbulls' gimmick. She led The Pitbulls to a victory over Richards and Raven for the ECW Tag Team Championships on September 16, 1995.[1] At Cyberslam '96 Francine and the Pitbulls defeated The Eliminators and Richards in a Dog Collar match when Fournier pinned Richards after he was superbombed by the Pitbulls. She also led Pitbull II to win the ECW Television Championship from Shane Douglas, who had insulted her earlier in the program.[1]

On July 13, 1996 at Heatwave, Francine turned on The Pitbulls and became the manager of Shane Douglas.[1] Referred to as his "Head" Cheerleader, she twice helped him become ECW World Heavyweight Champion.[1] During this time, she could also occasionally be found at ringside in support of Douglas' Triple Threat teammates Chris Candido and Bam Bam Bigelow.[1] Bigelow, however, legitimately broke her pelvic bone while performing a press slam on her.[1] In November 1997, she was by Douglas' side when he defeated Bigelow for the World Championship.[1] She remained Douglas's manager until he left ECW in 1999, at which point she became the manager of Tommy Dreamer.[1] In 2000, she left Dreamer and managed Raven and then Justin Credible until ECW declared bankruptcy on April 4, 2001.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

On June 26, 2002, Francine participated in the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) lingerie battle royal for the Miss TNA Crown. On TNA's debut weekly PPV, Francine and Elektra had an in ring argument, leading Elektra to name Francine the reason for ECW's bankruptcy. In the match, Francine was eliminated by Elektra, Shannon and Miss Joni. She was upset that she lost, so she began to whip Ed Ferrera with his own belt. Francine then got back in the ring and started to whip Taylor Vaughn with Ferrera's belt after she won the match.

The next week the two women had a match against each other. Francine took a leather strap out of her boot and started to whip and choke Taylor with it. Referee Scott Armstrong grabbed it and took it away but Taylor grabbed it from the him and proceeded to whip and choke Francine with it. Armstrong tried to stop her, but Taylor hit him too causing her to be disqualified. Commentator Ed Ferrara got into the ring to help Francine, telling her she was the winner. Francine then put Ferrara's hand on her breast and slapped him for touching it, then whipped him with the leather strap.

Two weeks later Francine attacked Jasmine St. Claire while she was being interviewed by Goldy Locks. The two had a match later that night which resulted in both women being stripped to their underwear. It ended in a disqualification after interference by The Blue Meanie and Francine was taken away on a stretcher. This was her last appearance in TNA.

Independent circuit

She made appearances with Major League Wrestling in 2003 as Michael Shane's manager and was later involved with the Women's Extreme Wrestling and Hottest Ladies of Wrestling promotions. In 2003, She also appeared in Delaware Championship Wrestling, where she feuded with Talia Madison and Noel Harlow. In 2004 Delaware Championship Wrestling changed its name to Dynamite Championship Wrestling.

On June 10, 2005 Francine appeared at the ECW reunion show Hardcore Homecoming,[3] where she acted as the valet of Shane Douglas. On June 12, she appeared at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) produced ECW One Night Stand reunion pay-per-view, interfering in the main event of Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman versus The Dudley Boyz. After she kicked Dreamer in the crotch, Francine was attacked by Dreamer's wife and former valet, Beulah McGillicutty. On June 19, Francine apologized to her fans via her website for not disclosing that she was going to appear at One Night Stand, stating that the WWE had asked her to keep her appearance a surprise.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Francine in 2006

Francine then signed a contract to appear on the newly created Extreme Championship Wrestling brand.[4] She made her first appearances with the promotion in house shows, normally competing in bikini contests with Kelly Kelly.[4] Francine eventually began acting as the valet of fellow "ECW Original" Balls Mahoney in his feud with Kevin Thorn to even the odds against him and Ariel, Thorn's valet.[4] Francine made her return to television on the September 19, 2006 episode of ECW on Sci Fi. On the following week's show, she made her in-ring debut as she wrestled Ariel to a no-contest in an "Extreme Catfight." She was released from her WWE contract on October 12, 2006.[4]

Semi-retirement

Following her release from WWE, Francine announced her imminent retirement from professional wrestling on November 9, 2006. She also made appearances with Women's Extreme Wrestling (WEW) and made frequent appearances at autograph signings.[5] In WEW, she managed Amber O'Neill.[2]

On June 27, 2009, Fournier held an ECW reunion show entitled "Legends of the Arena", and proceeds from the show will be donated to the American Cancer Society.[6] On August 8, 2010, Fournier appeared via pre-taped video at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's ECW reunion show, Hardcore Justice.[7]

Personal life

Fournier is of French Canadian heritage.[3] She is from a Catholic family.[5]

Francine worked for a life insurance company before entering the world of professional wrestling.[3] In 2005, Fournier and Missy Hyatt opened an online reality fansite.[3]

Fournier got married to a man named Joseph Meeks, on June 7, 2008 and gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Molly Rose, on July 28, 2009.[6][8] In 2008, both her father and sister died of cancer within a few days of each other.[6] In late February 2012, Francine Fournier gave birth to a second child, a boy named Connor Joseph.

In wrestling

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Kapur, Bob. "Francine's bio". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Francine's profile". Women's Extreme Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 Kapur, Bob (June 4, 2005). "Francine pumped for Hardcore Homecoming". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Waldman, Jon (October 12, 2006). "ECW "original" released by WWE". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kapur, Bob (November 16, 2007). "Dawn Marie & Francine heading down different paths". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Kapur, Bob (June 11, 2009). "Francine brings ECW stars together for a good cause". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  7. ↑ Caldwell, James (2010-08-08). "Caldwell's TNA Hardcore Justice PPV results 8/8: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of ECW-themed PPV headlined by RVD vs. Sabu". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-08-08.
  8. ↑ Aldren, Mike (2009-07-29). "Daily wrestling news & gossip". The Sun. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Francine's profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  10. ↑ Powell, John (January 8, 2001). "Confusion reigns at Guilty As Charged". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-06-15.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Francine Fournier.