The legacy of ECW features mostly the hardcore wrestlers having violent matches, but the women were a huge part of the company as well. Few ladies wrestled actual matches, which meant the role of a manager was more important. Francine and Beulah are considered the two most popular female performers in company history.RELATED: 10 Women You Forgot Were In Both WWE & ECWBoth women would have quite a few cat fights that always received huge ovations from the fans. Francine and Beulah each joined ECW without much wrestling experience, but their lives changed forever when entering the new world. The argument for each woman to be the best in company history is quite fair. ECW fans will go back and worth the valid reasons for their pick in the Beulah vs. Francine debate.
8 Beulah: Backstage Segments
Paul Heyman had limited time and resources to push all the ECW talents with a weekly show in select markets. One hour of television time meant most wrestlers would get slotted at the end with promo segments from various members of the roster giving their input on their program.
RELATED: 5 On-Screen Relationships ECW Fans Loved (& 5 They Didn't)
Beulah thrived in these segments, even when she wasn’t necessarily involved in a storyline. Heyman added Beulah to the weekly promos to provide eye candy and deliver comments that showed ECW was about pushing the envelope. Beulah was considered one of the highlights from this effective tool used by ECW.
7 Francine: Helping The Pitbulls Get Over
The Pitbulls broke out as one of the first major success stories for the ECW tag team division. Francine joined Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2 as their manager during the height of their run. Both sides benefited immensely from her joining the act.
Fans showed more interest in The Pitbulls knowing that Francine would be there for their matches. Francine broke out as a fixture in the company at this time, in what was considered her first noteworthy opportunity to run with the ball.
6 Beulah: Helping Dudley Boyz When Leaving
The decision of Beulah to leave ECW allowed her to branch out of the wrestling world. Beulah had no interest in becoming a full-time wrestler and decided to chase other passions towards the end of her run.
ECW found the perfect way to write her off when D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley “injured” her with a 3D finisher. Tommy Dreamer was feuding with the Dudley Boyz at the time, and it gave him more fire to chase them due to his love interest being injured by them.
5 Francine: Betraying Tommy Dreamer
Francine turned face for a short time when aligning with Tommy Dreamer after both lost their previous partners. There was no romantic relationship in play as ECW told the story of Francine and Dreamer uniting against common enemies.
However, the peak of Francine’s character came from the heel side of things. Francine delivered a major heel turn when eventually betraying Dreamer just minutes after he won the ECW Championship. Justin Credible conned Dreamer into giving him a title shot, which was decided by Francine hitting Tommy with a low to influence the title change.
4 Beulah: Epic Match Vs Bill Alfonso
One of the most unlikely great matches in ECW featured two non-wrestlers having a bloody brawl. Referee and manager Bill Alfonso was placed in a hardcore match against Beulah to write him off television after helping WCW raid ECW talent.
RELATED: 10 Most Uncomfortable Gimmicks In ECW History
The violent brawl featured them both bleeding and exchanging weapon shots to the shock and delight of the ECW fan base. Beulah underwent some training, but she was never a full-time wrestler, which made her performance more impressive.
3 Francine: Longevity
The argument for Francine being the top ECW woman of all-time will require the memory of her longer run with the company. Francine was there for basically the entire time when signing in 1994, before ECW took off and lasted until the company closed its doors.
The various changes would see Francine rolling with the punches of working with new names and doing new things. Beulah only spent about half the time in ECW as Francine when comparing their respective histories. Francine was there for the long haul and showed no interest in leaving ECW before it ended.
2 Beulah: Big Storyline With Tommy Dreamer & Raven
The argument can be made that Tommy Dreamer vs Raven was the best all-around feud in ECW history. Both wrestlers had tremendous chemistry in the ring with a perfect backstory of being childhood enemies at camp to sell their drama.
Beulah was initially revealed as Raven’s love interest, who Tommy rejected due to her weight when they were all kids. However, the face turn for Beulah would see her eventually uniting with Dreamer since the story was better that way. Beulah played a pivotal role in the rivalry that helped make ECW a bigger promotion.
1 Francine: Epic Run With Shane Douglas
ECW made Shane Douglas the top heel for most of his tenure in the promotion with Francine. The shocking heel turn of Francine betraying The Pitbulls aligned her Douglas to give them both a new role that found success.
Douglas dominated in the main event picture with four ECW Championship reigns lasting a total of 874 days. Francine put Shane’s new character of “The Franchise” over the top. Paul Heyman strongly believed in Douglas as a star, but Francine’s management was the X-factor that helped him find his groove as a huge ECW act.
