“Anciline de Cyr is the Reine Chienne of FAWN, and Proud of It”

Karen Shallett Speaks with Anciline de Cyr

When I studied French back in high school, I had dreams of being a New York Times correspondent in the Paris office, racing across the Continent in order to get the next breaking story, and spending my free time lounging in some boulevard café being terrifically witty in some modern Parisian version of the Algonquin Round Table.

Well, the only opportunity I ever really had in the first ten years after I graduated from high school to employ my hard-learned French is a four day trip to Quebec I took with some girlfriends. Otherwise, much like that algebra my mathematics teacher made us learn, the French language had faded in my mind through lack of usage.

So I suppose I owe Anciline de Cyr my thanks, as she has presented me with the necessity of having to dust off my language skills. Although the Frenchwoman knows English quite articulately, she prefers…rather, insists…on speaking in her native tongue.

Anciline de Cyr…surely one of the most unlikely of women to ever enter the sport of wrestling. She comes from money that was old before Columbus had ever sailed the ocean blue. The history books tell us that the de Cyr’s were prominent at the Court of Versailles, and, like Tallyrand, they were wily enough to keep their heads through the French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon, and the family has retained its importance through the various Republics. Anciline herself hails from the town of De Cyr, founded by an ancestor five hundred or so years ago, and literally ruled by his decendents ever since like their own personal principality.

From what I’m told, its long been a saying in France that haughtiness is as genetic to the de Cyr’s as the color of their eyes. Some would even call Anciline arrogant, but that oversimplifies things. She isn’t egotistical, really…she just believes to the very core of her being that she’s better than nearly every other person on Earth.

Which means that all of this should make for one huge recipe for Total Failure in the wrestling world. But Anciline has defied such expectations, and has emerged as one of the most successful young women in the sport. She is also one of the most polarizing forces in FAWN.

With the announcement of the lineup for the “Caged Heat” pay-per-view, de Cyr consented to an exclusive interview with GLADIATRIX. We met at the Plaza Hotel in New York prior to her departure to Paris for a bit of relaxation prior to heading to England to prepare for her match. Ahh, would that I were going with her to the City of Lights….

KAREN SHALLETT: Anciline, its been announced that you’ll be facing Shea London for the Television Title at “Caged Heat.” The two of you have developed quite an interesting rivalry in recent months. Do you expect this match to settle your feud?

ANCILINE DE CYR: There is no feud to settle. We wrestled one another in March, and I destroyed her utterly, displaying to the world that she is no match for me. As far as I was concerned, that settled beyond a shadow of a doubt any question about her ability to step into the ring with me, and I gave her no further thought.

KS: And then came the TV Title match….

AdC: Yes. I had at last earned my rightful bid for the FAWN Television crown, and I was well on my way to defeating Kylie Sanders. But, as you know, Shea London chose to interject in the match, giving me the victory by disqualification, but denying me the title belt. Her jealousy of me clearly overcame her common sense, as even a halfwit would have known it is folly to court my ire like that. From the moment she interfered in my predestined triumph, she sealed her doom.

KS: You chose an…interesting…method of gaining your revenge.

AdC: My actions had nothing to do with anything so common as ‘revenge.’ London displayed her true duplicitous colors when she turned on her friend and ally, Sanders, and stripped her of the Television title. But Shea London does not deserve such an accolade, and so I took it upon myself to right the injustice. I had already beaten her, and I would have beaten Sanders and claimed the title if not for London, so I merely took what is rightfully mine.

KS: Yes, you attacked Shea after her match with Kylie and stole the TV belt. What’s more, you then had the belt redesigned to suit your own tastes. That, if I may say so, is pretty nervy!

AdC: I require a belt which befits who I am. That old gaudy trinket did not deserve to grace my waist. So, I simply took matters into my own hands, which is my tendency.

KS: Is it true that you’ve used real gold and precious jewels in the new belt?

AdC; Ladies do not speak of such mundane things as monetary matters in public. Suffice to say, I am quite certain you could not afford this belt.

KS: Well, whether or not you view this as a rivalry in the classic tradition or not, Shea certainly seems to. And come “Caged Heat” at Wembley, I’m certain she’ll be looking to put an end to this rivalry once and for all.

AdC: Oh yes, there will be an ending…but not the one she envisions. She is clearly not stable mentally…would a sane person continually seek to provoke one such as me into attacking them? Of course not. And so, much as one would with a mad canine, I shall put Shea London down once and for all.

KS: As a European, are you pleased that FAWN is at last debuting on European soil?

AdC: England is NOT Europe. It is merely one of the flyover islands between France and the United States. Much like the Azores, but not nearly as pleasurable. The sooner I am finished with my work in Britain and back home in France, the better I will like it.

KS: Should you win this match, you will be the Television Champion in fact, as well as in word. What are your plans after Shea? Do you expect to make a challenge for the FAWN World Title?

AdC: There is no need for that. Any championship which I hold is automatically the premier crown in the sport. That renders the World belt superfluous, and Mme. Legare, my mandataire, is currently drawing up papers to submit to Bethany Christian in order to petition the abolishment of the World Championship.

KS: That’s rather audacious. And coming from anyone else, I would also say futile. But futile gestures aren’t your habit, are they?

AdC: I am simply a woman who knows what she desires, and who has the means and the will to acquire it. Does this make me audacious? Perhaps in the eyes of the chattel of the world it does. But I do not concern myself with what such people may think of me.

At this point in the conversation, the aforementioned Mme. Legare enters the room to inform Anciline that the limousine has arrived to take them to JFK. De Cyr rises from her chair almost imperiously. If I had any expectations of a friendly farewell salutation from her, she quickly disabuses me of that belief. “Be certain you relate my words precisely as I have spoken them today,” she says without a trace of humor in her voice. “I am well aware of how lax the American media is in adhering to all of the facts in their stories, and I want London to read every word I have said.”

And with that, the Woman Who Would Be Queen sweeps out of the room almost regally. She’s a proud one, that’s for sure. But as she leaves me behind in the room, I find myself searching my memory for a recollection from that long-ago French class back in school. To wit: What’s the French words for Queen Bitch?

Luckily, I finally remember as I’m typing the title of this article.