8 Big Questions About Vince McMahon's XFL Reboot!
Besides simply 'why?'
Just about the last thing any wrestling fan in the world expected to be reading about at the close of 2017, besides perhaps a sensational WWE Universal Title victory for a returning, guitar-swinging Jeff Jarrett, was the revival of the XFL. WWE's attempt to bring Amiga classic Brutal Sports Football to life 16 years ago was, in the words of Vince McMahon himself, a "colossal failure". The thought of it coming back this year seemed as likely as a revival of Nazism. Oh.
WWE's turn as Pete Becker cost them dear. After conquering the wrestling world, they utterly failed to conquer the football world; the ridiculous league closed after just a single season, injuring dozens of budding footballers on its way to boring as many fans as possible. $35 million of that new-found monopoly money went down the tube, with most agreeing never to talk about it again.
Then in January of this year, ESPN broke the silence, running a '30 for 30' feature on the doomed venture. Towards the end of the doc, Vince McMahon grew thick with nostalgia, shockingly claiming he'd someday like to revisit the league. And here we are: it's a realistic possibility.
The biggest question is simply "why". But if this does become a thing, there are a few more which need answering. Like, "no really, why?"
8. Will There Be WWE Crossover?
Part of WWE's plan to boost the XFL's appeal was to have several notable names from their wrestling product cross over from the squared-circle to the, er, rectangled-rectangle. The likes of Jerry Lawler, Jesse Ventura, and Jim Ross - seen here having just the time of his life in a dazzling silver stetson - all put the headset on to provide raucous commentary on the ostensible 'action'. If football fans didn't like it, at least wrestling fans would - and there were a lot of them in 2001.
16 years later, WWE isn't quite so in vogue. Would a rebooted XFL benefit from, for example, Byron Saxton calling the action? (Does anything?) To be a success in 2018, it's entirely possible a new football league would have to be as far removed from the company's primary output as possible. Too bad, Mojo Rawley.