10 WWE Experiments That Completely Failed

The XFL was, to be fair, a good lesson in what can happen when your eyes are bigger than your belly. Not content with just running the wrestling world, Vince McMahon wanted to take over American football too - regardless of how hopeless an ambition that may have been.

As many predicted, the project faced obstacles from the outset, not least of all the fact that a legitimate sports league operated by the world's leading fake sports organisation was inherently difficult for viewers to take seriously.

After ratings fell of a cliff, WWE and its partners were forced to pull the plug after just one season, having incurred reported losses of more than $30m. Even the perennially stubborn chairman of the board would later admit that it was a disaster.

And yet, he has seen fit to give the experiment another go in 2020, apparently convinced that the myriad issues they experienced two decades ago were merely teething problems. To his credit, at least he's not putting any company money into it this time.