12 Times American Football Crossed Over Into Wrestling

While the other items on this list took place solidly within the wrestling world, the most famous wrestling-football crossover in history took place on the gridiron in the form of the XFL, a joint venture by WWF and NBC.

Dismissing the NFL as the “No Fun League” and writing off the country’s most popular league as soft, Vince McMahon differentiated his new league by instituting a number of rule changes designed to make play more exciting.

Instead of a coin toss, games would begin with an “opening scramble”, where two players would race to capture the ball to establish the first possession of the game. Instead of allowing receivers to catch punted balls uncontested in exchange for halting forward motion, the XFL eliminated the “fair catch”. These and other rule changes were quickly tweaked or reversed when it became obvious that they made play needlessly dangerous for the athletes.

Wrestling personalities were loaned out to the league for sideline interviews and commentary, such as Jim Ross and then-Governor of the state of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura. The XFL even tried to play up “feuds” between coaches and announcers to create interest and make up for the lackluster play.

The result of all this was one of the worst disasters in television and sports history. The NBC network, which aired the games on prime time television, scored record-low ratings.

Despite 2001 being a huge year for the WWF, the company still took a colossal financial hit for its insane foray into the world of legitimate sport, losing $35 million it could have spent on the likes of Goldberg and Mysterio for its failed Invasion angle.