An Xtreme PSA was issued today at 3:00 P.M eastern time. WWE Chairman and CEO, Vince Mcmahon, is bringing back the very controversial Xtreme Football League! This is McMahon's second stab at taking over the football world, resurrecting the league that began and ended in 2001.
The XFL, aka CTE City, was a real life version of the PlayStation smash hit NFL Blitz. The league had an interesting inaugural season back in 2001, sharing a similar theme with the WWF (now WWE.) It had a strong emphasis on sex and violence with unorthodox rules or lack thereof. The cheerleaders wore spicy outfits and were encouraged to date the players. The athletes had nick names on the back such as "He Hate Me" and players would experience season ending injuries before the opening kickoff. Why? Because a regular football game is not wild enough. So, to up the ante Vince knew it would be much more entertaining to have a player from each team line up at opposite sides and scramble for the ball sitting in the middle, like dodge ball in gym class, rather than a regular coin toss. One player separated his shoulder on the first ever "Scramble" and sat out for the rest of his only season in the XFL. You have to be a lunatic to be willing to do that before the game even begins, and Jamel Williams was clearly the Undisputed Heavy Weight Champion of Scrambles.
The league had a strong opening week, doubling NBC's estimated views but took a quick nosedive after that. Not only was the XFL opposite to the NFL with its antics but it was in talent too, and NBC sportscasting veteran Bob Costas referred to it as mediocre, high-school football with a tawdry strip club. However, Vince vows to change that this time. During his press conference today ,the CEO of the XFL essentially said the football will be much stronger and the fans will get exactly what they want. McMahon always knew how to deliver what the audience wanted, and it looks like he's already down to his first order of business.
As much as I want to see Johnny Football here in Canada, he has XFL superstar written all over him. The league plans to start operations in 2020. So, in a perfect world Manziel can still get two years of reps with the CFL before becoming the Tom Brady of the XFL.
In order to succeed you must be fail, and that is why Johnny and Vince are the perfect match. They are going to take over the football world together, learning from their previous mistakes.
With the NFL dubbed "The No Fun League" and experiencing a slump in TV ratings, down 17% in the last two years, this may be the perfect time to bring back the Xtreme Football League. The popularity sparked by the ESPN 30 for 30 special on the XFL last year must have served as inspiration as well. Being the business bigwig that Mr.McMahon is, he couldn't have picked a better time to drop this news.
A few policies announced by the WWE Chairman were; players with criminal records and political statements, such as kneeling will be prohibited. Although, he may be willing to bend the criminal records rule a bit because other than Tim Tebow, you would be hard pressed to find a choirboy capable of playing professional football.
President Trump has long been involved with the WWE, hosting the shows at his venues and once shaved Mr.McMahon's head in the middle of the ring on the show. With Donald denouncing the NFL players protesting, and previously owning the New Jersey Generals of the short-lived United States Football League, it will be interesting to see if he plays a part in the leagues revival.
Vince recently sold $100 million of WWE stock to form Alpha Entertainment, the company that will be operating the XFL. With some financial assistance from the President, these two reality stars may be able to take the NFL to war. An unlikely situation but I won't put anything past these two.
Mr.McMahon's first priority is to find players and coaching staff to field teams, which is why he has given himself the two year window to properly prepare. As for cities for an XFL team, they plan to attack football starved markets without an NFL team. Does that mean Toronto may be an option? Before starting the XFL, Vince nearly purchased the CFL. This was after the CFL approached him about purchasing the Toronto Argonauts. With many of the Xtreme Football athletes and coaches moving to the CFL after their inaugural season, and Canada having a rich history in producing WWE athletes and events, maybe the football fans of Toronto will finally get the pro football team they are looking for.
