The XFL was the brainstorm by WWF (now WWE) owner Vince McMahon to start a football league. The XFL was not very successful at all and played only one season in 2001.


I remember this when it happened. I'm not really big on football but my wrestling pals and I tried to give this a chance. At the time I used to be on a bowling league and after the game we would eat in the lounge area and they played this on the tv.


What I think did them in were a lot of misconceptions and bad marketing.
It was assumed that the "X" stood for "Extreme" so wrestling fans were expecting something that had not been done before. Fans were saying that they thought they were going to see the players fight and body slam each other during the game. They were disappointed when it was "regular football" and there was nothing extreme about it.


Football fans also had a distrust with this league because of their connection with the WWF; meaning pre-determined matches. They didn't want to watch something that they thought was supposedly fake.


I also remember that the XFL were showcasing their skimpy-dressed cheerleaders like crazy and apparently they were deemed to risque for television.


All this together brought the XFL down only after one season; in my understanding as to why this failed.


Did you remember watching this? What did you think of this?

I remember when this came out. My ex, his brother and nephew were all into the wrestling stuff and that but were never that big on football. I think they only watched a game or two, if that.

Yah, it went into the dumper pretty quickly didn't it?

^ Yep, they went down rather quickly. I believe because of the reasons that I had stated.

I also remember that the players were allowed to have whatever they wanted on their jerseys and "He Hate Me" became rather popular.

I think the XFL had the lowest ratings in television history, if I'm not mistaken. I do know Jay Leno got a LOT of jokes out of the XFL. :lol:

The XFL was a bomb.

At least the WFL and USFL lasted for a season!

I Miss the XFL,

The XFL tried to combine what they thought were the best characteristics of the wrestling business and the football business and create an entity that both wrestling fans and football fans would embrace. Instead they ended up alienating both sets of fans. The league didn't live up to the "extreme" expectations of the wrestling fans. And the football fans didn't trust that the league was legitimate because of its connection to WWF/WWE. It's no surprise that this league didn't last!