WWE legend Dwayne Johnson reintroduced the XFL after purchasing it from Vince McMahon. The Rock and his wife, Dany Garcia, relaunched the tainted XFL in 2020, but it faced several issues thanks to first the pandemic and then the dispute between several parties. The league finally set off in February this year and concluded its first season a few days ago.
The first winners of the Dwayne Johnson-led XFL emerged to be the Arling Renegades. However, after the conclusion of the first season, it seems that Dwayne Johnson and his business partners have suffered quite a loss.
According to Forbes, the league suffered a loss of $60 million. The outlet also reported that there were several job cuts and there had to be some changes in planning. The reports also state that the league is projecting a loss of around $100 million in revenue next year.
The loss suffered by the league looks to be a setback for Dwayne Johnson and his co-investors. The group had bought out the company from Vince McMahon, who has already failed twice with the project.
Vince McMahon failed twice with the XFL
The relaunch of the XFL has met with lukewarm reviews as fans didn’t show up in the initial stages. This is not the first time that the league has failed within its short tenure. The league was first launched in 2001 by the former WWE CEO. The league ran for one season only and was then shelved. In 2017, Vince McMahon made attempts to renew the league but was unsuccessful.
McMahon, who is the former CEO, had envisioned a league that would be more fast-paced and electric and could serve as a competition to the NFL. However, that did not turn out to be the case, as McMahon’s XFL flopped big time. He lost $35 million on the league and even concluded that it was a “colossal failure.” In 2017, during an ESPN documentary on the XFL, McMahon made his intentions clear of relaunching the league.
However, the league hit one roadblock after another. It eventually halted proceedings in mid-season in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April of the same year, it was announced that the league had suspended operations and that all employees would be terminated. It later went on to file for bankruptcy before being bought by a consortium led by Dwayne Johnson hours before an auction could be held.
The story of the NFL gets more interesting as the days pass. While overall doubts lingered about the longevity and the success of the league, it seems that things are worse than first imagined. Dwayne Johnson is currently embroiled in a $3 Billion lawsuit which has also seen him get ousted from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It remains to be seen how Johnson will emerge from this loss and what the future holds for the league.
