Filed under: Sports Business, Pro Wrestling, Sports Business and Media
If you haven't already done so, get a calendar and circle Feb. 3. It's the 10th anniversary of a sports breakthrough that should not pass unnoticed.
The XFL sprang to life Feb. 3, 2001, with its first game. I know, most of you think that's like commemorating the birth of New Coke or "Rosemary's Baby" -- assuming Rosemary had a girl and dressed her in a G-string.
Sure, the brainchild of rasslin' king Vince McMahon had its flaws. But history shows it deserves some due. For one not-so-glorious spring, the XFL gave us a partial glimpse where football was heading.
It was eavesdropping on locker rooms long before "Hard Knocks." He Hate Me would have been a Twitter god. The league was heavy on sex, violence and personality. You know, all the things NFL fans love.
If only the football and its image hadn't stunk, the XFL might have had a chance.
"The quality of play wasn't the best by any stretch of the imagination, but that shouldn't have been a surprise to any football people out there or any writers," Jim Ross said. "It was like every team was an expansion team."
Ross was the TV voice of the XFL. He came over from the WWE Empire to lend some wrestling zest.
McMahon and NBC figured football and pro wrestling would make a nice mix. It turned too cheesy for football fans. There wasn't enough schmaltz for the Jesse Ventura crowd. If it had been a loser-leave-town match, the XFL would have been banished to Pluto.
"I think people expected somebody to jump out of the stands, get out on the field, grab the football and score a touchdown," LA Extreme punter Noel Prefontaine said this week. "They expected something pretty crazy."
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