Do You Smell What The Rock and The XFL are Cooking?

The XFL, the league which the WWE’s Vince McMahon started back in 2001 and collapsed only after a season is back. This time the WWE and Vince McMahon have nothing to do with it.

The Rock XFL first attempt

Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock, along with a group of investors bought the XFL for $15,000,000 in August of 2020. This was after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the league into bankruptcy. In October of 2020, Johnson announced that the XFL would make its return in the spring of 2022. Thus giving plenty of time for the league to determine which cities would have an XFL franchise. Hoping this would allow those franchises to get up and running. However, the 2022 season was not meant to be. While getting ready for the 2022 season, the new ownership was in discussions with the Canadian Football League in hopes to begin a partnership. The goal was to begin strengthening both leagues. However, those discussions fell through and the 2022 season was forced to be cancelled.

The Rock gets it cooking

Fast forward to 2023 and the XFL took the field in February with eight teams, all playing ten regular season games. The four teams making the postseason and culminating with the XFL Championship on May 13^th in San Antonio.

This speech by The Rock to XFL players was 🔥 #XFL2023 pic.twitter.com/KXUqgz7g0B

— Off The Deck Sports (@OTDSports_) February 19, 2023

The teams that are going to battle for that title are the Arlington Renegades, the DC Defenders, the Houston Roughnecks, the Orlando Guardians (I swear there is a baseball team with the same name, but I could be wrong), the San Antonio Brahmas, the Seattle Dragons, the St Louis Battlehawks, and the Vegas Vipers.

Obviously Cleveland does not have an XFL team. However, there is a big group of 600 people that belong to a NE Ohio DC Defenders Backers Facebook group. They meet every week at the Lear Road Inn in Avon Lake for a watch party. Those parties usually hold capacity crowds. I hear they are a blast to attend!

Some notable players that are in the XFL are quarterbacks AJ McCarron, Paxton Lynch, and Brett Hundley, and former Browns wideout Josh Gordon.

To watch the XFL, their games can be seen every week on ABC, ESPN, and FX, with all games being simulcast on ESPN+.

Give it a try, you just may end up liking it!