Details emerged Wednesday on why XFL commissioner Oliver Luck was fired by WWE chairman and league founder Vince McMahon four days before it shut down operations, courtesy of the Sports Business Journal.
McMahon fired Luck for “gross neglect” and Luck filed a lawsuit soon thereafter to reclaim some of money lost by his surprise dismissal. It was revealed Wednesday that Luck is looking for $23.8 million from McMahon. That amount is the remainder of a contract that was worth five years and $35 million, personally guaranteed by McMahon through his Alpha Entertainment parent LLC, ensuring Luck could sue McMahon rather than go through U.S. bankruptcy court as a creditor.
In pre-trial filings, McMahon’s legal team listed “gross neglect of his job during the COVID-19 pandemic”, “personal use of a league-assisted cellphone”, and the signing of a former NFL receiver with previous legal issues despite McMahon’s previous orders to avoid doing so.
Also in the filings, McMahon claimed that Luck left the XFL’s Connecticut headquarters for his home in Indiana and “disengaged” from the league’s operations.
The suit read, “Put simply, at the very moment when his leadership as CEO was needed most, Luck did not devote substantially all of his business time to the XFL, as required by his contract.”
In a response through his lawyer, Luck said he communicated with McMahon via text during that aforementioned period of time which he said was McMahon’s preferred method; that the reciever (Antonio Callaway) was hired with McMahon’s knowledge and edict to upgrade the reciever quality and was released when McMahon instructed Luck to do so; and none of the offenses he claims ver elicited a formal complaint from McMahon to Luck.
An absolutely crazy week saw Vince McMahon fold the XFL, have the Governor of Florida overrule local officials to be able to run multiple shows a week in the state, get, along with Dana White, to be mentioned by President Trump as one of the people he’d talk with about reopening the economy, and then made massive talent and office cuts with the expectation of a long economic downturn.
With its $500 million of reserve cash available, broken down as $90.45 million in straight cash on hand, $160.03 million in short term investments that can be used, and another $250 million available instantly in debt capacity, McMahon was the first promoter in combat sports to make cuts, while other companies have avoided doing so even though all others are losing money, although UFC will be back to making money as soon as they start running shows again.
The decision to fold the XFL seemed to come on 4/9 and was announced the next day.
After suspending operations last Friday, the XFL today filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The XFL issued a statement on the decision:
The XFL quickly captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of people who love football. Unfortunately, as a new enterprise, we were not insulated from the harsh economic impacts and uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, we have filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This is a heartbreaking time for many, including our passionate fans, players and staff, and we are thankful to them, our television partners, and the many Americans who rallied to the XFL for the love of football.
The bankruptcy was filed for by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment. It lists that the league has both $10-50 million in estimated assets and estimated liabilities.
McMahon owns 100 percent of Class A shares and 76.5 percent of Class B shares, while WWE owns 23.5 percent of Class B shares.
Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp tweeted: “An XFL source tells me the league is in fact for sale as part of bankruptcy process. XFL still intends to return all ticket funds to fans (as @BenFischerSBJ reported Friday).” ESPN also wrote that a source close to the bankruptcy filing said the XFL could be sold during the process.
TMZ Sports reported that sources told them the coronavirus pandemic caused the XFL to lose “tens of millions in revenue.” Their report also stated that XFL employees were paid their full wages up until April 12, along with any accrued vacation days.
XFL head coaches and general managers Bob Stoops ($1,083,333.33), Marc Trestman ($777,777.78), Jonathan Hayes ($633,333.33), Winston Moss ($583,333.33), Kevin Gilbride ($583,333.33), June Jones ($583,333.33), and Jim Zorn ($583,333.33) are listed among the league’s top 25 creditors with the largest unsecured claims.
Are you interested in attending our annual F4W/WON convention? We will hold it during AEW Double or Nothing weekend. For more information, check this post for activities and prices.
The battle to keep UFC 249 alive is the lead story in our annual WrestleMania double issue, which shows how big a story that became.
We look at how a U.S Senator, government agencies, doctors and Dana White all chimed in and what killed plans for the show next week. We look at the fighters who dropped out of the top two bouts, the reaction locally, the commission, how the association of commissions didn’t back the California commission, how UFC was to be regulated, what happens next, what the doctors said, the business reasons behind why UFC pushed so hard for the show, and what the show originally had.
The new issue also covers:
The wrestling industry going forward after WrestleMania, with a look at WWE, AEW, Impact, MLW and New Japan and what has and hasn’t been taped, who returns to WWE this week, Money in the Bank, Double or Nothing, AEW California crew wrestling, and more.
WrestleMania with a look at the good and the bad of the show, business numbers, the stories of the different unique matches, Roman Reigns update, television ratings for the prelims, and media criticism. We also have match-by-match coverage of both nights with poll results.
President Trump’s meeting with the key players in the sports world including Vince McMahon and Dana White as well as others talking about when or if spectator sports can return.
The key numbers to look for at the next WWE investors call, new WWE TV deals, Paul Levesque talks Wednesday night ratings, Michael Cole’s new role, WWE new documentaries including thoughts on the Edge documentary, new angles, Drew McIntyre talks about a number of subjects, new WWE movie, NXT booking, Kurt Angle talks Brock Lesnar, C.M. Punk talks Vince McMahon, FS 1 TV block, TV sports ratings, Charlotte Flair talks WrestleMania, WWE market value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
A story on one of the strangest lawsuits you’ll ever see against Dana White.
A story on the break-in of the home of Anthony Smith.
A huge back-of-the-book story on the life of Danno O’Mahoney, one of the biggest short-term drawing cards in pro wrestling history. We go back to the 1930s, the politics that led to the creation of O’Mahoney, how Paul Bowser put the plan in place, the story of Jim Londos, the biggest drawing card in U.S. history and his role in this, some of the biggest matches in wrestling history and why the O’Mahoney vs. Shikat match changed the industry for a dozen years after and some historians call it the most important match in history. It’s all here, creation of world titles, promotions not getting along, in-ring double-crossess, stadium shows and the tragic story about how happy ever after end up lasting five weeks.
Coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Tonight’s Smackdown show was to air “as close to live as it gets.” WWE is taping five episodes of Raw, five episodes of Smackdown, as well as many episodes of NXT this week. Smackdown is being taped today and tomorrow. Raw is being taped Sunday and Monday. NXT will also be taped over the weekend, presumably at Full Sail while Raw & Smackdown will be taped at the Performance Center. Rules for shutdown in Orange County are very different from California.
Besides Sen. Dianne Feinstein being against UFC taking place in Lemoore, CA, Gov. Gavin Newsom specifically went to Disney, the parent company of ESPN, saying he didn’t want the show taking place in California. ESPN then told UFC not to run it. Dana White said that he is making plans for a Fight Island where all the fighters will be housed for one month prior to fights and they will be starting up with regular shows as soon as possible. Some day somebody is going to do a movie on a UFC promoter who gets crazier by the week.
Regarding the release of The Revival, it’s what they’ve been wanting for a year. There is no 90-day non-compete so they would be free to be on AEW television Wednesday if it wasn’t already taped more than a month ahead of time. They have since changed their names on Twitter to Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood.
On the XFL closing up, the economy has changed and opening a new sports league right now is all of a sudden not the easiest thing. If AEW had not signed their deal with TNT in January, things would be very rough on them right now, not that they aren’t rough for everyone, because they are. Every company, whether it’s WWE, New Japan, UFC, AEW and everyone else is going through a rough time economically as are most businesses in the U.S. Almost all employees of the league and all its teams, as well as the players, have been laid off. There were a few people still employed being needed to tie things up. The big question is how much of the $20 million deal did Oliver Luck end up making.
Signs that the XFL was closing actually came right after we finished the issuewhen Sports Business Journal reported that the league would be refunding all deposits for 2021 season tickets, which was the first sign that they were not planning to return. At first, the league had announced that people who had tickets to games called off could use them as credit for 2021 games. When that happened, Sports Business Journal asked if they were planning on playing in 2021, and they got no answer back.
WWE
BT Sports will be airing WrestleMania free to their customers on this coming Saturday and Sunday nights at 10 p.m. (thanks to Colin McMillan)
Taken another digit, the audience for NXT on Wednesday was 629,900 and AEW was 629,500, so the difference in viewers was 400. The actual difference was in the first ten minutes of the show where the much larger rated USA Network gave NXT ten much bigger minutes before it fell into a more normal range starting around minute 11.
Update on Wednesday’s show is Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager for the AEW title, Kip Sabian vs. Chuckie T, Colt Cabana vs. Lance Archer in the TNT tournament, plus a match with Britt Baker.
MISCELLANEOUS
Kevin Sullivan was on Jim Cornette’s podcast and denied ever giving Nancy Toffoloni a black eye, and said that she spent three days in jail for coming after him with a knife. He said the two of them were living apart and if Nancy had a black eye, it came from someone else.
Impact finishes taping today and will be taping the planned Rebellion PPV, which now looks to be one or two episodes of the television show. The planned card is looking like it would have to change based on people not coming into Nashville this week for taping.
ROH did a fan voting tournament for its best wrestler in history with 27 former ROH champions and five others. Bryan Danielson beat C.M. Punk in the finals. Danielson in the tournament beat Colt Cabana, Austin Aries, A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe to reach the finals.
Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. today for the Defy Wrestling/Progress/PCW Ultra joint shows on 7/30 in Los Angeles at the ILWU Hall, 7/31 and 8/1 in Seattle at Washington Hall. Tickets for the 8/2 show in Portland, OR at the Crystal Ballroom go on sale at a later date.
MLW airs the first show of its MLW vs. AAA series taped on 3/13 in Tijuana tomorrow night. Alexander Hammerstone vs. Laredo Kid for the national title headlines.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected another sports entity as the XFL announced in a Friday internal conference call that they are suspending operations and all employees have been laid off.
It’s unclear if the suspension means the fledgling football organization is done forever, but given the uncertainty of the economy in the wake of the global health crisis, that is a strong possibility with an ESPN report saying the league has no plans to return next season.
Less than a month ago, Vince McMahon’s second go-round at a football league suspended the rest of their season as did all other active and between season sports leagues. Over the past two-plus years, the WWE chairman had sold nearly $300 million in stock in order to fund the league through Alpha Entertainment, a separate LLC.
The league debuted on a variety of networks this spring (ESPN, ABC, Fox, FS1) to good ratings that dwindled over the weeks, but still remained strong. The goal was to eventually secure a traditional rights deal for guaranteed money, but with teams only managing to play just five games on their schedule, it never had the opportunity to fully realize its first season since the first iteration launched in 2001.
Our Dave Meltzer speculated on Twitter that the WWE’s recent stock price drops contributed to the decision in addition to the economy and the league’s ability to get a TV deal due to those economic uncertainties.
The inaugural season of Vince McMahon’s XFL revival is officially over.
A statement issued by the XFL on Friday announced that — due to the coronavirus pandemic and the most recent local and state regulations — the remainder of the 2020 season is canceled. The statement reiterated that the XFL looks forward to playing full seasons in 2021 and beyond.
Five weeks of the XFL season were played before it was announced on March 12 that play was being suspended. “Currently, the XFL will not be playing its regular-season games,” the league said at the time. “However, all players will be paid their base pay and benefits for the 2020 regular season. All XFL ticket holders will be issued refunds or credit toward future games.”
Players will be allowed to sign with NFL teams if NFL teams are interested in them.
Today’s statement from the XFL is available below:
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the most recent local and state regulations, have left the XFL no choice but to officially cancel the remainder of the 2020 season. This decision has been made with the health and safety of the entire XFL family as our top priority.
While we are disappointed to not complete the 2020 season, our hearts are full of appreciation for your overwhelming support.
Your passion, your commitment to your favorite XFL team and your love of football made our season a success beyond our wildest dreams. We’re grateful for the incredible response and look forward to playing full seasons for you — and with you — in 2021 and beyond.
When our teams return to the field, we’ll make every effort to ensure your faith in us is rewarded with even more fun and excitement. Your passion is our purpose, and everything we do, every day and for every season to come, is For the Love of Football.
We hope you will stay connected to our league and team social and digital channels for news, features, and updates along the way.
From all of us at the XFL, be safe, stay healthy, and, again, thank you. Here’s to 2021!
Less than six weeks after their relaunch began, Vince McMahon’s XFL season has come to an end — the latest sports league to fall victim to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak.
“Currently, the XFL will not be playing its regular-season games. However, all players will be paid their base pay and benefits for the 2020 regular season. All XFL ticket holders will be issued refunds or credit toward future games. The XFL is committed to playing a full season in 2021 and future years.”
Of note, the word “currently” and “regular season” are curious choices, seemingly indicating that decision could change and/or they could have playoffs.
The XFL had held its own ratings-wise through their first five weeks across ABC, Fox, ESPN, and FS1, declining every week from a robust opening weekend but not nearly at the rate the 2001 version did.
After turning down an offer from the founders of the now-defunct AAFL to buy the trademarks and all intellectual property, McMahon announced the formation of Alpha Entertainment in 2019, a separate entity from WWE, and that he was going to relaunch it instead.
Ratings fell in week five of the XFL as the NCAA basketball conference tournament championships took center stage in the sports world.
Saturday —
The XFL’s early game on ABC held its audience better than anything else this week, dropping just 0.7 percent. The game between the league-leading Houston Roughnecks and the Seattle Dragons averaged 1.547 million viewers. It did 496,000 viewers in the 18-49 category.
Ratings for the afternoon network shows are not available, but the XFL’s total audience beat every other sports show on Saturday except for the other XFL game and an NCAA basketball game between North Carolina and Duke.
The afternoon XFL game aired on FOX and averaged 1.497 million viewers. That was down 16.9 percent from last week, but it’s notable that the game aired directly opposite the aforementioned basketball game. The 531,000 viewers in 18-49 was good for second place on TV for all sports programming.
Sunday —
Both XFL games aired on cable on Sunday. The early game was on FS1 and averaged 767,000 viewers. That was down 23.6 percent from the previous game to air on the station and was the first game for the league to fall below one million viewers. The game did a 0.21 rating in the 18-49 category and finished 22nd overall on cable in that demo.
There was heavy sports competition on Sunday, including NBA basketball, multiple college basketball games, NHL hockey, PGA golf, and NASCAR.
The late game aired in primetime on ESPN and averaged 833,000 viewers. The 0.33 rating in 18-49 was good for fifth on the day on cable TV, but the overall number was down 43.4 percent from the last game to air on ESPN. That said, TV competition is much tougher on Sunday night with HBO as well as the major networks all having first-run programming.
We’ve got a WrestleMania update with new matches, an updated card, details on the women’s aspect of the show with new bouts and stars from the past who are scheduled and who are not scheduled.
Also covered in the new issue:
Ticket sales for all the WWE shows that week, as well as how the secondary market is doing right now for the WWE & AEW major events.
More on both the Super Showdown and Elimination Chamber shows.
How the Coronavirus has affected some major shows that were scheduled. We look at the Stardom cancellations, the empty arena show on YouTube, another promotion with a worldwide audience doing an empty arena show, as well a how New Japan is handling the situation.
Complete coverage of NXT Takeover Portland, with business notes, update on Matt Riddle, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.
Update WWE talks regarding how WrestleMania will be broadcast this year, what AEW should be looking for, XFL ratings and analysis, NXT Japan update, Tito Ortiz training with WWE, Bill Goldberg’s dates, former WWE star tells story about Trump, new WWE documentary, Matt Hardy update, Injury updates, foreign ratings, return of John Cena, WWE bans former star from getting talent for their podcast and why, debut of former top star in Mexico, update on MSG, stock price update, most-watched shows on the WWE Network as well as a look at all the NXT and WWE arena events held over the past week.
Complete coverage of the UFC show from Rio Rancho, NM this past week, with business notes.
Update on the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.
A note on the biggest Wednesday night ratings movers.
Revolution Pro High Stakes headlined by Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr., and how Ospreay’s in-ring style has changed so much over the past year. We look at how pro wrestling handles weight classes as compared to real sports, why going back in time may provide a more updated view than what we have now about weight classes and pro wrestling.
2019 stats on WWE performers including who won this year’s Iron Man award, a well as wins and losses.
Our 2019 Awards ballot.
Regarding the Wednesday numbers, we’ve got full details, demos that each side won, how every segment did and what match ended up as the difference maker.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer radio covering Raw, UFC, BTE and taking your email questions that you can send to [email protected]. We’re looking for reports on Main Event and dark matches from Winnipeg’s Raw tonight to [email protected].
As has been expected for some time, Henry Cejudo will defend the UFC bantamweight title against Jose Aldo on the UFC 250 PPV on 5/19 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Cejudo has been recovering from a shoulder injury and as we’ll note tonight, this match, for all the right reasons, has been heavily criticized since Aldo is 0-1 as a bantamweight and there are legit contenders out there like Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling.
For nostalgia, Dory Funk Jr. has announced a first time ever pairing in the main event of his Saturday night main event at Belleview High School in Belleview, FL at the gym with Dory teaming with Rick & Scott Steiner against Jake Logan & Shane Chung & Blain Rage.
We have some XFL market ratings. On Saturday, the ABC game, Houston vs Tampa Bay, did a 0.7 in New York, 1.3 in Los Angeles, 1.3 in Chicago, 1.2 in Philadelphia, 2.3 in Dallas, 1.0 in San Francisco, 1.1 in DC, 3.5 in Houston and 1.7 in Atlanta. the FOX game, Dallas vs. Seattle, did a 0.7 in New York, 1.3 in Los Angeles, 1.4 in Chicago, 1.5 in Philadelphia, 3.1 in Dallas, 0.8 in San Francisco, 2.1 in DC, 2.0 in Houston and 2.2 in Atlanta. The ESPN ratings on Sunday were much lower, with the early game doing nothing above a 1.0 and the later game with nothing above an 0.8.
Kevin Iole reported that Deontay Wilder today said he was not happy with corner man Mark Breland for throwing in the towel. I get that, but the corner has to look out for their fighters career. He said his poor performance was because the 45 pound costume he wore to the ring blew up his legs and they were gone once the fight started, and he will exercise the automatic rematch clause in his contract ad will be making the necessary changes. He also blamed referee Kenny Bayless for allowing Fury to punch him to the back of the head after telling Wilder he would DQ him for the exact same thing in the dressing room before the fight.
WWE
The expectation with how rare Winnipeg gets television tapings and that Winnipeg is usually a very hot house show crowd, that the crowd will be great reacting tonight. The crowd prediction is 11,800, which would be a sellout or close, based on what a Raw taping can seat.
There is some concern from WWE about chants or posters for Chris Jericho at tonights’ show.
Brock Lesnar is on the show which means Paul Heyman as a television character. Angel Garza vs. Humberto Carrillo and a rematch from last week with Aleister Black vs. Erick Rowan have been announced.
Andrade is in Winnipeg but since his suspension isn’t up for a few more days, he won’t be on the show. But he will be flying to Saudi Arabia immediately after the show as all the talent going to Saudi Arabia is being chartered out from Winnipeg tonight .
Charlotte Flair is not on tonight’s show as her grandfather on her mother’s side passed away over the last few days. That’s also why she wasn’t at last night’s show in Brandon, Manitoba after doing promotional work for the show.
It was a very bad day for the stock market in general due to a number of concerns. Due to that, a lot of Friday’s WWE stock gains were overturned as the stock closed today at $48.72 per share, down $1.51 per share.
The company announced dates for its August tour of Australia and New Zealand. They will be running 8/6 in Melbourne, 8/7 in Sydney and 8/8 in Auckland, New Zealand.
WWE is pushing this week as the 10th anniversary of NXT. It’s actually the 10th anniversary of the first season of the reality show called NXT on Syfy that replaced ECW on the station. NXT as a promotion started in the summer of 2012.
Nikki and Brie Bella along with Daniel Bryan will be guests tomorrow night on WWE Backstage on FS1.
The NXT U.K. show will be airing at 10 a.m. Eastern Thursday morning because of the Saudi Arabia show being in its regular time slot.
Arab News has a story on the Bayley vs. Naomi match on Thursday in Saudi Arabia.
AEW
In the latest episode of Japanese animation “Isekai Quartet”, one of their characters did Walls of Jericho.
CWE has announced Savio Vega appearing on shows 5/26 to 5/29 including 5/27 in Winnipeg and 5/29 in Saskatoon.
Premier Championship Wrestling from Winnipeg on Saturday night: Moses Luke b Tony Novak, Antonio Scorpio b EZ Ryder, Jay Walker b ATM, London Bro’s b American Psychos-DQ, Jason Geiger b Sammy Peppers, Travis Cole & Bobby Schink & Kylie Morgan b Adam Knight & Sydney Steele & Angelica. The next show is the company’s 18th anniversary show on 3/28 at Doubles Bar in Winnipeg.
World Series Wrestling out of Australia, which brings tours of U.S. stars, has announced shows for 6/13 and 6/14 in Melbourne and 6/15 in Sydney. The first night they are going head-to-head with Melbourne City Wrestling’s biggest show of the year, Ballroom Brawl. Most of the top Australian talent is working the MCW show and they booked the date back in October.
Newcastle (Australia) Pro Wrestling on 3/28 featuring Robbie Eagles. (thanks to Kevin Chiar)
Combate Americas has announced a 3/27 date in San Antonio at the Freeman Coliseum on AXS TV and Univision with Andre Barquero (7-2) vs. Victor Madrigal (8-3) for their interim bantamweight title. Also announced is Angel Cruz (6-4) vs. Raymond Guzman (0-0).
Shark Boy has been announced for the 4/3 Impact nostalgia show at the Ritz in Ybor City, FL.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix on 2/27 in Omaha at the Waiting Room Lounge.
The ABC early game on Saturday averaged an 0.8 rating in the 18-34 demo. The late game on FOX averaged a 0.9 — which topped all of television in that category — and the ABC game actually finished second. In 18-49, both games averaged a 1.1 rating, also topping all shows on television for the day.
Sunday afternoon’s FOX game averaged a 0.8 rating in 18-34. That beat out everything on network television for the day with the exception of coverage of the Oscars ceremony, traditionally one of the higher rated shows of the year on broadcast TV. That game averaged a 1.0 in 18-49, also beating out everything except Oscar coverage.
The Sunday game on ESPN averaged a 0.81 rating in 18-34 and a 0.93 in 18-49. Both numbers topped all of cable television for the day and beat out everything on the networks with the exception of the other XFL game and the Oscars.
**********
Weekend ratings are in for the start of Vince McMahon’s revival of the XFL.
ABC had previously announced 3.3 million viewers for the early afternoon game on Saturday which also had a 2.07 broadcast rating.
Similarly, Fox’s Saturday late afternoon game between the Los Angeles Wildcats and Houston Roughnecks averaged 3.29 million viewers and a 1.91 rating.
On Sunday, the early afternoon game on Fox between the Tampa Bay Vipers and New York Guardians averaged 3.385 million viewers and a 2.10 household rating — the highest rated game of the opening weekend.
Sunday’s late afternoon game on ESPN between the St. Louis BattleHawks and Dallas Renegades on ESPN did a very strong 2.495 million viewers and a 1.43 rating, a cable channel with about 30% less total audience reach than the major networks.
The ESPN number was higher than any UFC broadcast has ever done on that network and beat out what most NBA games do in better time slots.
The XFL broadcasts were the top rated sports programming of the weekend with the exception of Sunday’s PGA’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am. If you average the coverage of both Saturday and Sunday for each sport, the XFL won out.
ESPN reported that the XFL debut featuring the Seattle Dragons vs. the DC Defenders averaged 3.3 million viewers on ABC Saturday, peaking at four million viewers for the closing quarter of the game.
The relaunched league owned by WWE chairman Vince McMahon debuted Saturday with an early afternoon game on ABC and a late afternoon game on Fox. Sunday’s early afternoon game also aired on Fox with ESPN taking the Sunday late afternoon game. Ratings for all four games should be available Monday afternoon.
The strongest market for the debut was Seattle/Tacoma, which averaged a 6.4 rating. followed by Columbus, OH, and Cleveland, OH, both traditionally strong football markets that averaged 4.6 and 4.5 respectively. The Washington DC area averaged a 4.0.
As a comparison, the debut week of the AAF in 2019 averaged 2.9 million viewers for that league’s debut on CBS. That game aired in prime time, however, so it may not be a fair comparison. The original XFL averaged a 9.5 rating on NBC in 2001, but fell 52% in week two and had a similar drop in week three and had what were, at the time, record low network TV ratings by the fourth week. The network cancelled its coverage of the league by the end of the season.
Saturday’s broadcast was widely praised for unique innovations such as live coverage of the replay officials’ reviews of controversial calls and live mics which showed coaches calling plays to the key players.
The hype for the return of the XFL picked up today with the team names and logos for the league being revealed.
XFL CEO and commissioner Oliver Luck, ESPN’s Laura Rutledge, and Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd revealed the names and logos. The eight teams for the league are listed below, along with their head coach and general manager:
St. Louis BattleHawks (Jonathan Hayes)
Tampa Bay Vipers (Marc Trestman)
New York Guardians (Kevin Gilbride)
Seattle Dragons (Jim Zorn)
LA Wildcats (Winston Moss)
DC Defenders (Pep Hamilton)
Houston Roughnecks (June Jones)
Dallas Renegades (Bob Stoops)
The inaugural season of the revived XFL will kick off on Saturday, February 8 and Sunday, February 9, 2020. In May, the XFL announced a television deal that will see games air on ABC, FOX, ESPN, ESPN2, and FS1. The playoffs will take place on April 18 and April 19, with the championship game airing on ESPN on April 26.
The return of the XFL was officially announced by Vince McMahon at a media event in January 2018. The cities and venues for the league’s teams were then revealed last December.
Last week, quarterback Landry Jones was confirmed as the first player who has signed with the XFL.
Video of the team names and logos being revealed is available to watch below:
Vince McMahon’s XFL relaunch officially has several broadcast partners, but without the financial windfall of rights fees they might have expected.
The football league announced Monday that ESPN and Fox Sports will share in broadcast rights for the entire regular season and playoffs with games on ABC, Fox, ESPN, ESPN2, and FS1 both Saturdays and Sundays.
Kicking off in 2020, opening day will be on February 8 with the championship game scheduled for Sunday, April 26.
More than half of the XFL’s games will be on ABC and Fox, something they expect will help increase exposure as it returns for the first time since its infamous one-and-done season in 2001.
“The networks are not paying a rights fee, but ESPN and Fox are picking up production costs, which generally amount to around $400,000 per game, sources said. As part of the deal, the nets will sell ads around the game; the XFL will handle sponsorships at the venue. ESPN and Fox will hold streaming rights to XFL games. The two nets also will cross-promote games during game broadcasts.”
At 43 games, that adds up to roughly $17.2 million.
McMahon has sold a lot of his WWE stock to privately fund the XFL through Alpha Entertainment which he has said will run completely separate from WWE.
Perhaps part of hesitancy into a large rights fee deal was due to the disaster that was the AAF, a competitor that launched this season on CBS Sports with money troubles from the onset. The league didn’t make it through its first year and ultimately may have a legacy of gambling technology instead of anything that happened on the field.
Fox acquired the rights to WWE SmackDown for more than $1 billion over five years that kicks off this September on the broadcast network.
A significant milestone in WWE history was confirmed last week as the company announced that Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair will headline WrestleMania 35.
Instead of leaving the decision to the last minute, WWE wisely sent out a Monday morning press release on March 25 confirming that the first women’s main event in WrestleMania history would take place this year. An accompanying article was posted on WWE.com, but the announcement was clearly intended for mainstream audiences. The next day, Rousey, Lynch, and Charlotte appeared together on ESPN’s SportsCenter to promote their match.
The Conor McGregor situation is the lead story in the current issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Look at the investigation into him, his retirement, the timing, and why the retirement and Dana White’s reactions are both a public bluffing game.
Read the update on the WrestleMania card, both matches announced and those not yet announced, the Charlotte Flair title win and what it changes about the show, the multiple changes in the top part of the show, the women in the main event, the interest level in the different shows that week and more.
Also look at the New Japan Cup, with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, on the entire last week of the tournament and the final show.
Look at Vince McMahon’s stock sale, how much he sold, how much he got and why, as well as the XFL launch and problems with the AAF. Look at the AAF’s new goal.
Look at the retirement of the Bella Twins and their careers, the value of Total Divas and their future plans.
Examine the lawsuit settlement with the wrestlers who have sued Lucha Underground, and the interesting note of the person who backed out of the suit.
Also look at Cain Velasquez’s crossing over into pro wrestling and his deal with AAA, including what they attempted to do with him, the storyline building him up and the wrestlers it looks like he’ll appear with.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
by Bryan Rose and Joseph Currier
WWE
SmackDown tonight will be at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. The show’s highlight will be a Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan contract signing for their match at WrestleMania. AJ Styles and Randy Orton will also appear on the Kevin Owens Show.
205 Live has Mike Kanellis facing Akira Tozawa, with Maria Kanellis and Brian Kendrick in their respective corners.
The Alliance of American Football, which was once seen as a rival to the upcoming revival of the XFL, is reportedly suspending its football operations according to Darren Rovell. The league still had four more weeks of games remaining, including their championship game. They haven’t folded completely yet, but it may be heading in tat direction. Vince McMahon decided to revive the XFL after Charlie Ebersol, one of the founders of the AAF, proposed using the XFL trademarks for their football league.
Dean Ambrose made an appearance after Raw went off the air last night, laying out Baron Corbin with the dirty deeds.
Speaking to CBS Sports, Triple H seemed confident that Chyna would get her own induction into the WWE Hall of Fame one day. When asked about her induction within DX, he replied “It’s awesome. I’m thrilled for her as the human being that I knew, for her family and for her sister, who I knew. There is probably not a woman who has ever made as big of an impact as she did. Somebody that transcended the business on her own and I’m sure will be in the Hall of Fame sometime on her own. I think it’s fitting she is in there with DX in the beginning because it’s how she started, and I think it’s what it should be.”
Charlie Morgan, who was injured at the recent SHIMMER tapings, does not have torn ligaments but rather has a sprained ankle. She will take time off but will be back in action.
In a correction from a RISE 13 report from yesterday, Alisha Edwards vs. Bel Pierce was not a dark match, it was taped for the show.
WWN Live posted a video of Josh Briggs injuring his knee at EVOLVE 124. He hopes to be back at 100% by this summer.
Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov got into an altercation at today’s Bare Knuckle FC media day, with Malignaggi slapping Lobov. Lobov is a friend of Conor McGregor, while Malignaggi is a rival of McGregor’s from his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather. Bare Knuckle FC has yet to book a fight between Malignaggi and Lobov.
Stevie Ray will face Leonardo Santos at UFC Fight Night 152 in Stockholm, Sweden on June 1st.
UFC’s YouTube page has uploaded the Israel Adesanya/Anderson Silva match from February in its entirety.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Event:
Saturday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
The XFL has unveiled a high-profile name as the head coach and general manager of its Dallas team.
At a press event at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas today, XFL commissioner and CEO Oliver Luck officially named Bob Stoops as the head coach and GM of the league’s Dallas team. Stoops is the first coach/GM to be announced for the XFL’s revival.
The 58-year-old Stoops was the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners from 1999-2016. During his time leading the team, the Sooners won the college football national championship once and won the Big 12 conference ten times.
Stoops unexpectedly retired as the Sooners’ coach in June 2017.
Jim Ross, who is friends with Stoops, tweeted about the announcement: “Excited for this….Bob Stoops is one of my best pals.”
The first season of the revived XFL will begin on February 8-9, 2020, which is the weekend after next year’s Super Bowl. There will be eight teams, with Dallas (Arlington), New York (East Rutherford, New Jersey), Houston, Los Angeles (Carson), St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Washington D.C. as the host cities for them.
All of the head coaches will also be the GMs of the teams.
The XFL has yet to announce a television deal, though Sports Business Journal reported last month that the XFL is in “deep” discussions on a deal that would see two thirds of the league’s games air on Fox, FS1, ABC, and ESPN.
Charlie Ebersol’s Alliance of American Football, a competitor to the XFL, will kick off this Saturday.
