If there was anybody with the self-belief and confidence to take a business that had suffered two very high-profile failures already – losing an estimated $100 million in the process – and then turn it into a success at the third time of asking, then Dwayne Johnson would be pretty high on the list.
After all, the self-proclaimed “hardest worker in the room” had lived up to his moniker as being Franchise Viagra by resuscitating a string of failing Hollywood brands and driving them towards record high box office totals, so why couldn’t he apply that approach to the XFL and ensure it managed to live beyond a single season for the first time ever?
In fairness, that’s exactly what he did, with the third iteration of the NFL alternative becoming the maiden enterprise to be guaranteed a stay of execution, even if there were even more substantial financial losses that ran into the tens of millions of dollars, never mind The Rock being forced to bat away accusations the outfit had quietly lost its TV deal.
However, in an unexpected development, the superstar actor and producer took to social media with an incredibly vague statement revealing the XFL has become the subject of a merger, with the group joining forces with the USFL, itself a longstanding secondary league. What does it mean? Details are scarce at the moment, but there’s sure to be more coming in the near future.
The XFL isn’t necessarily doomed, but if it at the very least undergoes a rebranding, then technically you could call it the third consecutive attempt at launching the exact same thing to have been quietly swept under the rug at the very first hurdle. Johnson isn’t one for failure, though, so you can expect him to go out of his way in an effort to make it work.