After the XFL was initially launched in 2001, it had its fair share of success, but unfortunately, it also met it’s a demise in the same year it was established. After the league ended, ESPN created a documentary film highlighting the creation of the XFL as well as it’s the success and its failures. ESPN described the creation of the XFL as a bold challenge, a fearless experiment and ultimately, a spectacular failure.
30 For 30 This Was The XFL
In the film, it was shown that in 2001 sports entertainment titans Dick Ebersol and Vince McMahon launched the XFL. This was hardly the first time a league had tried to compete with the NFL, but the brash audacity of Ebersol & McMahon, combined with their personalities and charisma and the marketing behemoths of their respective companies – NBC and WWE, captured headlines and a sense of undeniable anticipation about what was to come.
The film “This Was the XFL” was directed by Dick Ebersol’s son Charlie and it tells the entire story of the XFL in a fascinating, candid, and often rollicking fashion. The film tells the story of all that went wrong, but also, how the XFL ended up redefining the way professional team sports are being broadcasted today. And at the center of it all, it shows a decade long friendship between one of the most significant television executives in media history and the one-of-a-kind pro wrestling impresario. “This Was the XFL” will explore how Ebersol and McMahon brought the XFL to life, and why they had to let it go.
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