10 months ago
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Looking to fill the springtime void between NFL seasons, the XFL and USFL were both founded with the expressed intent to become America's primary alternative football league. XFL saw two iterations, first a shuttered start-up from Vince McMahon in 2001. He would later revive the project in 2018 before filing for bankruptcy in 2020. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson acquired the brand from McMahon, but announced last year he would be merging his league with the USFL to produce the UFL. Following his appointment to the board of directors for TKO Group Holdings — WWE's parent company — yesterday, Johnson touted the football league merger during an interview with ESPN.
"I think it's going to work out, we've got a real shot with this now that we've merged XFL [and] USFL together to create UFL. We found great success last season with the XFL, USFL on their side found some really great success too," said Johnson, "As a guy who just loves a game of football, put my hands in the dirt, that was my dream. [It] never happened for me. But now as life comes full circle we're able to create these opportunities." Johnson recalled being on the cusp of being drafted to the NFL, but there was no go-between for him to get the experience he would have needed after college football. He said that's why the UFL is so significant, allowing for those players like himself to carve a new path in their careers.
"53 men on an NFL roster, I was always number 54. 'DJ you're good, if you were a little better, if you had more experience then you would have made it,' Johnson said, reflecting. "We provide that experience. Being a number 54 created a chip on my shoulder that never went away. The players that come to us, you'll find are playing with that chip."
