RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – APRIL 15: Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) and Vin Diesel (R) pose for photographers during the premiere of the movie “Fast and Furious 5” at Cinepolis Lagoon on April 15, 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/LatinContent via Getty Images)
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is part of an investment group that has purchased — and potentially saved — the XFL.
Usually, The Rock’s heroics involve saving the world somehow. Whether it’s battling ancient Egyptian demons, helping the Fast and Furious crew save the day, or battling things like Mother Nature and skyscrapers, there doesn’t seem to be a scenario in which The Rock can’t make it all better.
Add bankruptcy to the foils that The Rock has been able to defeat. According to Sportico, Dwayne Johnson has helped purchase the XFL for $15 million in a move that will likely not simply save the league from failing but could reignite it in a way that was originally envisioned by Vince McMahon all those years ago.
Everything gets better when The Rock gets involved, whether it be his role in the late-90s WWE boom or the billions of dollars he’s pulled in at the box office, to his foray into prestige television with Ballers, The Rock can’t lose. Think about where the Fast and Furious franchise was when The Rock joined the cast and look at where it is now — that’s the track history he takes with him to the XFL and why his involvement is tremendously exciting.
Twice the XFL has tried to gain traction as an alternate to the NFL and twice it has failed. What made the second failure of the league sting so bad is that it was actually working, and had a horrible and woefully unprepared response to a global pandemic not destroyed the American economy, there’s a decent chance that the second iteration of the XFL would have lived on.
Now The Rock has a chance to work that heroic magic of his to save the day for an entire business. What was working about the XFL this time around was an elevated level of talent, combined with a small encyclopedia of problems that arose the first time and actual solutions to avoid them this second time around. Gone were the gimmicks and the rampant sexism that saturated the XFL at the turn of the century and in its place was a product that was less an alternate to the NFL as much as it was a supplement to it.
The Rock’s can’t-lose resume seems to suggest that the third time might be the charm for the XFL. With sports returning — and thirst for them that seems unquenchable — The Rock might be about to pull off his best revival trick yet.