Getting a grip: XFL may live again, new WWE show in '18, women's Royal Rumble match

Brian Fritz

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Getting a grip: XFL may live again, new WWE show in '18, women's Royal Rumble match image

Each week, Sporting News runs down the biggest stories in the world of professional wrestling.

XFL making a return?

In the final minutes of the ESPN “30 For 30” documentary “This Was The XFL”, former NBC Sports chairman and XFL co-founder Dick Ebersol asks Vince McMahon about the failed football league: “Do you ever have thoughts about trying again?”

Of course, McMahon responded with “Yes, I do”.

So, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when word started making the rounds recently that the WWE CEO was looking to revive the XFL.

Soon after that tweet, Deadspin reached out to the WWE and was told that McMahon has established a personal-funded company, Alpha Entertainment, and is looking to “explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football”.

In other words — yes, Vince McMahon is looking to bring back the XFL.

MORE: A brief oral history of the failings of the XFL

The failure of the football league has always picked away at the uber-competitive McMahon. With the amount of the money being thrown around these days for sports television rights fees, the WWE boss may feel like someone will pony up for league whether on cable or network television or possibly another platform such as Facebook that is looking for original content.

If the XFL rises from the dead, don’t look for McMahon to once again tout the violence of the game as a hook for viewers like he did in the first go-around. There’s also a distinct possibility that it may not be called the XFL considering the stigma that comes with it.

Public records show that Alpha Entertainment has also filed for trademarks on UFL, United Football League, For The Love of Football, URFL, and UrFL.  In other words, “your football”.

While there is big money flowing to leagues such as the NFL, NBA, and MLB for its broadcast rights, the question is how much could a start-up league like this fetch? Is there a sizable audience for a football league using players that simply aren’t good enough to make it on an NFL roster?

Time will tell. In the meantime, we’ll have to wait until next month to find out more details on what exactly McMahon has in mind.

More WWE programming coming in 2018

WWE recently announced that it is launching a new series that will air exclusively on the Facebook Watch feature.

The Mixed Match Challenge will be a mixed tag-team format including stars from both "RAW" and "SmackDown" competing in the 12-week series with the winners receiving $100,000 for the charity of their choice.

This will be a bit different from other WWE programming in the way it is both produced and consumed with it being heavy on innovation and interactive with fans.

Dan Reed, Facebook Head of Global Sports Partnerships, explained it like this: “Fans will be able to directly influence and interact with the in-ring action, follow the rivalries and storylines in between events, and connect with one another as the drama unfolds.”

MORE: Kurt Angle speaks on the drastic changes in WWE over the last decade

It’s a smart play for WWE to test out programming on a platform like Facebook that is currently looking for new and original content to air on its Watch feature. Anytime you can get paid for your content — which is happening in this deal — you take the money.

While WWE is adding more content to an already busy schedule, Mixed Match Challenge is a new concept. The show, which debuts on Jan. 16, is only 20-minutes long with "205 Live" starting immediately following it on the WWE Network for those 12 weeks.

Facebook, along with Twitter and Amazon, could be players in trying to land sports broadcast rights for major sports leagues and WWE would like to get in the mix. It’s current television contract with USA Network and NBC Universal doesn’t expire until September 2019 but WWE has already said that it would like to have its next deal in place within the next ten months.

WWE is expected to re-up with USA Network but it would like an increase in broadcast rights fees. A substantial bump won’t happen unless there are other suitors — or at least perceived ones — bidding for their rights.
 

Women’s Royal Rumble

Stephanie McMahon broke the news during the final moments of “RAW” on Monday this January’s Royal Rumble event will feature the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match.

The announcement came off a bit clunky with the entire “RAW” female roster brawling in the ring only to suddenly stop and stand side-by-side as McMahon shared the news. Still, it’s yet another wonderful achievement for the women to showcase themselves and get a more equal opportunity as their male counterparts.

No word yet on how many women from “RAW” and “SmackDown” will be in the match — likely 20 or possibly 30 — but the winner will earn a championship match at WrestleMania 34 in April.

One of the staples of the Rumble match over the years has been surprise entrants making you wonder if that could happen here. If so, there’s plenty of good choices from NXT’s Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce and Billy Kaye to indie stars such as Tessa Blanchard and Mia Yim. Another name to look out for is former MMA star Shayna Baszler who won the inaugural “Mae Young Classic” over the summer and is set to make her NXT debut shortly.

There is also the possibility of a former star making a return, which could open up a lot of intriguing possibilities.

Clash of Champions fallout

It was a solid night of in-ring action at Sunday’s event in Boston but not particularly a memorable one as WWE looks to move out of 2017 and onto the road to WrestleMania.

As expected, AJ Styles successfully defended the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal to seemingly bring an end to their months-long rivalry.

Styles is now faced with some intriguing opponents including the potential of a WrestleMania dream showdown with Shinsuke Nakamura. The bigger question: what is next for Mahal?

After years of being used as a lower-rung performer, Mahal was quickly thrust to the top of the card over the summer in becoming the WWE Champion. Some will herald the opportunity he was given as a fresh headliner added to the mix. Others will point out that the act with the Singh Brothers become redundant and Mahal remains a step below other top “SmackDown” stars in the ring.

WWE will not — and should not — give up on him and some retooling along with being in the mix for the United States championship could be in his future.

Speaking of that title, Dolph Ziggler surprisingly came away with it following the Triple Threat match with Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode only to seemingly advocate the title and tease quitting days later on “SmackDown”.

Could a heel run be coming for Shane McMahon? The blue brand commissioner refused to count to three when Zayn and Owens has their match won against Nakamura and Randy Orton because of his dislike for the pair. That led to an upset Daniel Bryan delivering a fast count moments later in the interest of fairness with Zayn and Owens scoring the controversial finish.

Normally, this would be leading to a match between the “SmackDown” management duo but Bryan still isn’t cleared to wrestle. Instead, the two will likely continue to argue on the weekly TV show and a power move could be coming. 


Dean Ambrose injured

The Shield reunion is over … for now.

That’s because Dean Ambrose is sidelined following surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn triceps tendon where, according to Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, he "basically tore about 50 percent of the triceps tendon away from the bone". No specifics were given on how long he will be sidelined but he’s expected to be out of action for several months.

The Shield reuniting several months ago was an instant hit and something that WWE could have easily kept going until WrestleMania.

The company will now have to figure out what is next for Seth Rollins who, along with Ambrose, have been embroiled over a months-long feud with The Bar for the “RAW” tag team titles. The decision could be as easy as fellow Shield member Roman Reigns taking Ambrose’s spot for the near future or Rollins going back to singles competition and another team challenging Sheamus and Cesaro for the championship.

Chris Jericho – Kenny Omega feud ramps up

While the upcoming Jan. 4 Wrestle Kingdom 12 showdown between Jericho and Omega is being billed as a dream match, the two are taking it up a notch into a bitter rivalry.

Minutes after Omega helped his Bullet Club teammates score a victory at the recent New Japan Pro Wrestling event in Fukuoka, Japan, a video of Jericho appeared on the big screen where he vowed to beat Omega next month.

Then in a huge surprise, Jericho was in the ring.

What followed was an outright, old school assault as Jericho left Omega in a bloody heap as he destroyed everyone who came in his path including English announcer Don Callis.

The intensity went up another level the following day during a press conference in Japan when Omega was looking for revenge and attacked Jericho in what turned out to be a vicious brawl before it was broken up.

Afterwards, Jericho declared that the Jan. 4 showdown would be a war and he promised that it could be Omega last match in Japan.

Jericho and Omega have tapped into something visceral and emotional in this storyline, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in years. The personal animosity between the two feels as real as it gets, adding to the anticipation of their match.

That is now being billed as the co-main event alongside the IWGP heavyweight championship bout between Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito. That is no small distinction for a New Japan show, especially Wrestle Kingdom, the promotion’s biggest event of the year.

News and notes

— Look out America: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says he is seriously considering a presidential run. The Hollywood A-lister told Variety that his schedule is already full through 2021 but he is thinking about running for the highest office in 2024. Don’t discount his chances considering how incredibly charismatic and passionate he is along with his unique ability to connect with people. Imagine the debates between himself and Donald Trump — that would be must-see TV.

— AJ Mendez — known as AJ Lee in WWE — revealed that he best-selling autobiography “Crazy is my Superpower: How I Triumphed Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules” is going to be developed into a TV show. The production company behind it also worked on the Emmy nominated NatGeo series “Genius”.

 Mendez will serve as a writer and executive producer for the show.

— Noam Dar is off the Zo Train for a while as the “205 Live” star recently underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Dar suffered the injury back on Nov. 27 during the Fatal 4-Way match to determine the #1 contender for the Cruiserweight championship.  He’s expected to be sidelined close to five months.

— This has to be considered as one of the wrestling tweets of the year.

Brian Fritz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.

Brian Fritz

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Brian Fritz is a contributor with The Sporting News covering the NBA and NFL who previously worked at BasketballNews. He is a 20-year veteran of sports talk radio in Orlando, Florida, after graduating from the University of Central Florida. He now resides in Durham, North Carolina.