The Big Flop - Even The Rock Couldn't Save the Original XFL with Annie Agar and Noah Gardenswartz | 21

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

In 2001, wrestling mogul Vince McMahon attempted to conquer new sports territory by founding a violent, horny football league meant to compete with the NFL. McMahon's focus on entertainment and disregard for safety created an on-field product that was as weird as it was boring. In the end, not even sexy cheerleaders could save the XFL, or as McMahon liked to call it, the "Extra Fun League."Social media sports superstar Annie Agar and comedian Noah Gardenswartz (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) join Misha to tackle the topic of the "extremely f-ed" XFL.Follow The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's a typical mid-January afternoon in Oakland, California. The year is 2001. Lunchtime. The Oyster Reef restaurant is full of hungry diners digging into hefty plates of calamari and spicy curried prawns. The service is decent.

The retro decor, pleasant. What better place is there to be than a quaint dockside seafood joint? But, um, what's that unsettling sound? The patrons look up from their fish and chips to see an unmanned blimp meandering towards them. The blimp crew, unable to make a safe landing, have jumped. Diners toss their biscuits and run screaming out of the way as the blimp drapes itself around the establishment. The blimp engulfs the oyster reef, causing millions of dollars in property damage. Thankfully, none of the restaurant guests are hurt.

In the tangle of masks and uneaten seafood, the blimp goes limp. As it slowly deflates, lookers-on read the three bold red letters emblazoned on its side. XFL. This is a new extreme football league, and with its kickoff season only weeks away, this is a very bad omen. Before the year is out, much like their ill-fated blimp, the league will crash. The XFL is ready to launch its new brand of smash-mouth football. Will it fly like creator Vince McMahon's pro wrestling empire? You're 300 pounds!

Or crash like the league's blimp. Can you guarantee me right now that there will be a year two for the XFL? What a ridiculous statement. It's not a statement, it's a question. It's a question, I beg your pardon. If this turns out to be a grand scale failure. You want to let me finish here for a second, pal? Shut your mouth and let me answer the question, all right?

I'll be happy to answer. On behalf of the players, we simply say thank you. Thank you for the privilege of competing before you here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the XFL! We are on a sinking ship From Wondery and At Will Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time. I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar and America's favorite tight end.

And don't cross a game, man. And today, we're talking about the XFL. Hello, I'm Emily, and I'm one of the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you inside the lives of our biggest celebrities. And they don't get much bigger than the man who made badminton sexy. OK, maybe that's a stretch, but if I say pop star and shuttlecocks, you know who I'm talking about. No? Short shorts? Free cocktails? Careless whispers?

OK, last one. It's not Andrew Ridgely. Yep, that's right, it's stone-cold icon George Michael. From teen pop sensation to one of the biggest solo artists on the planet, join us for our new series, George Michael's Fight for Freedom. From the outside, it looks like he has it all, but behind the trademark dark sunglasses

is a man in turmoil. George is trapped in a lie of his own making with a secret he feels would ruin him if the truth ever came out. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to your podcasts or listen early and ad-free on Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. On our show today, we have a sports broadcaster and content creator who knows how to poke fun at football teams better than anyone in the game. It's Annie Agar. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I promise I won't make fun of you guys. Not yet, at least. I got to get to know you a little bit more first. I promise I won't make fun of you guys.

Not yet, at least. I got to get to know you a little bit more first. Also joining us today is a writer and stand-up comedian who really loves sweatpants and football. It's Noah Gardensports. Welcome. Pleasure to be here. I'm in my finest pair of sweatpants. Thank you for having me.

Do either of you remember anything about the XFL? A little bit. I think he hate me is like the definitive moment of the XFL. That's what stayed in the cultural zeitgeist. They let players pick their names on the back of the jersey, if I remember correctly. So that's like always first thing that comes to mind when you say XFL, which I'm sure Vince McMahon is not thrilled about. It's great marketing on their part. And the in-game interviews, those are the best. Well, I feel like that actually kind of stood the test of time. I feel like that's kind of become a part of modern sports broadcasting now. Oh, yeah. It's like a personal experience in the game. That's why I love that.

And I'm sure the players and coaches love it, too. All right. Now, before we get into it, I just want to say I don't know very much about football, and I haven't been a huge wrestling fan since I was a kid. So correct me if I say something not correct. You're the experts here. Got it. So let's get started. We begin our story with pro wrestling impresario Vince McMahon.

This is the guy who put wrestling on the map. A controversial figure, McMahon is known for cheap tricks and obnoxious stunts that people find either entertaining or revolting, depending on who you ask. For example, he invited Donald Trump to have a fake TV feud while he was president, and he created a kiss my ass segment where he forced his rivals to literally smooch his butt in the ring. So if you really don't know wrestling, but you do know meme culture, he's the guy in a suit smelling a pack of $100 bills

with a Jumbotron in the background. It all makes sense now. If that's the meme you're using for him, then he's all right. There's a lot of other ones. The galaxy brain Vince McMahon meme is the best one. McMahon also coined the term sports entertainment to describe his brand of wrestling.

Tawdry, problematic, and some might even say fake? WWE is not fake. What are you talking about? Fake outcomes. Real athletes. Yeah, just like the NFL. Not scripted at all. But at the turn of the millennium, the WWF is at the height of the

attitude era, meaning lots of money is flowing into McMahon's pocket and the pockets of his business partners. McMahon wants to expand into new territory. So what does he do? He orchestrates a speech and announces his intentions. On February 3rd of 2000, McMahon holds a press conference to reveal he's going to create a new football league. He's going to bring back smash-mouth, wide-open football, to quote him. Raunchier, faster games with quicker halftimes and between-play breaks. So violent and ridiculous, the fans won't be able to resist. But, little problem. He doesn't have coaches, players, teams, stadiums,

or a TV deal with a major network. All those things are overrated. All overrated. Who needs them? Minor details. But luckily for him, NBC's president of sports, Dick Ebersole, is watching the press conference, and he perks up. Ebersole is trying to solve a complicated puzzle. NBC had recently lost their contract to broadcast NFL games.

This is obviously a huge blow losing the Super Bowl. Really stings. Ebersole is under a lot of pressure to find NBC a replacement. I mean, are his problems solved with finding McMahon's announcement? That's a heck of a replacement, that's for sure. Is Vince McMahon maybe the greatest manifester of all time? Like, he's the vision board king before that became such a thing. He, like, absolutely just manifested his truth. He didn't have any of the components, but he said what was going to happen.

Get a little attitude going on there. And his manifestation actually works because Dick Ebersole calls McMahon on the spot and says he wants this league on NBC. So are we ready to hear about this insane football league? Oh, bring it on. Absolutely. So McMahon is calling it the XFL. What do we think of the name to start? The Xylophone Football League?

It came very anti-NFL. Like XFL. It's like a, I don't know. That's how I always thought of it before I even knew what the whole thing meant. I was like, oh, they're just anti-NFL. It's like everybody that wasn't good enough to make the NFL goes to the XFL. I was also thinking this was in 2000. So this was the era of the X, right? The X games were still new. Microsoft released their gaming system, the Xbox. And just that year we saw the release of the superhero hit movie X-Men.

Oh, okay. Oh, good point. I didn't think about that. Smart marketing. That is smarter than we think. Galaxy brain, X-Men. Oh, okay. Oh, good point. I didn't think about that. Smart marketing. That is smarter than we think. Galaxy brain, I told you. Something about McMahon, though, is he's catty. And he mockingly refers to the NFL as the no-fun league with all of its silly safety restrictions.

The XFL, he coos, will be the extra fun league. While the NFL has started to crack down on physical roughness, the XFL will veer in the opposite direction, making the game as violent as possible. McMahon promises, quote, this will not be a league for panty wastes or sissies. That's an early odds quote. So Mac Jones not allowed in that league.

Got it. Yeah. Misha, we're going to throw out some, I'm going to roast some NFL players and I'll just, I'll tell you the references if you don't know. Great. Great. Love that. I actually enjoy just watching Misha's face. You keep naming the players, Annie, I'll watch Misha and we'll all be entertained. So do we think that we really need to make football more dangerous? Man, I don't think so. I mean, the CTE kind of negates that, but I will say that, you know, there are some aspects of the NFL, like the officiating and a lot of not letting them play.

So I get his side of that. And remember there used to be, what was that called? Noah, the, when they, they'd show the biggest hits of the week and it was like, these guys would get knocked out. And we celebrated it. So I could see people miss that side of it, but you also have to think about player safety, I think. It's just funny because, yes, I understand the no fun league when they were cracking down on penalties for celebrating touchdowns

and stuff like that, but I don't think there was ever a complaint that at this time football wasn't violent enough or that the hits weren't hard enough. This is when linebackers were still taking quarterbacks' heads off regularly. Yeah, this was like peak Ravens defense, 2000s, when people were dying on the field. Yeah, yeah, those Ravens. Hard hits were not in question at that point.

Yeah, so that's where if they're going to bring elements of pro wrestling to it, it's like if they wanted to allow one person to jump off a ladder from the sideline and tackle a running back once a game or something, I get it. But if it's just like a more violent brand of what football already was, it was pretty violent. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But the NBC guy Dick Ebersole trusts McMahon, like really trusts him with his family's lives because he says, quote, if I got hit by a truck, I'd want him to raise my sons. Oh my. That's, I don't know if that's sweet or morbid or... That's exactly what I was going to say.

Well, there's only one year to turn the XFL pitch into an actual sports league. Initially, the XFL gains a ton of traction and buzz. And McMahon insists, football is a sport, but it's entertainment. Why not enhance the elements that are entertaining instead of sweeping them under the astroturf like the NFL? Honestly, though, that's kind of what Dr. Buss did with the Lakers in the Showtime era for basketball. So I get it, like bringing the glitz and glam and entertainment to the sport. It's not a bad idea. Well, McMahon is doing everything he can to distinguish his league from the NFL. The NFL has been cracking down on excessive on-field celebration. So the XFL will have more attitude, bigger end zone celebrations, and pyrotechnics. Cameramen are forced to sprint

onto the field behind players to get the most dramatic angles, and they have to wear armor for protection. Yeah, honestly, it's always the cameramen that are the unsung heroes of professional sports. Those cameras are heavy. Especially if they get hit on the sideline, it's absolutely, like, the field gets taken out.

Have you seen, like, the guy that... Got his leg snapped, right? Yeah. Oh, that was one of the Lions players. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The players, they're mic'd, ensuring audiences can hear all of the weird arguing from the coaches and all of the terrible grunting and visceral pain of the athletes.

I actually am surprised NBC okayed that, because you have to assume there were a lot of words flying on the field that were not allowed. Sure. A lot of not clean words. Yeah, it would be pretty crazy if like they're guaranteeing more violence in a raunchier league and then the players are like, gee willikers, that was a foul. Like full Philip Rivers when he goes, golly. Yeah, exactly.

You know, but pain was part of the point. Commercials for the XFL are ultra violent. One has football legend Dick Butkus expressing his disdain for all of the rules in the NFL. He sneers, how about this? Kill the guy with the ball. Thanks, Dick Butkus. What do you think about these new rules? I mean, a lot of it was for show, right?

And people loved that because you wanted guys to go out there and annihilate these other guys. But it's hard because there's such a fine line between football fans. I mean, they see a quarterback give up on a tackle. They're like, oh, he shouldn't be in the league. He's weak. It's tough. I think it's tough. I mean, you have to keep in mind what McMahon is trying to do the whole time. If you're taking on a behemoth like the NFL,

you have to go in a different direction one way or another. And I don't think you're going to bring in an audience by being like, it's the NFL, but with more rules and less hitting. So he really had no choice but to go to the extreme in the other direction. Sure. And now speaking of this, I mean, you can't have sports without some rules. And to understand how the XFL rules will be different, let's play a game. XFL rules will be different. Let's play a game. Now, here are the rules.

No rules. Yeah, no rules. Game over. I'm going to read you a new rule for the XFL, and you tell me if it's a real rule or a fake one. If it's real, say extreme. And if it's fake, say sissy. Okay. Got it. Are we going to get canceled in 2024? No, I promise. I give everybody permission. Okay. First rule, the scramble. To decide who owns the

ball at the beginning of the game, one player from each team has to sprint to a ball 10 yards away and be the first to dive on it. Extreme or sissy? 100% extreme. Other than he hate me, this is the other thing I like for sure remember from the XFL. Oh, absolutely. Because it was so out of the box. Where did that even come from? That's not even based off any other rule in the NFL. They're just like, let's come up with the craziest way. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's like a football version of a jump ball in basketball. That's 100% extreme. Yeah, right, right. Ding, ding, ding. This was extreme.

This ultra-violent start to the game replaces the traditional coin toss. The rule is removed mid-season after it causes, guess what, too many injuries. Shocker. All right, second rule. Fair catch. When a player receives a kickoff or a punt, he can signal the other team to not tackle him, and the ball is dead once he catches it. Extreme or sissy? They didn't have fair catches. Sissy.

What did you just call me? I knew it. Yeah. No, yes. Ding, ding, ding. You're absolutely correct. The NFL has this rule because receivers looking up to catch the ball can't defend themselves against the incoming 250-pound freight trains charging at them. The XFL decides to scrap this rule. It's more exciting for defenseless receivers to take massive unprotected hits. So fun. Yeah, so fun.

That is the one job I could not, not that I think I could do any job in the NFL, but punt return and kickoff return, absolutely 100%, no effing way I'm ever doing that. Yeah. Annie thinks she could be a starting D lineman. She's like the one, the one position I could never play in the NFL. Yeah. The one thing I couldn't do, put all the other 11 positions up. Jeez. All right. One more extra point. The team that just scored a touchdown has a chance to score an extra point by kicking a field goal. Extreme or sissy? Sissy. What would they do for extra points? Arm wrestle. Well, Noah got this one. This was sissy. Field goals are too easy. In the XFL, teams must try and make it to the end zone after a touchdown, but there's a twist. Depending on how far back they start, they can earn one, two, or three

extra points. Okay. See, it's funny because like all these things that probably sounded crazy at the time, the modern NFL is using some of this stuff. Oh yeah. In its own special way, the XFL left its mark on professional football. Well, the violence isn't just a part of the rules. It's integrated into the league's marketing. So let's watch an XFL commercial. There's a new brand of football coming. Very aggressive. A league where players must train harder and push themselves to the extreme.

Yeah, we're showing full-on war. Cannons blasting. Oh, and did we mention? Oh. No fair, can you? Is this an army recruitment? No, it's a Michael Bay video. He's lifting up semi-trucks with explosions going on in the background.

If the NFLPA saw that, they would die. I mean, there were tanks, there were explosions, wrecking balls. Football right in the middle of an apocalypse and a war. Yeah, it was just like chest hair, beer, and spit. You want to not be drafted? Join the XFL. Yeah, seriously. just like chest hair, beer, and spit. You want to not be drafted? Join the XFL. Yeah, seriously. Basically the same thing.

So now this over-the-top football meets wrestling approach will lead to all sorts of fun twists for the XFL. So I'd like to show you a photo of an XFL jersey, and I have a feeling you know which one. He hate me. Give it to me. Love I have a feeling you know which one. He hate me. Give it to me. Love it. Noah called that from the jump. There's only one jersey that stood the test of time. Yes.

So like with wrestling, players are encouraged to go by nicknames. XFL player Rod Smart has the nickname He Hate Me. Otis Floyd goes by Hit Squad. Jamal Duff is called Death Blow. What would your XFL nickname be? Ooh. I would go by Twinkle Toes.

Hebrew Hammer, I guess. What would mine be? I roast people for a living. Roast or, I don't know. Pot roast. Pot roast. Like we established earlier, there's no way I'm going to be in the XFL.

Well, you can't have McMahon without a little sprinkling of misogyny. Sex sells, and scantily clad cheerleaders are used to promote the league, adorning the website's ads and broadcasts. Here's this patriotically scored ad that has nothing to do with football. It just lingers on image after image of cheerleaders. Really puts the X in XFL. Let's watch a clip, and excuse the audio quality. It's a bit old. At the XFL, we're looking for cheerleaders. Ordinary gals from all walks of life. Women of good character. United by their devotion to wholesome values. of good character,

united by their devotion to wholesome values, to lift the spirits of every fan in America, to realize the... I'm sorry, what was that? The XFL cheerleaders. Don't worry. We'll teach them how to cheer.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, I mean, this legitimately looks like a late night phone sex commercial. Very Victoria's Secret-esque. For the audio viewers at home, scantily clad women, not a football in sight, just like Cinemax softcore porn from the 90s. Problematically, the cheerleaders are encouraged to interact with and dance near fans. Very problematically, they're encouraged to date players and sideline reporters.

Oh, so that's the WWE level storyline that he's bringing in? Okay. That's the entertainment side. Yeah. Noah, can you please read McMahon's orders using your best blustery impression? When the quarterback fumbles or the wideout drops a pass and we know who he's dating, please read McMahon's orders using your best blustery impression. When the quarterback fumbles or the wide out drops a pass and we know who he's dating, I want our reporters right back in our face on the sidelines demanding to know whether the two of them did the wild thing last night.

Imagine if we had this during Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. Truly. Yeah. Come on. We'd be all up in her face. So how much does Travis suck today? He has one catch from two yards. Yeah. Why did. We'd be all up in her face. So how much does Travis suck today? He has one catch from two yards. Yeah.

Why did Travis drop that pass? Why are his fingers so tired today, Taylor? Yeah. I see the hickey on his neck. Do you want to tell us what that's about? So was this the right call for football fans? Are football fans more traditionalist or were they interested in the entertainment aspect of the game like they were trying to offer here on the XFL? I mean, if you look at all the other sport, like NBA is all drama, right? But NFL fans like more, like the videos that I do, they like golf.

They like a little bit of WWE. They like the entertainment side of those sports. So I don't know if the drama is really what NFL fans like as much. I don't know. And it's not like college. These guys are in the league for years. So you know their families and their history and the drama behind the rivalries they have between each other. And I don't know. Yeah, I think they were like incorrectly stuck between two worlds because I know that they played late winter, early spring after the NFL.

So like they were trying to cater to the NFL fan who wanted football when football wasn't around. That level of fan is going to want the traditional football product. And then using all these gimmicky rules are going to turn off the people who are watching it because they just wanted football, as opposed to just going to people who didn't care about the NFL at all. Like you said, this was the time of the X games and Mountain Dew X code.

So it's like, just go for like young teens with no attention span who are possibly turned off by the old traditional NFL, as opposed to trying to grab old NFL fans in the offseason. Well, bros, McMahon and Ebersole, they aren't wasting any time. The first kickoff will take place on February 3rd, 2001. And prophetically, three weeks prior, a promotional blimp with the XFL logo crashes in Oakland. There's significant property damage and the two men inside had to jump out before it hit a seafood restaurant. I love that extra detail that it was a seafood restaurant.

Just to get the smell of the crash on top of it. Exactly. So now it's the end of January, less than a week before kickoff. Miraculously, Ebersole and McMahon have put together an entire league in just a year. Seats for the opening game are also selling like hotcakes. So McMahon is 100% certain XFL will hit. And he insists, we'd have to be blithering idiots for this not to succeed.

His quote. You gotta love a quote like that. That's not foreshadowing. I don't know. And McMahon is right, at least at first. Opening night is massively successful. The crowd is enthusiastic

as McMahon moderates the game with Dick Buckus. Alongside the two is former wrestler and current governor of Minnesota at the time, Jesse the Body Ventura. Wow, they brought out all the stars. Dick Buckus and Jesse Ventura. It's a who's who. Yeah. Over the field is something called a Skycam, a first in football broadcasting that's supposed to mimic football video games. The

audience can follow the thrown football as it whizzes downfield, and the effect is impressive. 10 million viewers tune in to see the first game, and that viewership is double the number NBC promised its advertisers. So that's not shabby, right? This is all looking pretty good. Yeah. They're looking like geniuses at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Robbie, right? This is all looking pretty good. Yeah, they're looking like geniuses at this point.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, not everything about the first game is successful. For all of McMahon's razzle-dazzle, the game itself is pretty dull. It's a 19-0 blowout, and Ebersole is irate. This is boring football, and if the games aren't exciting, people won't keep watching. So this comes down to one pretty important factor. The players. Sure.

Due to the short timeline, they haven't really been given enough time to train. But even with lots of training, the best players are already in the NFL and these XFL guys were either cut from NFL rosters or weren't even drafted in the first place. So they have to rely on former college players now working everyday

jobs. One guy was working as a mail sorter when he got the call up to the XFL. I feel like someone should option this movie. Hey, Kurt Warner, bagging groceries. Bagging groceries. Come on, it's possible. The dream is alive. To make things worse, the players on the field are bearing the brunt of a lot of these rule changes and cost cutting. Players make a set salary of a max 5K per week for quarterbacks, lower for all of the other positions. So it's no wonder that top tier players were staying far away from the XFL. Yeah, that's the kicker.

It's not like the G League in the NBA or the minors in baseball where you have a chance to work your way up. You're going to die out there with no shot at the NFL. So I don't really see a beneficial payout there for them. I mean, I think a lot of people probably saw it as a showcase to the NFL without realizing that the NFL bitterly hated them for playing in the XFL. And so it was actually hurting their chances. They would have been better off just like sending a highlight video from the mail room before mail sorting.

Look how quick I can sort this mail. Yeah. Well, the XFL is trying to differentiate itself from the overly stuffy pansy football of the NFL. Well, it succeeds, just not in a way that makes anybody money. That dangerous opening ball scramble leads to injuries. In the first two weeks, 60% of players who participated in the scramble suffered an injury. Oh my God. Sure.

The gimmick costs one player a season after he dislocates his shoulder trying to grab the ball. Another player breaks his leg during a game and isn't taken off of the field for 14 minutes. What? Why? I don't know. What? Because they didn't have medics or because they wanted the cheerleaders to interview him while he's sitting there with a bone sticking out of his shin. That's such a long time.

Oh my gosh. Needless to say, the XFL hype, like that ill-fated promo blimp, deflates. Production woes complicate things further. Because of a power outage, one game goes into double overtime and eats into SNL's first hour, angering the sketch show's executive producer, Lorne Michaels. Wait, I just have to paint the visual. I love those dueling fan bases of people who are very passionate about football, violent football, and people who are very passionate about improv comedy being at odds with each other

and dueling it out. Now with empty stadiums, the armored cameramen are hampered by what they can show. They have to avoid panning to the seats. And established media isn't very kind to the league either. The Washington Post calls

the XFL out for wanting quote, to be known as a bad, bad boy. That's a direct quote from the cheerleaders, too. Yeah. So, basically, things are not looking good for the XFL. NBC needs to see some proof of life or they're going to pull the plug. Over the course of the season, the viewership bleeds out. Declining ratings means unhappy advertisers. At one point, only 3% of TVs are tuned into the XFL

during the games. These are some of the lowest ratings in primetime history. And you know who most of those 3% of TVs were? NFL executives who were like, hate watching it and laughing all the way. They're just like talking shit about it while they watch and raise their scotch and cheers each other. So, I mean, what would you do to save the XFL at this point? Insurance fraud. I mean, it's so extreme that you'd think they would dial it back a little bit and not go so opposite the NFL and try to be like a little minor league team. But I know that was not the case.

Yeah. I mean, first thing, work on the game. Right. While desperate, McMahon starts using all of his wrestling experience to amp up the drama. Sure. So leading up to the halftime show of one game, McMahon teases sending a cameraman into the cheerleaders' locker room. XFL's own YouTube channel now refers to it as the worst halftime football stunt in history. A scripted sketch unfolds with McMahon coercing his cameraman to go into the cheerleaders's locker room to get him some ratings.

But when McMahon pushes the guy forward, he gets knocked on the head and a dream sequence follows. So, let's watch this moment that played out in the middle of a televised football game. He's unconscious. Hey, wake up! Wake up! Hey, wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Hey, wake up! Wake up! Wake up. Are you okay? Oh, we got Twister. We're playing Twister. Of course the cheerleaders are playing Twister on their own time.

Twister with gorillas. Is this not every male's dream, I feel like? Well, this is just how they stretch to get ready for cheering. This is going to haunt my nightmares for a little while. There's literally a devil playing poker with women in lingerie right now. I feel like this is what conservatives would draw up as evidence of the Illuminati's existence. Just when you think it can't get crazier. A lot of drugs were consumed in the making of that video, let's just say.

What time of day or night was this playing? This was nighttime, right? Yes. Because I guess they were interfering with SNL. This was after dark hours. So the kids would have theoretically been put to bed before that. Remember, though, back when we were a little younger, I feel like we got away with a lot of things on TV. Like, what was it?

Nick at Night. Some of those shows, I was like, whew, we're was it? Nick at night. Some of those shows I was like, whew, we're Nick at night. I was going to say like Jerry Springer. So on top of that, in one last ditch effort to make the XFL more exciting, the LA team adds a hot tub behind the end zone and fills it with strippers

from a local club. For the record, there's a rapper named Blueface who bought out one of the boxes at the LA Rams this year in 2023. Right behind the end zone. And he was making it rain on strippers who were dancing during the game. So once again, maybe Vince McMahon was just a visionary. I'm pretty sure I used that in my video. I said that he brought strippers who were throwing more ass in the end zone than Kenny Pickett.

Nice. Misha, Kenny Pickett is a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Great. So the NFL has the Super Bowl. Soccer has the World Cup. The NBA has finals. What do you think a league like the XFL would call their championship game? The Armageddon Bowl.

Something with X in it. The X Bowl. Well, originally, it was called the big game at the end. No way. Are you kidding me? Brought to you by the creative geniuses who gave us that halftime locker room dream sequence. That's the best they could come up with. That's what they came up with.

Very on par. That halftime locker room dream sequence? That's the best they could come up with? That's what they came up with. Very on par. It was later renamed to the Million Dollar Game because that's how much the winners get. But here's a fun little math game. When you divide that up among all 38 players, that's about $25,000 without counting the office staff. Or taxes. Oh, yeah. And taxes. Yeah. without counting the office staff. Or taxes. Oh, yeah. And taxes, yeah.

So Nielsen ratings for the million-dollar game painted a grisly scene. 75% less people tuned in than had watched the first XFL game. Oh, my. McMahon and NBC, they couldn't go any further. The XFL was officially done, and after only one season. The embarrassing experiment cost NBC and the WWE $70 million.

Wow. But this is the flop that just won't die. McMahon gives it another go in 2020, and you probably know why that one doesn't work out. Great timing. Great timing on this part. I mean, if you want to restart up a franchise, there's nothing better than to do it right before a global pandemic. Yeah. I have to say, I do feel like a lot of the XFO viewers nowadays would have been anti-vaxxer,

like don't wear masks, COVID people anyway, though. So there definitely was a market for it at the time. Then Dwayne, The Rock Johnson, and his and his longtime friend Danny Garcia buy the league for $15 million. They change some more rules and XFL has its comeback in 2023, but not at NBC. ESPN, ABC, and FX buy into broadcasting rights. While it isn't as big of a flop as the inaugural season. It's pretty meh. Ratings are just good enough that the network is interested in trying another season in 2024. So let's do a little where are they now? There's always something happening in the world of wrestling on and off screen. The most recent McMahon-related controversies involve, unsurprisingly, money and sex. A 2022 article

in the Wall Street Journal reported that McMahons paid about $20 million to settle various accusations of assault and misconduct involving WWF employees. He doesn't admit any wrongdoing, but settled out of court to avoid legal costs. As of January 2024, McMahon is facing yet another lawsuit. It's more allegations of sexual misconduct, which he again denies. So we'll see how that one pans out. Wow. Not to make light of it, it's not funny, but in all seriousness, I would have taken it over if you offered it. But like, I would have thought it was way more than $20 million.

But Ebersole had his football redemption. Only a couple of years after the XFL fiasco, he oversaw Sunday Night Football on NBC, which became the most watched primetime show on TV. So that's pretty good. America loves a redemption story. Well, here on The Big Flop, we like to be positive people. So are there any silver linings that you can think of because of the XFL? Here's what not to do with the league. But no, I do think it makes people probably appreciate the NFL a little bit more because there's so much structure.

I mean, that was so out there, and it just made watching it miserable. But no, I do think it makes people probably appreciate the NFL a little bit more because there's so much structure. I mean, that was so out there and it just made watching it miserable. So now you can see guys like Tyreek, like all these talented. I mean, we're watching some of the best athletes in the world play football. And that makes me appreciate it a little bit more. I'm like, OK, we have some structure. Might be a little bit too much structure, but we're protecting the players and not involving strippers and other than blue face. and not involving strippers other than Blueface. And honestly, I'll say I think the NFL does probably borrow a few things now.

Like even the Skycam, which at the time was probably revolutionary, is a very popular shot in professional sports, not even just in football. So if they took that from the XFL, it's like they missed on 95% of the things they tried to do, but the 5% that are still around in the game are actual improvements to the NFL product that we see today. So, Cosmic Man and Ever saw a lot of money, but we kept a few things from the game that still work. Totally. The NFL adopted a lot of things from the XFL, like the Sky Camps, but they also adopted some of the players. Rod, he hate me smart, and a handful of other XFL players got to play for the NFL, some even going all the way to the Super Bowl. It's called the big game at the end. The big game at the end. I'm so sorry.

The million dollar game. And 2024 season tickets are now on sale, starting at the very reasonable price of $100. You're going to see about half the Patriots roster there next year, so I would get tickets now. There you go. Well, now that you both know about the first season of the XFL, would you consider this a baby flop, a big flop, or a mega flop? I'm going to say mega flop just because of how much money they dumped into it and with how much they backed it thinking it's going to be like the next big thing to compete with the NFL, that's a mega flop to me. Well, that's exactly why I'm going to say just big flop.

It's obviously not a baby flop. It was a lot of money lost and they bit off more than they could chew. But the fact that they tried to take on something as big as the NFL and even made it through one season and a second or third version of a resurrection means to me it was just a big flop.

I would just like to remind McMahon that he said it would take a blithering idiot to mess this up. Put that on the gravestone. Yeah, I didn't say it came with everlasting quotes. I just said it was a big flop, not a mega flop. Well, thank you so much to our guests, Annie Agar and Noah Gardensports, for joining us here on The Big Flop. And thanks to all of you for listening.

We'll be back next week with another latex-filled flop, Milli Vanilli. Bye! Bye! Bye! If you like The Big Flop, you can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. The Big Flop is a production of Wondery and Atwill Media, hosted by me, Misha Brown. Produced by Sequoia Thomas, Harry Huggins, and Tina Turner. Written by Anna Rubinova.

Engineered by Andrew Holtzberger. Our story editor is Drew Beebe. Our managing producer is Molly Getman. Our executive producers are Kate Walsh and Will Malnati for At Will Media. Legal support by Carolyn Levin of Miller, Korzenik, Summers, and Raymond. Producers for Wondery are Matt Beagle and Grant Rudder. Senior story editor is Phyllis Fletcher. Managing producer is Joe Florentino. We are on a sinking ship. and Marshall Louis for Wondery.