WWE News: Triple H says the XFL won't affect how Vince McMahon runs WWE

What's the story?

Late last year, speculation began mounting that Vince McMahon was getting ready to bring back the XFL, the football league that had failed in the early 2000's.

Vince sold off nearly $100 million worth of WWE stock as well as registered a number of trademarks, which further pointed to an XFL revival.

In case you didn't know...

The XFL was an Americal Football League which ran for one season in 2001. It was a joint venture between WWE and NBC but ended up being a failure.

After one season and flagging ratings, NBC said that they would only continue to broadcast the XFL if it replaced the second hour of SmackDown, something that McMahon was not okay with. This led to the early demise of the XFL.

It is estimated that both WWE and NBC Universal lost $35 million of their $100 million investment.

The heart of the matter

Triple H recently spoke to ABC News and amongst other things, commented on how a return for the XFL would affect Vince McMahon overseeing the WWE product:

“I don’t think there’s any sense of change. If anybody thinks they’re going to push him out or take this thing, there’s going to be a hell of a fight.”

What's next?

Although we haven't heard anything in the last couple of weeks, Triple H's comment indicates that a return for the XFL could definitely be on the cards. It will be interesting to see if fans gravitate to the second incarnation of the league.

Author's take

It's a big risk for WWE and Vince to bring back the XFL after the disaster it was the first time. With the ratings of the NFL and television in general being on the downward trend thanks to new media, this is definitely a risky proposition for WWE.

I just hope that all the money that will be pumped into the XFL (if the rumours of it coming back are true) don't affect the bottom line of the Superstars and the WWE product in general.

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