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The Rock Assures XFL Fans – “We’re In It For The Long Haul”

By John Canton • Published 11th June 2023
the rock clap smile

Following some reports about the XFL that could be considered negative, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has a positive message for fans of the football league.

After the NFL season, the XFL relaunched this past spring. There were eight teams in the league playing ten games each. The 4-6 Arlington Renegades beat the 9-1 DC Defenders in the XFL Championship game on May 13th. The TV audience was about 1.4 million people and they had over 22,000 fans at the championship game while ABC/ESPN showed a lot of games.

There was a report that came out over the weekend regarding the XFL taking a massive financial hit in its first season under the ownership of The Rock, his business partner/ex-wife Dany Garcia and others. That report by Forbes revealed that the XFL lost about $60 million in its first year and they also cut some jobs as well. Keep in mind that when The Rock and his team bought the XFL (after the WWE’s Vince McMahon said goodbye after its second failure) in August 2020, they paid a reported $23.5 million for it, so having losses so high does seem alarming.

Since that news came out, a lot of outlets have taken shots at The Rock for a bit of a “cold spell” in his career. This is because The Rock’s movie “Black Adam” was considered a disappointment financially and his NBC TV show “Young Rock” was canceled after three seasons. Add the XFL losses onto that and those are all some tough things for the former WWE Champion to deal with.

In typical Dwayne Johnson fashion, he’s always going to try to look on the positive side of things. The Rock went on Twitter on Sunday night to assure the XFL supporters that they are in it for the long haul.

I’ve tried to tell him his whole life but he’s never listened to me (laughs). I play the long game in business and XFL is no exception. We saw some nice successes and took some L’s in our first season that we learn from. 75-100 XFL players will be competing in NFL camps this fall. That’s a big number that will continue to grow season over season. We’re in it for the long haul. Step by step building the league of opportunity. Like with any venture, success takes time. Thanks XFL fans for the love & support .@XFL2023@ESPN

Even though there might be some negative things going on for The Rock lately, there’s no denying his incredible success post-wrestling over the last 20 years. The man has a lot of money, he’s done a lot of great things for so many people and will continue to do. Plus, his tequila business is going very well these days, so there is that too.

As for his WWE future, it’s always possible that we could see The Rock in a WWE ring again. Next year’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia will be the 40th edition of the event, so perhaps the 51-year-old People’s Champion will want to step into the ropes at least one more time. Over the next ten months, there will be plenty of rumors about it as usual.

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