Plus: Watch the exclusive trailer for the new 30 for 30 doc.
But what would those attributes look like when affixed to football?
ESPN’s upcoming “30 for 30” documentaryThis Was The XFL out Feb. 2 at 9 p.m.
ESPN Films
ET answers that question by detailing the bombastic and doomed venture.
The XFL was a joint project between McMahon and legendary NBC Sports executive andSaturday Night Livedeveloper Dick Ebersol.
The former instantly brought the flair at the introductory press conference.
“The NFL stands for the No Fun League,'” McMahon said.
“The XFL is going to be the Xtra Fun League.'”
But the league never got close to the NFL’s popularity or quality of play.
Ratings dropped quickly after its stratospheric launch.
The XFL ultimately burned bright and fast, lasting all of one season.
“I hadn’t seen my father fail at anything.
“From my perspective, it seemed like these guys had figured how to make everything else work.
It’s just going to be another one of those things.
I don’t think I realized that anything other than that was actually possible.”
I really wanted to do it.
They were like, “What, are you nuts?”
It’s this incredible story of these two guys who are unlikely friends who really got it.
Hopefully, it was brought to life with the film.
What do you remember from the first game?Insanity.
They had no teams, no coaches, no stadiums, no GMs nothing.
It defied all understanding.
That was so representative of what the experience was.
I went to a handful of games, and this was always the case.
Five out of the eight stadiums were sold out through the whole season.
The live side of this business was very robust; it worked.
It seemed like that was the case.
I got these incredible, very honest and straightforward interviews from people who really were telling what happened.
It took me a couple of months to convince both of them to do it.
They had seen films I had done before, obviously, but also I grew with them.
When I was 4, my dad and Vince did the deal to createSaturday Night’s Main Event.
The idea that this wasn’t going to be a success didn’t calculate in my head.
Vince McMahon is such a polarizing figure, and I imagine you wanted to show all sides of him.
Keep in mind, the guy has agreed to do zero interviews about anything ever with anyone.
It ended up being this very, very powerful moment between the two men that’s really emotional.
