Dwayne Johnson Part of Investment Team That Purchased XFL for $15M

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, along with business partner/ex-wife Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale of investment firm RedBird Capital, has purchased XFL parent company Alpha Entertainment for $15 million.

First reported by Sportico’s Scott Soshnick, this purchase comes just days before the football league was set to go to a bankruptcy auction.

In a statement on the purchase first shared by ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, Johnson says, “The acquisition of the XFL with my talented partners, Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale, is an investment for me that’s rooted deeply in two things – my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans. With pride and gratitude for all that I’ve built with my own two hands, I plan to apply these callouses to the XFL, and look forward to creating something special for the players, fans, and everyone involved for the love of football.”

The XFL, of course, was originally founded by WWE CEO Vince McMahon in 2001 but only lasted one season. The league was revived in 2018 with its inaugural season taking place in 2020. The season, however, was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. In April, the league folded, ceasing all operations and laying off all of its employees.

WrestleMania: 10 Interesting Facts About ‘The Showcase of the Immortals’

• Shortest match in WrestleMania history.

  Share

  The shortest WrestleMania match happened in recent history at WrestleMania 32 when The Rock squashed Erick Rowan in just six seconds.

• WrestleMania almost wasn’t WrestleMania

  Share

  Legendary WWE Hall of Fame ring announcer Howard Finkel is credited with coining the name “WrestleMania,” but before landing on that perfect name, Vince McMahon wanted to call his annual showcase “The Colossal Tussle.”

• WrestleMania 35 was the first WrestleMania to be headlined by women.

  Share

  It took over three decades for women to headline “The Showcase of Immortals,” but it finally happened in WrestleMania 35 when Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey faced off in a Winner Takes All Triple Threat match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship and the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship.
• Run-DMC provided a WrestleMania first.

  Share

  The iconic rap group was the first act to ever perform at WrestleMania outside of the singing of the National Anthem and “America the Beautiful” when they performed “WrestleMania Rap” at WrestleMania 5. Many other acts have performed at WrestleMania since including Flo Rida, Diddy and Motorhead.

• WrestleMania 2 is the only WrestleMania to happen on a weekday.

  Share

  Up until this year, which sees WrestleMania 36 split into a two-night event taking place on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5, WrestleMania 2 was the only WrestleMania to not take place on a Sunday. Instead, it took place on Monday, April 7, 1986.

• WrestleMania 28 holds the record for most PPV buys.

  Share

  The WrestleMania that billed the "once in a lifetime" match between The Rock and John Cena saw 1,217,000 PPV buys, which is the most PPV buys for a single WrestleMania ever. Of course, that “once in a lifetime” tag wasn’t exactly true, and The Rock vs. John Cena would headline WrestleMania 29.
• “Macho Man” Randy Savage has the record for most WrestleMania wins in a single night.

  Share

  OH, YEAH! WrestleMania 4 featured a 14-man tournament for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Savage would end up winning the title defeating Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang, and “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.

• Longest match in WrestleMania history.

  Share

  The legendary iron man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XII still holds the record for longest WrestleMania match clocking in at one hour, one minute and 52 seconds.

• Most losses at WrestleMania.

  Share

  Triple H may be one of the most prolific wrestlers in WWE history, but he also has the notorious honor of having the most losses at WrestleMania with 13. Yikes!
• Total attendance at WrestleMania.

  Share

  Overall, a combined 1,956,978 fans have attended WrestleManias 1-38.