The XFL Files For Bankruptcy, How Involved Really Was WWE

Did World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. have an ownership stake in the new XFL?

When Vince McMahon first announce the resurrection of the XFL he was asked how involved WWE would be in this league. Vince was very adamant that the two companies were separate and he even started a new company, Alpha Entertainment, to run the XFL.

With everything going on in the world right now, the XFL has to suspend their first season with many feeling they may never return. Then we learned last week that they had laid off all employees and things looking worse and worse for the Vince McMahon ran football league.

Then come Monday morning, this morning we learned that the XFL is over and they have filed for bankruptcy. With filing that bankruptcy, one thing that Vince always said would not be a thing was a pretty big thing.

Darren Rovell of Action Network HQ sent out a tweet with information regarding the bankruptcy of XFL as far as ownership of the league and creditors. One very interesting note is that World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. was listed as a Class B 23.5% owner.

BREAKING: XFL files for bankruptcy. N bankruptcy filing reveals that WWE actually does own part of league (23.5% of Class B stock). Among the creditors — Bob Stoops ($1M), Marc Trestman ($777K), Ticketmaster ($655K), other coaches ($583K) and MetLife Stadium lease ($368K). pic.twitter.com/PRj3CXAnkv

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 13, 2020

Now this could mean nothing because a Class B ownership could be given if they gave something to the company itself. If you don’t know, the original XFL trademark was owned by WWE. With the trademark being transferred over to Alpha Entertainment, the 23.5% ownership could have been what was given to WWE to justify to WWE shareholders that the company did not just give up the trademark rights and got something in exchange.

We may never know exactly what involvement WWE actually had in the new XFL and as I stated above it could actually be nothing.