If we're being honest, one of our favorite stories of 2019 was the news that St. Louis was getting an XFL team, and that the team would be named...the BattleHawks. Do you remember this dramatic announcement:
Much to our delight, St. Louisans...kinda loved it. It was the return of professional football to the city, after all. Our home opener, in February 2020, set an attendance record (29,550 gathered at the Dome). Four of the players had hometown connections. Fans quickly came up with a battle cry: KaKaw!
We all know what happened next. The league, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, announced on March 20 that it was cancelling the rest of the season. It filed for bankruptcy on April 13, a few days after it laid off most of its staff (and it owes the St. Louis tourism bureau $1.6 million, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
But hope! In August, a group including former WWE wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Dany Garcia, the first woman to own a major American sports league, announced that it is purchasing the XFL for $15 million. The sale keeps the football league in the WWE family; prior to Johnson buying the franchise, WWE CEO Vince McMahon owned it.
We still don't know a lot about Johnson's plans for the XFL (though we do have a query out, and we'll share more as we know it), or if they'll include St. Louis. Garcia told ESPN that the new owners are planning a season for 2021 using the bubble system implemented by some professional sports leagues. And on Tuesday, Johnson posted a photo to his Instagram that appears to show a BattleHawks helmet. Peer over his right shoulder and spot the bright blue helmet on the middle shelf.
Johnson, who played football for the Canadian Football League, wrote: "My XFL helmets arrived to my office and (holy shit!) I’m humbled and grateful at how full circle life can sometimes be. My dreams of playing in the NFL never came true, but now years later - I have the honor of buying an entire pro football league so the dreams of other players CAN COME TRUE."
Peep that winged helmet for yourself:
