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Back in 2001, WWE owner Vince McMahon decided to set up an alternative American Football League.
Christened as the XFL and televised by NBC, it was aimed as a rival to the NFL, but lasted just one season due to flagging audience figures.
Ultimately the failed venture cost the then-WWF and NBC $35 million each.
But despite its brief existence, it did leave its mark on the NFL.
To tell us more, we were joined by journalist Brett Forrest, who authored Long Bomb: How the XFL Became TV's Biggest Fiasco.
"This came about in the late 90s at the height of the Internet bubble when WWF stock price had grown so fast and high, that it had made [McMahon] a billionaire. He was very full of himself and his success and he was looking for the next thing to conquer," said Forrest.
With NBC tired of paying the money needed to acquire broadcasting rights to the National Football League, they joined McMahon in setting up a mutated version of the NFL which included rules aimed at making the sport more entertaining and TV-friendly.
This included bigger hits, a human scramble to replace the coin toss (the first one ended with one player suffering a dislocated shoulder) and no extra point kicks after a touchdown.
Along with testosterone-fueled team names like the Los Angeles Xtreme, Memphis Maniax and New York/New Jersey Hitmen, McMahon and NBC thought they were on to a winner.
"There are things about [the NFL] which rub people up the wrong way. It's very conservative, there are a lot of rules that inhibit the way that players behave, dress or say. The XFL was flouting all of that and saying the NFL stands for No Fun League and we're going to be the XFL, the X Factor where anything goes," Forrest explained.
Initially the TV ratings were very high thanks to NBC's hype but by the end of the debut game itself, viewing figures had plummeted.
It wasn't helped by the fact that journeymen and NFL rejects provided the bulk of the rosters.
Ultimately NBC and McMahon had no option to pull the plug on the venture.
Yet certain aspects of the XFL spilled over into the current NFL including mic'd-up players and referees. Listen to the podcast to find out how elements of the XFL infiltrated the NFL.
