February 12, 2001 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Debut of the XFL, Stan Hansen retires, more
With fan and media reaction after its debut all across the board and a huge buzz leading to a monstrous television rating, the only way to review the debut of the XFL over the weekend is this. Despite what sports people may think and even hardcore fans of sports may think, the majority of people attend sporting events as well as wrestling events based on quality of hype. They enjoy themselves based on quality of atmosphere of the show, and going home happy (either the babyface prevailing at the end or the home team prevailing). If you have a good time, you want to go back, but to get the masses to attend, the masses have to also believe what they are attending is “hot” or in some ways “important” either in a mainstream way or in a niche way.
The show drew a 9.49 rating and 17 share, leading it to being easily the highest rated show on television for the night. NBC had drawn a 4.7 the previous Saturday night.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.