SAN ANTONIO – Former professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came back to San Antonio, but this time it was for the end of the XFL season.
The Arlington Renegades claimed a victory against the DC Defenders with a score of 35-26 in the XFL championship game at the Alamodome on Saturday.
Johnson and XFL Chairwoman and Owner Dany Garcia last visited the Alamo City for the official launch of the XFL earlier this year.
This championship game was the first since Johnson took ownership of the league.
When asked about the overall XFL season and its success, Johnson said there have been some setbacks, but at the end of the day, they’ll keep moving forward.
“We had our challenges, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to fight through that,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to believe in the vision. You’ve got to believe in the people around you. But also, you’ve got to get the great players out there on the field who believe in what the XFL culture is, and that’s what we found this entire season.”
Planning for the next XFL season is already underway, according to Garcia.
“As soon as we hand the championship trophy out, 2024 begins. There is more of what we did this year, there’s discussion about mini camps in cities for our teams and we’re going to review some new markets,” Garcia said. “There’s more content to be had... There’s a lot of new players that were scouted.”
“It starts as soon as we’re done today,” she added.
The Renegades and the Defenders previously played close games at the Alamodome, with Arlington losing to San Antonio, 15-9 and the Defenders surviving against the Brahmas 29-28, on a missed last-second field goal.
Johnson announced that San Antonio would be the host city for the XFL championship back in February, saying it was “an easy decision.”
“San Antonio was always very high on the list...,” Johnson said. “It’s a diverse town, as we’ve talked about. It represents all the values and ideals of what we stand for as a league, as part of football nation. So we led with that. It was an easy decision.”
You can watch KSAT’s livestream of the press conference below: