WASHINGTON — The new XFL season kicked off over the weekend. The District's team, the D.C. Defenders, got the win on Sunday, topping the Seattle Sea Dragons by a final score of 22-18.
Fans at Audi Field were excited for the team's return, and that excitement was ratcheted up when league co-owner Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made an appearance, along with two other team owners. Johnson described the atmosphere as "electric."
"We were just talking about how electrifying the games have been, but then to come to D.C., a night game. You look at this stadium, the energy here in this stadium... In a way the players are new, everything is brand new, but the fans have come out," Johnson said.
Johnson said the fans, and their passion, was one of the main reasons he wanted to keep an XFL team in D.C.
"We had looked at a lot of markets across the board. You run tests, you dig deep, you see what makes sense. But the passion was already here," Johnson said.
Johnson made clear he is an unbiased owner, but said D.C. has a special place in his heart.
"Every time I and we have come here to D.C., the memories have been incredible. I'm talking about back in my wrestling days. I'll give you further than that, before I got to WWE, we would travel up here and wrestle in these little venues. It just meant something deeper," he said.
Following the team's win on Sunday, the Defenders will travel to Las Vegas before returning home on March 5 to take on St. Louis.