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ESPN.com NFL Nation reporter Kevin Seifert stops by to help us perform a preliminary autopsy on the surprisingly sudden death of the XFL – WWE founder Vince McMahon’s second attempt at creating a viable alternative professional football league to that of the mighty NFL. A confident, but visibly mellower McMahon announced the league’s unlikely rebirth at a video press conference on January 28, 2018 (two months before a similar launch by the rival Alliance of American Football) – with resolute commitments to professionalism, innovation and fan-friendliness noticeably absent in the XFL’s farcical first incarnation 17 years earlier. Even after the abrupt collapse of the AAF midway through its first season last April, hopes were still high for “XFL 2.0” as its season kicked off in Washington, DC on February 8, 2020 in front of a near-sellout crowd of hometown Defenders fans at the previously “soccer-specific” Audi Field. Like the Alliance, the quality of football was high, initial TV ratings were strong, and enthu