Belli, McCallum and Barker all have fond memories of their time in XFL

The XFL provided Adriano Belli with his first job in professional football and a life lesson on the perils of Sin City.

Upon receiving his first game cheque from the Las Vegas Outlaws in 2001, Belli decided to put the US$7,000 towards buying his first car. Trouble was, the 40-year-old Toronto native was living in a hotel that also had a casino.

“I’m 21 and thinking, ‘Wow, $7,000 for a week’s work? That’s pretty good,”’ Belli said. “I go by the roulette table and I’m like, ‘If I bet it all on black, there’s my first car.’

“So I bet it all on black and it went red. But you know, I had so much fun (in XFL), I learned so much from the older guys and you know what? I bought the car a couple of weeks later, a Jeep.”

On Thursday, WWE boss Vince McMahon announced he was kick-starting the renegade spring league to resume play in 2020. McMahon originally unveiled the XFL in ‘01 but it died after just one year.

Belli is bullish on the reincarnation because it will be based more on football and not gimmicks and professional wrestling.

“There’s a need,” Belli said. “The American population falls into a deep depression after Super Bowl because there’s no football to watch.”

Jim Barker, a longtime CFL coach and front-office executive, agrees. He served as the offensive co-ordinator of the XFL-champion Los Angeles Xtreme in ‘01.