I remember watching the very first XFL game when I was in middle school.
Look at Jim Criner coaching the Las Vegas Outlaws there. The "New York/New Jersey Hitmen" has to be the dumbest name in the history of sports, however.
Not as bad as many people remember, and, actually, ironically, the NFL looks and feels now way more like the XFL than most would like to admit...
-- generally less regard for tradition and stateliness in the way the game is presented, with the shiny new age uniforms being an obvious example of that
-- instant replay is now a huge part of the game
-- lot more WWE-style coverage of "personal rivalries" and "being disrespected" making the entertainment experience into a male soap opera
-- lot more celebrity and corporate crossover, too, rather than just being a football game
-- no more "free" PATs
-- Skycam
-- giant videoboards (another WWE staple that has now spread to college games)
-- microphones throughout the field, etc.
The NFL might have won the battle, but the XFL won part of the war. Not always for the best, in my book, but it was a harbinger of the direction things were going.