The XFL is hoping third time around is the charm for this league. New owners of this league, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson & Dany Garcia, think they can be a success over former owner and creator Vince McMahon. On opening weekend of the XFL III, the owners went to every game in two days of the slate of games.

We bring you the power rankings of the XFL III starting with week two which gave us time to watch every team and come up with an opinion of where they stand after the first week of decent football. It was sloppy week one. Have to get use to the extra point rules where you don’t kick extra points. The XFL onside kick which is not a kick. It’s a 4th and 15 yard play to convert which came into play. I like seeing the return of the beer snake or perhaps the end in DC. Nice to see some of the fans from some of these same teams from the 2020 season come back and support their team. Let’s take a look at what their team is doing after one week of the XFL part three in our first XFL power rankings of the 2023 season.

#8. ORLANDO GUARDIANS (0-1) Paxton Lynch, the starting quarterback for the Guardians, was benched in third quarter for throwing an interception.

Lynch has now been benched as a quarterback in three different leagues starting with the NFL & then last year with the USFL. Things started off well for the former Bronco, Lynch, who hit another former Denver player Cody Latimer, a teammate friend of Paxton. The second string quarterback for the Guardians, Quinten Dormady, threw a touchdown pass but had two interceptions. The Guardians lost by the biggest margin in week 1 of part three of the XFL versus the Roughnecks who scored the most points.

#7. VEGAS VIPERS (0-1) The Vipers looked like the Golden Knights in their first game ever as a Vegas franchise. At least for the first half of the game as the Vipers led 14-3 over the Renegades. It was the tale of two halves for Vegas as everything that could go wrong went that way in the second half. The King of Spring football, Luis Perez, looked like an NFL quarterback the first half. In the second half, Perez looked like an XFL quarterback.

Perez had two interceptions both returned for touchdowns. Perez and the Vipers had one last gasp of hope as they scored a late touchdown to go down by two points with hope of a 2-point conversion to tie the game. Instead, Perez was sacked on the 2-point attempt. Vipers played well & just have to avoid the big mistakes that cost them the game in week one.

#6. SAN ANTONIO BRAHMAS (0-1) What the hell is a Brahma?

If you look up San Antonio’s nickname ‘Brahmas,’ they say it’s the Hindu god of creation. However, Dwayne the Rock Johnson says Brahmas are bulls which have been bred in the United States since the late 1800’s. The XFL is the Rock’s league, so maybe he was told his entire life he has to be strong like bull and tada… Brahmas formed.

The Brahmas may have the best running back in the league. Kalen Ballage had a nice start to his XFL career as the former NFL running back carried the rock 24 times for 84 yards. The X Fighting Irish quarterback, Jack Coan, had a nice debut going 25-26 for 207 yards with a touchdown pass but threw an interception. The Brahmas dominated the game but settled for fields and St. Louis came back took advantage of the XFL zany scoring rules. The Battlehawks’ comeback started as they scored a touchdown in the last minute and then converted a 3-point conversion. Then St. Louis converted the onside kick which in the XFL is getting another play from scrimmage and converting it. It’s a 15-yard play as St.Louis did that.Then they marched down the field and hit a field goal to end a game that the home crowd and the breeded bulls thought they had it in a bag.

#5. SEATTLE SEA DRAGONS (0-1) I don’t think Seattle will stay in the bottom 4 of the XFL. The Sea Dragons lost a close game to the Defenders on the road last week. This Seattle team has multiple positive things that should help this Sea Dragon team prosper the rest of the way. The Sea Dragons defense played well the entire game versus the Defenders. The Sea Dragons offense played well as running back Brendan Knox had a rushing touchdown and multiple nice runs.

Josh Gordon looked great catching 6 passes for 74 yards with a touchdown pass. The Sea Dragons had a 18-8 lead in the third quarter. The Sea Dragons quarterback, Ben DiNucci, played well with 282 passing yards and ran in a three point conversion, but he also made mistakes that cost Seattle the game. DiNucci threw two costly interceptions and fumbled the ball at the wrong part of the field.

#4. ARLINGTON RENEGADES (1-0) If it was not for the Renegade defense, Arlington would have lost their opener versus the Vipers at home in the first game of this XFL season. The Renegades offense looked awful in the game and the team was down 14-3 at halftime. The Renegade defense bailed the offense with two scoring defensive plays that helped Arlington win this game.

Not sure why the Renegade coaching staff went with quarterback Drew Plitt over Kyle Sloter, who has more experience, especially playing with the New Orleans Breakers of the USFL the entire season last year.

#3. ST. LOUIS BATTLEHAWKS (1-0) A.J McCarron should be the best quarterback in the entire XFL. McCarron did not show his abilities until the very end of week one with a stellar comeback over the Brahmas. McCarron caught on fire and the Battlehawks benefited over the XFL corney rules by hitting a 3 point conversion. Then the Battlehawks passed the football to convert a 4th and 15th play which is the XFL version of the onside kick. McCarron then drove his team down the field for the winning field goal.

Austin Proehl is the son of Ricky Proehl, who played years in the NFL as a receiver, & he caught the 3 point conversion off McCarron. Austin was drafted by the Bills & is still trying to find a way to make it on an NFL roster. His father Ricky is coach for the Battlehawks so you know he’s trying to help his son get noticed by an NFL team.

#2. D.C DEFENDERS (1-0) When DC security takes away the Defenders’ fans’ beer snake, there’s big trouble in little China.

The Defenders don’t make mountains out of mole hills, but they sure know how to make lemonade out of lemons as many of these yellow objects flew on to the field because security took the fans’ coveted beer snake. The Defenders offense played like a lemon. It was the Defenders defense that helped their team prevail over the Seattle Sea Dragons.

Michael Joseph had two interceptions, one for a touchdown. The Defenders were able to defend their home turf at the very end in the red zone by forcing a fumble and recovering to end Seattle’s chance for a go ahead score.

#1. HOUSTON ROUGHNECKS (1-0) Looks like the Roughnecks picked off where they left off in the 2020 reboot of the XFL. Totally different team this go around for the Roughnecks as they scored the most points in week 1 with 33. The Roughnecks looked great on both sides of the ball as they had the largest margin of victory in week one by 21 points of their beat down of the Guardians. History seems like it’s repeating itself in all kinds of ways. The Head Coach of the Roughnecks, Wade Phillips, has the most coaching experience in the XFL.

As a Head Coach in the NFL, the teams Phillips coached always had a great first year in the program. Phillips’ defenses as defensive coordinator have always been a scrappy bunch and hovering around the top ten units in the league is the norm. Trent Harris, linebacker for the Roughnecks, got Phillips’ memo getting 4 sacks and 4 tackles for a loss in his debut. Brandon Silvers may kill the Roughnecks or may take this team all the way. The Gunslinger quarterback had two touchdown passes and two interceptions.