Brandon Howard Thurston
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Wrestling
Social Media Followers for Major Pro Wrestling Brands & Comparing Popularity of WWE and UFC
WWE continues to be the unsurprising leader in social media followers, far above the next closest pro wrestling promotions. Closer comparisons to WWE’s social media following are with UFC or even with WWE’s own offshoot brand NXT. WWE reports in…
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Wrestling
Exclusive Analysis: Second Guessing The WWE Network
In a recent article, I used Google interest to get an idea of how we can compare the value of the WWE pay-per-view events in the era of the WWE Network versus those from before April 2014, which were offered…
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Wrestling
Reconciling Wrestling Fandom With the Presidential Election
Pro wrestling is easily the dominant force in my life. Besides writing for Fightful.com and being an indie wrestler, I train people to wrestle three or four days a week. Lex Luger came to our gym a week ago Wednesday…
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Wrestling
Predicting What PPV Buys Would Be If WWE Network Was Never Launched
Since the dawn of the WWE Network era wrestling metricians have been at a loss to get an idea of the economic value of individual WWE pay-per-views. Before the Network, WWE publicly reported buys for individual PPVs. With the launch…
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Wrestling
Evolve Parts Ways With Joey Styles After Sexual Assault Joke
Evolve ended its working relationship with its announcer Joey Styles shortly after the end of Evolve 72 tonight. With the main event of Evolve 72 about to begin, Styles began interacting on the microphone with heel manager Stokely Hathaway. As Styles…
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Wrestling
Exclusive Analysis: UFC 205 Gate Beats WrestleMania 32, Breaks All-Time MMA And MSG Records
UFC 205 drew $17.7 million dollars in ticket sales at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, according to UFC President Dana White. That’s more than any MMA or pro wrestling event ever, and more than any event of any kind…
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Wrestling
Exclusive Analysis Of TNA’s Ratings In U.S. And U.K.
TNA’s Impact Wrestling on Thursday night on PopTV was watched by 359,000 viewers. The program was main evented by Eddie Edwards’ defense of the TNA World Title against former champion Bobby Lashley. It was the first episode of Impact since…
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Wrestling
Exclusive Analysis: Vince McMahon Says WWE Could Sell
WWE was asked to today whether it would consider merging with a larger media company. While not wanting to take anything off the table, CEO Vince McMahon’s response was: “We’re open for business.” AT&T and Time Warner are currently discussing…
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Wrestling
Exclusive Analysis: WWE Reveals Network Subscriber Numbers
WWE Network subscribers are down slightly from the previous quarter. The company released its Q3 earnings report today, revealing the subscription video service averaged 1,458,000 paid subscribers through the quarter, which ended on September 30. That’s marginally down from 1,511,000…
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Wrestling
Exclusive Analysis: Smackdown vs. Raw Ratings
WWE has managed to change the trajectory of SmackDown’s ratings. The move to give RAW and SmackDown separate rosters and to put SmackDown live on the USA Network on Tuesday nights began on July 19. The average TV rating for…
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