The following press release was issued on Thursday:
WWE® TOPS 100 MILLION FACEBOOK FANS AT WRESTLEMANIA
STAMFORD, Conn., April 10, 2013 – WWE® (NYSE:WWE) today announced it eclipsed 100 million Facebook fans across its network of pages during WrestleMania 29, further cementing itself as one of the most followed brands in the world.
WWE’s Facebook network currently has more fans than the NFL and its 32 teams combined and MLB and its 30 teams combined. The main WWE Facebook page also has more fans than the NHL, The New York Times, ESPN, Pepsi, Burger King, NASCAR and CNN. Seventeen WWE Superstars rank in the top 100 most-followed athletes on Facebook, with John Cena ® (more than 14 million fans) as the third most-followed athlete in the U.S. behind only Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
To drive additional fan engagement, WWE launched “Superfan Showdown,” a Facebook app exclusive to the platform that allows fans from around the world to compete in fast-paced interactive trivia challenges, rapid-fire polls, mind-bending puzzles and much more. As fans go head-to-head, they earn points, climb the global leaderboard and accumulate “WWE cash” that can be spent to purchase exclusive virtual goods, including: limited edition badges, rare Superstar trading cards, and never-before-seen WWE video content.
WWE now has more than 150 million followers across all social media platforms while ranking in the top 20 most social companies according to the Dachis Groups Social Business Index. WWE is also one of only seven brands in the world to obtain a Klout score of 99 from Klout.com, which measures a brands’ social media influence on a scale from 1 to 100. The other six brands include YouTube, The New York Times, Huffington Post, Time, Associated Press and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Randy Orton checked in with his thoughts on the wild crowd at this week’s WWE Raw from East Rutherford, New Jersey. Orton Tweeted:
Randy Orton
@RandyOrton
"Just watched back some of Raw from last Monday night. That crowd was insane! Never experienced anything like it before. Glad I was there."
5:59 PM - 11 Apr 13
If you doubt Ryback’s drive and ability, he’ll run right through you. Check out his first comments since turning heel below:
Ryback
@Ryback22
"Doubt my drive n ability. I will run right through you. I am a Highly Evolved Machine. There is no right n wrong no good n bad.#FeedingTime"
2:36 AM - 11 Apr 13
Bret Hart did a Q&A with ans on his Facebook page on Thursday. Below is an excerpt:
Thoughts on Wrestlemania 29:
"I thought undertaker and punk stole the show … I thought the two main events were more than predictable. Step by step. Overall I thought the show was good. The highlight of Wrestlemania weekend for me was the induction of Bruno. All of the Hall of Famer recipients were great selections."
Opponent for the Undertaker at WrestleMania:
He said Michael McGillicutty would be his pick to end Undertaker’s undefeated streak.
The Rock noted on his Instagram account he will begin rehab for his abdominal/adductor injury suffered at Wrestlemania 29. As previously noted, Rock tore his tendons completely off his pelvis midway through his WWE title match against John Cena.
Rock had some fun with Instagram/Twitter followers by posting his “Hmm.. I think I just tore tendons off my pelvis” face:
Dwayne Johnson
@TheRock
"My "Hmm.. I think I just tore tendons off my pelvis" face. Love you guys for all your support!!"
2:10 PM - 10 Apr 13
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley says the elbow drop he gave to Chris Jericho at the Hall of Fame ceremony was not scripted. Foley told Raj Giri of WrestlingINC:
“It came as a complete surprise to me, as did CM Punk coming out doing the very un-bad-guy thing with doing the three count and hugging me on stage. For that one night, there are no good guys and bad guys.”
During a recent interview with CBS0-19 in Cleveland, WWE Superstar Alex Riley was asked why he stopped appearing on television:
“I don’t know, it’s a very competitive company. There’s a lot of people here and a lot of talent. So you have to constantly re-invent yourself and constantly be entertaining on a daily basis and find new ways to entertain and I’m trying to do that” …
“I was shoved into a main event spot very early in my career, which I don’t think a lot of people quite get that opportunity, so I was very lucky to get that opportunity. I wanna earn it, a lot of that had to do with Miz, so when I come back this time it’s going to be all me and I want to earn it.”
