AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door does estimated 125,000-127,000 PPV buys

A big question going into last Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door was how it would perform on pay-per-view given the short time to build and promote it on TV with new faces, and whether AEW fans cared about the concept to begin with.

The question has been answered as the show did an estimated 125,000-127,000 buys, according to Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Meltzer said the early estimate shows streaming buys (BR, FITE.tv) down 18% while traditional cable buys are down nearly 24%. 

The show resonated more with American fans than not. 80% of the total buys were from inside the United States which he said is a higher percentage than normal. BR numbers were down slightly from Double or Nothing and Revolution, while European FITE and cable buys weren’t nearly as good.

Meltzer said the PPV got just 7000 buys on New Japan World, but it also aired live from 8 AM to 1 PM local time on Monday in Japan.

The number comes on the heels of May’s Double or Nothing which brought in 155,000 buys. This is the first time AEW has held PPVs on back-to-back months.

February’s Revolution did 173,000 buys, their best of the year so far. They will look to top that with September’s All Out which did a company best 205,000 buys last year.

This week, Tony Khan said Forbidden Door brought in more than $5 million in PPV sales and $1 million in ticket sales: