Early estimate for AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door PPV buys

AEW presented its first co-promoted pay-per-view event, Forbidden Door, with NJPW this past Sunday and it was a success.

AEW President Tony Khan mentioned at the post-event press conference that the event did over 100,000 PPV buys, which resulted in over $5 million in revenue. It also had a $1 million gate.

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics reported the show drew "about" 127,000 buys between AEW's usual carriers and NJPW World. In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the estimate is 125,000 to 127,000 buys.

Based on the streaming buys, Meltzer noted that the show was down 18 percent and 23.9 percent on cable from Double or Nothing. About 80 percent of the buys were from the United States, an indication the show was more important to American fans than those in Japan.

Bleacher Report numbers from the United States were not down much from the last two shows, but FITE and cable numbers from Europe were not nearly what the prior two shows drew.

Both Meltzer and Thurston reported the show did 7,000 buys on New Japan World. WrestleTix’ final count for tickets sold at the United Center was 15,426.

After splitting the pay-per-view revenues with various carriers, the net revenue for the event will come to about $4.4 million, according to Thurston. That doesn’t include any sales from theater viewing or sponsors like DraftKings.

This event is behind All Out 2021, which drew about $5.6 million, Double or Nothing 2022 with $5.1 million, and Revolution 2022 with $4.7 million for net revenue.