Following the Forbidden Door pay-per-view for AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, a key factor that would determine whether more events like this one would take place would be the numbers drawn, both in terms of paid attendance and pay-per-view buys. It was important to know whether fans would float an event where the names of wrestlers from across the globe would be showcased and if there would be a financial appetite to see them perform against some of AEW's best. Could AEW make money producing a show where many of the stars weren't completely familiar to average wrestling fans?
The answer seems to be yes.
As per a tweet from AEW President Tony Khan, he's extremely pleased with the numbers coming in from this weekend's Forbidden Door show. He tweeted that attendance and initial buy rates were strong, saying, "Thank you to everyone, especially wrestling fans around the world, who made last Sunday’s Forbidden Door event a hit, with > $1 million in ticket sales + > $5 million on PPV!"
As many outlets have pointed out, the attendance figures aren't surprising. It was known a while back what that figure would look like based on advanced ticket sales. If you consider that there would have been a huge merchandise numbers drawn from that gate as well, the figure is well over $1 million. It's the pay-per-view buys that AEW should be more than pleased with. The $5 million equates to around 100K PPV buys if you average the cost at around $50 per buy. ITNWWE.com has the pay-per-view at around 110K buys and while that is down from the average of 140K in 2022, it's still a strong number for AEW considering speculation was that this event wasn't drawing incredibly well.
Was It Enough To Do Another One?
Khan may not love that the numbers are down a little, but he'll be pleased to know the card generated enough buzz that the show drew a solid number compared to expectations. NJPW is already rumored to be interested in bringing a Forbidden Door show to Japan and it's certainly logical to suggest that AEW will host another event around this time next year.
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