Early Returns Suggest Record Numbers For AEW Double Or Nothing

AEW Double or Nothing is expected to break the pay-per-view record for the upstart promotion, which officially launched with Double or Nothing during Memorial Day weekend last year.

Viewership trends throughout the global pandemic have been largely unfavorable for weekly pro wrestling’s empty-arena shows. It was just two short weeks ago that AEW Dynamite drew its worst number in history with just 654,000 viewers for the May 13 broadcast.

Pay-per-view trends in combat sports, however, are telling a different story.

This months UFC 249 blew away expectations with over 700,000 pay-per-view buys for a show with no top UFC draw the likes of a Jon Jones or Conor McGregor.

Early returns for Double or Nothing are now also looking promising, with Mike Johnson of PWInsider expecting the event to be the most-purchased pay-per-view in AEW history.

Said Johnson during PWElite Audio (h/t Ringside News):

“I can tell you after speaking to certain people who handle pay-per-view distribution just on their realm this might have been the best bought AEW pay-per-view of all time.”

Johnson’s comments align with in-character comments made by Cody, who insisted the event “blew away expectations” this past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite.

Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted streaming numbers for B/R Live and FITE were up 10 percent, suggesting Double or Nothing likely did 115,000 to 120,000 buys.

Double or Nothing featured “Iron” Mike Tyson, who appeared ringside during the TNT Championship Finals matchup between Cody and Lance Archer. The event was headlined by The Elite taking on The Inner Circle in the latest cinematic instant classic known as the Stadium Stampede.

In a bizarrely developing trend, combat sports viewers are willing to skip weekly free television, however they are clearly willing to spend upwards of $64.99 for a pay-per-view despite record unemployment during the pandemic.

The trend is more bad news for WWE, which will not be able to capitalize on this dynamic after gutting its pay-per-view business in favor of launching the WWE Network in 2014. WWE opened up WrestleMania 36 to several pay-per-view providers, including Fox Sports, although with fans able to watch the pay-per-view for free by signing up for the WWE Network—not to mention disappointing Google
GOOGL search numbers—WWE did not enjoy the type of pay-per-view success UFC and AEW are currently enjoying.