AEW held its 2026 AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 28th, at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. While full estimates for the event’s pay-per-view buy rates are not yet available, preliminary figures reported by Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter suggest it may have had the lowest buy rates of the year for the company.
Meltzer noted that Forbidden Door typically appeals to hardcore wrestling fans, featuring interpromotional matches that feature NJPW talent casual viewers may not recognize. He explained that he did not expect it to draw the same numbers as an event like Double or Nothing. He emphasized that being the lowest-grossing event in a very successful year is not as negative as it might seem.
Meltzer speculated that the absence of an AEW World Title match was likely a significant factor in the lower numbers. He argued that MJF would have had a greater impact in a singles match rather than a 12-man match designed to set up a title match. Although the event appeared to be a “super show” on paper, it lacked both a World Title match, which typically drives attendance for AEW shows, and the IWGP Title match that had been a feature of previous Forbidden Door events. However, he does not believe that including the IWGP Title match and Yota Tsuji would have substantially changed the outcome.
Additionally, Meltzer suggested that the competing free NXT Great American Bash show might have affected viewership, even though there was no significant World Cup match, and the only major baseball game scheduled was expected to conclude before the start of the pay-per-view. Previous AEW events this year had built up to major World Title matches, but this event did not. There were also several adjustments made due to injuries and travel issues.
