This past Sunday AEW invaded the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Nevada for their annual Double or Nothing pay-per-view, which saw CM Punk crowned as the new world champion, the first-ever Anarchy In The Arena matchup, and the debuts of manager Stokely Hathaway and women’s division star Athena.
While the event had been promoted by Tony Khan as AEW’s biggest pay-per-view to date, the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter has a report revealing how the show did business-wise, including the paid gate, the stars who topped Google searches, and the estimated number of PPV buys.
It is believed that Double or Nothing did around 150,000-155,000 buys on traditional pay-per-view, but it is noted that the official numbers have yet to be determined. If the estimation is correct this is a significant increase from Double or Nothing 2021, which pulled in around 140,000 buys.
The crossover between WWE and AEW fans was quite limited for Double or Nothing 2022 and WrestleMania 38. The Observer reports that only 3.2% of fans ordered both shows, but this doesn’t track those who watched on Peacock.
One of the biggest stories going into the show was the controversy with top superstar MJF, a story that continues to unfold even on the most recent AEW programming. However, the news of MJF’s unhappiness did not lead to any last-minute buys for Double or Nothing.
MJF was one of the top names searched on Google over the weekend, even more than CM Punk. That changed on Sunday when Punk became the most searched star from the show, with Adam Page and MJF coming in at second. Overall there were over 200,000 searches made for AEW Double or Nothing, which is consistent with major AEW events. This is roughly the same number of searches regular WWE PPVs do, but much less than their major shows.
Finally the attendance. Reports are that there were 14,459 fans in attendance at T-Mobile Arena, with 13,800 of those fans paying. This gave AEW a gate of just under 1.15 million dollars, their fourth largest in company history behind last fall’s Arthur Ashe Dynamite, CM Punk’s return at the United Center, and this past Wednesday’s Dynamite from the Forum in Los Angeles.
We will keep you updated on the final PPV buys for Double or Nothing once it comes out.
