Backstage News On Forbidden Door 2026 Doing Weakest Numbers Of Any AEW PPV This Year
AEW’s Forbidden Door 2026, held alongside NJPW, CMLL and STARDOM on Sunday, June 28 at San Jose’s SAP Center, may have done the weakest pay-per-view business of any AEW show this year.
According to Dave Meltzer’s latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter at F4WOnline.com, while full buy rate figures aren’t out yet, early estimates aren’t good.
As has been noted, Forbidden Door tends to skew toward a hardcore audience, the NJPW crossover matches are a draw for diehards, but casual viewers often don’t recognize the talent involved. Meltzer was careful to frame this as a relative dip rather than a disaster, noting he never expected the show to compete with Double or Nothing-level numbers, and that finishing last in a strong year for the company isn’t the red flag it might sound like.
The bigger issue, per Meltzer, was the missing AEW World Title match.
Sources close to the promotion’s business trends have long shown that a World Title bout is what typically drives PPV sales, and this show didn’t have one. MJF, he argued, would have moved more buys in a straightforward singles match than as part of a crowded 12-man tag built around a title implication. The card had the shape of a super show on paper, but without the World Title or an IWGP Title match, a first for Forbidden Door, it lacked the centerpiece that’s carried previous installments. Meltzer added that Yota Tsuji’s absence and the missing IWGP strap likely weren’t significant factors on their own.
Outside competition didn’t help either.
The go-home stretch ran up against NXT’s free Great American Bash special, which likely siphoned some viewership. There wasn’t a World Cup match to contend with, and the lone marquee baseball game of the night was expected to wrap before the PPV even began, so overshadowing from other live sports wasn’t the culprit. Meltzer also pointed to several late card changes tied to injuries and travel issues as a contributing factor.
For those interested, you can check out our complete AEW Forbidden Door 2026 Results here at WrestlingHeadlines.com.
