News

AEW All Out Draws Best Non-WWE PPV Number In 22 Years

By TJR Staff • Published 12th September 2021

The AEW All Out pay-per-view on September 5th was an incredible show that not only excited fans with what they did in the ring, but it has done great PPV business for AEW as well.

It was reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that All Out drew the largest pay-per-view buyrate for a non-WWE event since April 1999. That would be going back to the days when WCW was in existence.

The final figures aren’t available yet, but All Out is definitely AEW’s biggest PPV ever with more than 205,000 buys.

“We don’t have full PPV numbers but right now they already have more than 205,000 buys accounted for at press time. […] At 200,000 to 220,000 buys, it would be the largest PPV number for a non-WWE show since the April 11, 1999 Spring Stampede, and more likely, the March 14, 1999, Uncensored show headlined by Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan for the WCW title.”

Last Sunday’s AEW All Out pay-per-view was highly regarded by critics, members of the media and fans alike. John Canton of TJRWrestling rated it 9.5 out of 10 while calling it one of the best PPVs ever and Meltzer praised it heavily in the Wrestling Observer as well.

Part of the excitement going into All Out was that CM Punk was wrestling in his first pro wrestling match in over seven years when he faced Darby Allin a very competitive and entertaining match that Punk won. Even after a long layoff, Punk looked pretty good in the ring.

In addition to that, there were some surprises as well. The AEW debut of Bryan Danielson was expected to happen and it did after Kenny Omega and The Elite attacked Christian Cage and the Jurassic Express following Omega’s victory over Cage. The first surprise was Adam Cole debuting in AEW, but he ended up turning heel to join The Elite. That brought out Danielson, who fought with the babyfaces and stood tall to end the show.

Ruby Soho (formerly WWE’s Ruby Riott) also made her AEW debut by winning the Women’s Casino Battle Royale. Ruby was cheered heavily by the fans. The win by Riott means she will get to challenge Britt Baker for the AEW Women’s Title in the future.

The match of the night was the Tag Team Championship Steel Cage Match with The Lucha Brothers beating The Young Bucks in what might be AEW’s greatest match ever.

AEW’s President/GM Tony Khan thanked the fans for their support.

This past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite also did big numbers for the company with the second-highest number of viewers in the history of the show. The only episode that beat it was AEW’s debut Dynamite episode in October 2019. This week’s Dynamite drew an average of 1.32 million viewers while beating WWE’s Monday Night Raw in the 18-49 year old demographic for the first time.