Ric Flair’s Last Match PPV does over 24,000 PPV buys, $448,000 gate
According to numbers reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, last Sunday’s Ric Flair’s Last Match pay-per-view was a financially successful one and the second-biggest ever indie show in the U.S. in the modern era.
Meltzer is reporting that the PPV did between 20,000 and 25,000 buys via streaming PPV buys and nearly 4200 more through linear PPV.
As he noted, the number is impressive considering the show had no traditional TV promotion.
“The only promotions with a show not promoted on national television that ever beat this number would have been All In (55,000) and when Pancrase was billing itself as pro wrestling and SEG did a taped show (60,000),” he wrote.
The event did over 6800 fans for a $448,502 gate. It’s the second-largest behind 2018’s All In which did 10,541 paid and $458,525.
“Aside from All In, WCW, WWE and AEW, that gate number was never hit previously in pro wrestling history in the U.S. As far as an indie show doing 6,800 fans paid in the U.S. aside from All Out, there was a 2013 show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena that drew 7,000 with El Hijo del Santo & L.A. Park & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs. Cien Caras Jr. & Blue Demon Jr. & Dr. Wagner Jr., but the gate would have been nowhere close to that one. Jacques Rougeau Jr. had bigger crowds when he promoted his retirement show as well as is own promotion at the Bell Center in Montreal many years back,” he wrote.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.