ROH Final Battle Buyrate And Gate Revealed
Ring of Honor's Final Battle pay-per-view took place on the afternoon of December 10 – avoiding going head-to-head with "WWE NXT" Deadline and UFC 282 that night – at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. The event marked the second live ROH show under the full leadership of AEW CEO Tony Khan. Given the unusual time slot and ROH still only featuring on AEW programming, how did this particular pay-per-view perform?
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the "experimental" afternoon show "looks to have more than 25,000 PPV buys (19,000 streaming and 6,400 cable) based on first week estimates." In comparison, April's Supercard of Honor XV event saw 23,000 buys, with July's Death Before Dishonor show bringing in 37,000 buys. When it came to traditional pay-per-view purchases, Final Battle was said to be up 73.7 percent from Supercard of Honor XV, but down 26.2 percent from Death Before Dishonor event. Interestingly, WON disclosed that of those who went on to purchase Final Battle, 60.9 percent also purchased AEW's Full Gear pay-per-view and 39.1 percent did not, with 37.4 percent purchasing Death Before Dishonor and 62.6 percent failing to buy it.
Regarding the attendance, Final Battle reportedly drew 2,700 fans, with 2,500 paid. It should be noted that the College Park Center can hold up to 4,900 fans when set up for a pro wrestling event. Notably, the event was the highest bought and most attended Final Battle pay-per-view in ROH history. The report also pointed out that regarding the afternoon pay-per-view experiment, the event could be considered a success, highlighting that it may have done even better in a Saturday night slot with the Double Dog Collar match and Chris Jericho bout on the card.