With many Americans stuck at home while the coronavirus pandemic rages across the land, people are getting pretty bored. And when people are bored and can’t leave the house, they often turn to the comfort of their televisions. Many streaming companies have started offering free trials in an attempt to steal some of those quarantined eyeballs for themselves, but perhaps the most intriguing offer has come from the WWE Network.
The professional wrestling streaming app has made a ton of its content available for free — including every single WrestleMania from the debut event in 1985 all the way up until last year’s WrestleMania 35. Want to watch Hulk Hogan bodyslam Andre the Giant in WrestleMania III? You can do that. Longing to see every installment of The Undertaker’s record streak of 21 straight WrestleMania victories? You can do that. Got a hankering to watch “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock face off in WrestleMania XV? You can do that, too. The service is also offering every installation of their other “big four” pay-per-views — The Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series — along with a raft of other content. Here’s the list of what’s streaming for free, courtesy of WWE:
- Recent episodes of Monday Night Raw
- Recent episodes of Friday Night SmackDown
- Recent episodes of WWE NXT
- Recent episodes of WWE NXT UK
- Recent episodes of WWE 205 Live
- Every WWE Worlds Collide special
- Complete Mae Young Classic tournament special
- Every episode of WWE Untold
- Every episode of WWE Chronicle
- A Future WWE: The FCW Story
- “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions
- The Monday Night War docuseries
- WWE Ruthless Aggression docuseries
- WWE24 docuseries
- Every NXT TakeOver and NXT UK TakeOver
- Much, much more
So why is WWE Network giving all this away for free? Mainly to promote the upcoming WrestleMania 36, which takes place on April 4 and April 5. The event is not included for free, and you’ll have to become a paying subscriber to watch it. However, it just might be worth doing so. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the event will be taking place in a training facility with no audience. Any professional wrestling fan knows that audience involvement plays a huge role in the show — basically everything the wrestlers do is to get some kind of reaction from the crowd — so seeing the Show of Shows with no audience is sure to be must-see TV. For a taste of just how unsettlingly bizarre audience-free pro wrestling is, just take a look below at a clip from a recent episode of SmackDown.
For pro wrestling action that’s always free, be sure to check out Ring of Honor Wrestling, airing every Sunday night at midnight/11 C on CHARGE! — no subscription required.
