If you don't want to cough up the $9.99 per month for a WWE Network subscription, just log on to the company's official YouTube account and watch a bunch of classic matches for free.
On Wednesday, the WWE Network uploaded a classic 1997 Spring Stampede bout between Rey Mysterio and Ultimo Dragon on WWE's YouTube page.
It's far from the only classic footage that WWE's YouTube page pounds the WWE Universe with on a daily basis. Before WrestleMania 32 on Sunday night, WWE's YouTube account uploaded Sting vs. Ric Flair on the final episode of World Championship Wrestling's Nitro, the Icon's first championship victory at the 1990 Great American Bash and his WWE debut at the 2014 Survivor Series.
Obviously, those clips were themed around Sting being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before, but they represent samples of the caliber of classic footage that the company's YouTube channel regularly shares at a dizzying rate.
The matches don't even include the weekly 5 Things and This Week in WWE History features that get uploaded to YouTube, also showing glimpses of classic footage from the Network's vault, or highlight countdowns like 22 Foot Stomps That Left a Mark and 22 Whiplashes That Ripped Superstars to Shreds.
The only catch to the YouTube footage is, at large, they're snippets and not matches in their full entirety. For example, the Rey Mysterio vs. Ultimo Dragon video only show the final 90 seconds of the match.
The Sting vs. Flair footage is capped at one minute and seven seconds, and shows the legends embrace in the ring after their match, while the clip of Sting winning the heavyweight title runs 60 seconds. Some clips of matches run without showing the results.
While there's nothing like having the massive WWE library of all pay-per-view events and matches at your disposal in one convenient place, fans can still get by — and get their fix — with the company's YouTube channel. So, if you're on a tight budget and can't part ways with the $120-plus (with tax) per year for the Network, at least you can sort of get by via regularly checking WWE's YouTube page.
All depends on your threshold of pain for not having the Network, we guess. If you don't spring on the Network, just know you won't be alone in checking WWE's YouTube channel, which counts 10 million-plus subscribers, and has amassed over eight billion views sprawled across its nearly 30,000 videos.
