The Best Wrestling You Can Stream
The internet has changed a lot of industries, and pro wrestling is definitely one of them. Watching foreign matches once meant tape-trading and hoping for the best. But now, to watch the best wrestling taking place anywhere from Massachusetts to Melbourne, you just need to sign up with a streaming service. And if you're not looking to pay just yet, know that there's a lot of free content on YouTube and Twitch (from the likes of Mexico's CMLL and Texas' WrestleCircus).
On Saturday, Sept. 1, you'll get to stream the All In, a massive event put on by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks via the Fite TV app, where it will cost $40. Existing Honor Club members will get to stream the show for half off (or for free if they're VIP members). If you don't need to watch it live, All In will be available via video on demand on NJPW World, following its live broadcast.
AEW Dynamite is live every week at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, on TNT (and any streaming platform with TNT)
Credit: Rich Freeda/WWE
WWE Network
If you know any pro wrestling, you probably know about WWE, the Stanford, Connecticut-based empire that is taking over the world. And if you're a wrestling fan, you're definitely aware that WWE's streaming service, the WWE Network, costs $9.99 per month. What you might not know, though, is that WWE's best wrestling lives on the Network.
Yes, not only does this service give you each of WWE's pay-per-view events, such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam, but also, 205 Live and NXT — which provide the best storytelling the company does — are only here. That includes the NXT TakeOver specials, which are arguably the best nights of wrestling on American soil. Oh, and if you prefer to watch the wrestling of yesteryear, the Network has every WWF, WWE and ECW PPV ever, as well as classic content from Saturday Night's Main Event, Mid-South, Smoky Mountain, WCCW and more.
NJPW World
At the end of the year, when it comes time for wrestling superfans to publish their year-end roundup lists, matches from New Japan Pro Wrestling always rank highly. Lately, that's been because of epic duels between Kazuchika Okada — named "The Rainmaker" for all the money he makes — and Kenny Omega, called the "Best Bout Machine" for all the highly rated matches he features in. These two worked a multiyear storyline that left fans screaming, from the Tokyo Dome to the USA, helping drive subscriptions for New Japan World.
Lucha Underground on El Rey, via DirecTV Now, Amazon or iTunes
Lucha Underground flipped the script on televised pro wrestling, as a show about a wrestling promotion and not a wrestling promotion with a show. The difference is clear, with LU's focus on storytelling and its unique visual aesthetic. And the show is told in a season-based format, with the off-season months that you don't get from WWE and other promotions.
Sure, you can find the first two seasons of the delightfully noir Lucha Underground on Netflix, and episodes can be purchased a la carte on Amazon and iTunes, but DirecTV Now is the only major over-the-top streaming service that allows you to watch live episodes. And yes, the $70-per-month price of DirecTV Now's Gotta Have It package — it's cheapest with El Rey — is high, but that price gets you more than 120 other channels, including AXS TV (which shows sections of NJPW shows), Pop (which airs Impact Wrestling) and USA (which airs WWE's Raw and SmackDown Live, until the latter moves to a Fox channel in 2019).
Price: $70 per month via DirecTV Now's 120+-channel Gotta Have It package, or as $45 to $40 per season on Amazon and iTunes
Chikaratopia
If you want to show pro wrestling to a younger audience, Philadelphia's Chikara — which you can watch via the Chikaratopia service) is an excellent place to start. Filled with bright characters — the masked luchador ant faction, known as The Colony, is a favorite of young and old fans alike — Chikara may be filled with heros battling villains, but there's none of the risque or sexual content you'll see on other programming. Yes, Chikara's more PG than the family-friendly WWE.
But that's not to say that Chikara — available for $2 less per month than the WWE Network — doesn't provide the mat skills and technical wizardry you'll see elsewhere. The promotion is helmed by Mike Quackenbush, a genius in the ring whose rare matches always dazzle, the brash Princess KimberLee and the high-flying trio of Xyberhawx 2000. Also, the hypnotic and scary Oceanea, the queen of the seven seas, demands I mention her here.
Demand Progress
British pro wrestling is in a boom period right now, and the London-based Progress is at the forefront of this moment. While the promotions listed here are of varying video quality, Progress has seen the widest range of production values, starting as a very DIY-looking promotion out of a punk rock venue in Islington and growing so big that it can run in the quite-large Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally, as it's known).
Progress shows aren't streamed live, sadly, but posted about four to five days after they happen online at Demand-progress.com. That wait is more than worth it, though. The wrestlers of Progress put on some of the most thrilling performances (see Ospreay vs. Devlin at Chapter 72) and present some of the funniest moments I've ever seen in the squared circle (a match involving a inflatable version of the wolf boy Kid Lykos). Progress has also demonstrated excellent storytelling chops, such as the Jimmy Havoc storyline, whichgot the promotion its first serious acclaim. This is also where you can regularly find Trent Seven, Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne, the WWE-featured collective known as British Strong Style.
Pro Wrestling: Eve
While there are wrestling promotions with rosters made up exclusively of women, Pro Wrestling: Eve (which is also women-only) stands out from the pack as a rebellious brand. If you left wrestling during the WWF's 1990s Attitude Era run, and found it to be too crude and sexist for your taste, Eve is definitely right for you. Run by Emily and Dann Read, who have infused the show with their loves of feminism and punk culture.
While Eve events are streamed live on Fite (more on that later), Eve On Demand gives you access to the archives. That includes both recent events — such as Wrestle Queendom, which starred such legendary strikers as Meiko Satomura and Aja Kong, alongside modern luminaries, including Kris Wolf and Charlie Morgan — as well as archived events featuring NXT's Nikki Cross when she was Nikki Storm, and WWE's Paige, when she was Brittani Knight.
Riptide
I've often described Riptide as what would happen if Trainspotting and pro wrestling had a rebellious child. Lit dramatically, emphasizing how pro wrestling is both operatic and a staged play, Riptide is one of the younger promotions on this list, but it found an audience incredibly quickly. Not only has the Brighton, United Kingdom-based promotion brought in the best of the British wrestling scene — names like Jimmy Havoc, Zack Saber Jr. and Jinny come to mind — but it's also played host to excellent imports, such as the Austrian giant Walter and Witchita Falls, TX's Keith Lee, who just got signed to WWE's NXT.
A subscription to Riptide's $7.50-per-month streaming service gets you access to not only its events (posted days after they take place), but also samples of the Seattle-based Defy (which has a similar aesthetic) and Dublin's OTT promotion.
Fite App
If you're looking to sample various promotions events, the Fite app is a great way to do so. Not only will it livestream pay-per-view events, such as the upcoming Slammiversary 2018 from Impact, but it's also an easy way to watch free episodic content. Take for example Ring of Honor's weekly TV show, which airs at varying times on Sinclair media-owned channels you might not get, but always makes it to Fite.
HonorClub
Ring of Honor, one of the top promotions in the U.S., was a little late to the table with its HonorClub streaming service. Instead of focusing its service around live PPVs, as the WWE network does, the $9.99-per-month tier of HonorClub gives you access to the live touring shows that ROH does around the country, along with access to the promotion's archives (which feature many modern-day WWE superstars, such as Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens and Adam Cole).
You also get 50 percent off on ROH's PPV events, as well as early access to its live event tickets, so you can snag the best seats. If you feel like committing to HonorClub for a full year, you can either save $20 with its $100 annual price or get its $120 offer, which includes livestreaming access to ROH PPVs.
Club WWN
If you want to watch the best of WWN (the World Wrestling Network, which includes Evolve, a top super-indie with ties to WWE), you get a Club WWN membership. This $9.99-per-month service began by offering PPVs from all of its promotions after a 2-week wait, then moved to a 72-hour window of airing. The service got a hell-of-a-lot better on July 20, as WWN announced it would stream all of its shows live to Club WWN members.
As a paying subscriber, I'll let you know that I pay for Club WWN because its roster is one of the best in the U.S., including current Evolve champ (and The King of Bros) Matt Riddle, a former UFC talent with more knee strikes and charisma than he knows what to do with. Then, you have the creepy and death-defying Darby Allin, followed by the zany Joey Janela (The Bad Boy of Asbury Park, New Jersey) and Stokely Hathaway, the best manager in the business, who's taken over the once-honorable Catch Point stable and rebuilt it in his own image.
Powerbomb.tv
Tons of independent wrestling promotions across the globe have united to make Powerbomb one of the best services for giving you a lot of bang for your buck. Not only does Powerbomb livestream events from the Northeast's excellent Beyond promotion, but it's got most of Beyond's back archives as well. There's also new content from the buzzed-about NOVA Pro out of Virginia and a lot of shows from Pro Wrestling Chaos in Kingswood, England.
Highspots Wrestling Network
Highspots produces a lot of original content, including feature-length interviews with wrestlers and promoters — interviewed by other wrestlers. And it's also the only place to stream Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG to the faithful) events. PWG's so beloved that Highspots Wrestling Network can take a year to deliver events, such as the Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA) tournament, to its subscribers, and everyone is still OK.
wXwNOW
Cries of happiness rang out when Germany's wXw finally launched its streaming service, which is available through Vimeo. The $11 per month you spend on wXwNOW may not provide any livestreamed events, but the company produces a ton of programming, including a lot of shows with English-language commentary. That includes the vaunted 16 Carat Gold tournament, which hosts the best German and foreign talent.
GWN App
Say you don't get the Pop network, where the newly reborn — and finally good — Impact airs. In that case, the GWN app is a must download so you can check out where the new management, including Don Callis (who came over from doing commentary at New Japan), is taking GWN. Current highlights include Su Yung's undead reign, everything that Eli Drake does and the creepy "X"-card-leaving mystery assailant.
Underworld Wrestling
The most buzzed-about new show in the business, Underground Wrestling emanates out of Melbourne, Australia, and features an aesthetic that's all its own. The promotion is seemingly a front for some shady activity, and it's currently under invasion from some group called The Claw. The major standout of the first episode is a jacked mountain of a man called Gwoc, while Justine, who helps out backstage and runs social media, seems a little too innocent. Underworld gained enough attention after its Kickstarter raised over $9,392 Australian.
OTT
Dublin's got wrestling too, as OTT OnDemand gives shine to the local scene out of Ireland, as well as flying in major names from the European wrestling scene and the U.S. Its current heavyweight champion is Jordan Devlin, who's made a name for himself with a blisteringly hot first half of 2018. And OTT's recent ScrapperMania event saw the promotion bring in some big names from Japan, including the legendary Minoru Suzuki.
RevPro
RevPro's wowed audiences by providing dream matches that set up the best of the eastern and western hemispheres against each other. For example, its pair of Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW) vs. Keith Lee (NXT) matches — separated by months — lived up to the massive, epic hype. Get your RevPro subscription started soon, as the forecast of upcoming RevPro shows looks to pit Ishii against the latest and greatest big-man: the Austrian powerhouse known as Walter.
Stardom World
Joshi, the world of women's pro wrestling Japan, has a few major homes, and Stardom's online streaming service is one of them. If you're unfamiliar with Stardom, think of it as the promotion where the best women's wrestlers around the world go to train and get even better. Toni Storm, Deonna Purrazzo and Kris Wolf are among the names who went to Stardom to dominate.
CZW Studios
If your favorite wrestling is of the bloody, hard-core variety — and you remember chanting E-C-DUB — then welcome to the Combat Zone. CZW Studios gives hard-core fans a place to enjoy the least-safe-looking graps around. And if you love to boo the bad guys who run from fights, you'll take well to Maxwell Jacob Friedman, the current CZW champion.
Women's Wrestling Network
If you can't get enough of women's wrestling, then — as its name implies — the Women's Wrestling Network is right for you. Not only does it have women's matches from around the world (including stuff from wXw in Germany, AAW in Illinois and the always-travelling Rise), but it also has a whole section dedicated to intergender wrestling, which some consider the last taboo of sports entertainment.
Credit: Women's Wrestling Network
