{"id":110190,"date":"2025-08-31T18:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T18:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/110190\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T18:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T18:05:07","slug":"espn-source-not-thrilled-with-stephanie-mcmahons-vpn-plug-during-wwe-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/110190\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Source \u2018Not Thrilled\u2019 with Stephanie McMahon\u2019s VPN Plug During WWE Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Stephanie McMahon\u2019s recent VPN ad read during her What\u2019s Your Story? podcast has sparked some quiet backlash\u2014especially from ESPN\u2019s side of the table.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/posts\/scoops-thread-of-137725617\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">According to Fightful Select,<\/a> \u201cAt least one source we spoke to at ESPN \u2018wasn\u2019t thrilled\u2019 by the VPN ad read on Stephanie McMahon\u2019s podcast.\u201d The insider added they didn\u2019t expect it to turn into a \u201cmajor issue\u201d but noted the awkwardness given WWE\u2019s new business relationship with ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>McMahon casually suggested that fans use a VPN to access international Netflix content\u2014where WWE Premium Live Events are included\u2014during a mid-show ad break. The moment came during her interview with Roman Reigns and caught many fans off guard. While the ad seemed like a standard plug, it raised eyebrows for encouraging U.S. fans to potentially bypass ESPN\u2019s $30-per-month PLE model.<\/p>\n<p>That model has already drawn heat from viewers in the U.S., who now must pay for both a Netflix subscription to access weekly WWE programming and a separate ESPN subscription for live events. Meanwhile, fans in countries like the UK get everything through Netflix.<\/p>\n<p>The VPN workaround didn\u2019t sit well with at least one ESPN contact, especially given the price point and exclusivity of their new WWE deal.<\/p>\n<p>Was Stephanie just reading off a script\u2014or was that a not-so-subtle shot at ESPN&#8217;s pricing? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephanie McMahon\u2019s recent VPN ad read during her What\u2019s Your Story? podcast has sparked some quiet backlash\u2014especially from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,45076,11805],"class_list":{"0":"post-110190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-stephanie-mcmahon","12":"tag-wwe-featured"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}