Stephanie McMahon Accused of Playing to Fans at ESPN’s Expense Over Controversial VPN Remarks

Stephanie McMahon’s VPN plug on her What’s Your Story? podcast may have sounded harmless, but it’s causing quiet friction behind the scenes — especially with ESPN.

During her sit-down with Roman Reigns, McMahon casually promoted Surfshark, a VPN that lets users access content in other countries, including Netflix libraries where WWE Premium Live Events are available — effectively bypassing ESPN’s $30/month paywall in the U.S.

The ad aired just weeks into WWE’s new partnership with ESPN, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Fightful Select reported that “at least one source we spoke to at ESPN ‘wasn’t thrilled’ by the VPN ad read on Stephanie McMahon’s podcast.” While the backlash hasn’t escalated, the timing raised eyebrows due to WWE’s deal with ESPN being a major revenue driver.

Now Vince Russo is calling it exactly what he thinks it was — a calculated move by Stephanie to win points with frustrated fans. Speaking on Riding With Russo, he rejected the idea that McMahon simply didn’t understand VPNs. In his view, she knew what she was doing and wasn’t worried about upsetting ESPN. Russo explained the context and motivation like this:

“No, bro. I think it’s what we always say, Chris — the check is already cashed. So now she’s trying to get on the good side of the fans. Man, listen. We know we’re asking you to pay for a lot of things — A, B, C, and D. Ticket prices are $5,000. But if you know this little trick… I think that’s exactly what she was trying to do. Get over with the fanbase, try to save them a couple of bucks in the meantime. What does it matter if I piss off ESPN? We’ve already made the deal.”

Russo painted the move as a PR tactic aimed at softening the blow of WWE’s increasingly expensive offerings — especially to U.S. fans now juggling both Netflix and ESPN subscriptions just to follow the product. By casually suggesting a VPN workaround, Stephanie offered fans an insider trick, all while ESPN foots the bill for exclusivity.

The strategy may have bought goodwill with the fanbase, but it’s also drawing attention to the growing tension between WWE’s global content model and its domestic streaming deals. Russo’s take: Stephanie gambled on keeping the fans happy — even if it meant throwing a little shade at ESPN in the process.

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