— Fans voiced frustrations online after this week’s episode of WWE RAW aired commercials despite being on the ad-free tier.
According to a report from Pwinsider, several viewers said they noticed commercial breaks during Monday’s broadcast for the first time while subscribed to the no-ads option.
The backlash spread across Twitter, and numerous readers say they also experienced the issue.
— On this week’s episode of WWE Monday Night RAW, AJ Styles delivered a fiery promo where he acknowledged that some of his closest allies are no longer by his side in WWE.
Styles mentioned Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, who were released in February 2025 after reuniting with him in late 2022. For Gallows, it marked his third departure from the company. Since then, the duo has resurfaced in New Japan Pro Wrestling and continued competing across the independent circuit, including appearances for Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.
Gallows himself caught wind of Styles’ comments, taking to Twitter with a lighthearted reaction to being name-dropped on RAW.
Styles also pointed out that Michin is no longer with him, as she is currently part of the SmackDown roster.
I’m going to start charging royalties for #pipebombs 😂
— “The Big LG” Doc Gallows (@The_BigLG) September 9, 2025
— WWE 2K25 has received a new patch that introduces El Grande Americano as a playable character. The update also addresses a bug that prevented items from appearing in the Community Creations Upload menu, improving the overall experience for players.
You can check out the full patch notes below:
“General
DLC 1 Character El Grande Americano now available
Online
Addressed reported concerns of items failing to appear in the Upload menu after being uploaded to Community Creations”
— Natalya has praised Becky Lynch for fully embracing her heel turn during her current run as WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion.
On a recent episode of the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, Natalya shared her appreciation for how Becky Lynch fully commits to her role, noting that she makes sure fans boo her by embracing the character to the fullest.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Becky Lynch going full heel: “I love the dynamic, I love the parallels, and I love that now everybody is clamoring to see Becky get her a*s whipped. And that’s what a great heel is. And I love that Becky wants to be booed. I will say that despite the conflicts that we’ve had over the last few weeks, Becky and I, she’s doing a great job in the sense that she wants to be booed. She wants to be a bad guy. She wants to make sure that when she’s facing off against her opponent, a good girl, that there’s good storytelling there.”
On her issues with heels who don’t go fully bad: “She can’t be sort of half … I’m not really big on the shades of gray. I say this a lot to people that I’m working with, especially when they come to my ring and work with me and TJ, I’m just — and this is only my opinion — I really like bad guy, bad guy, bad guy versus baby face. Like, I don’t like it when somebody, when I’m, I don’t want the audience to be stuck trying to figure out who to love.”
— On a recent episode of the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, Nic Nemeth reflected on AJ Styles’ WWE debut, revealing that Vince McMahon wasn’t immediately convinced Styles fit the mold of a top WWE star.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Vince McMahon’s initial reaction to AJ Styles: “When [Styles] was coming into WWE, behind the scenes, this is second-hand, but the boss-boss was like [iffy]. The way he saw AJ was he still had that 80s mentality, if you’re six-[foot]-five, okay, I can go with you, you look like the Warlord, whatever the situation is. AJ is jacked, but he’s not six-five. At the time I had heard that because of him having somewhat of a southern twang to his voice, that basically here is like Heath Slater telling a joke and [Vince] is like, ‘Oh, that’s what AJ Styles is? Okay. I can’t even take him seriously,’ because that’s still that mentality from his brain from the 60s and 80s. Like, ‘Oh, he’s not from New York.’ He doesn’t have this accent that we have.”
On AJ Styles winning Vince McMahon over: “I kind of second-hand and first heard [Styles] was fighting an uphill battle, even already coming here with all his accolades, with everything he’s done, everybody knows what he’s capable of. Whatever he did in his body of work while he was here, which, by the way, is effing fantastic, he won over the boss.”
— Nielsen is rolling out a new TV ratings system that incorporates streaming data, starting with live sports. According to a report from PPC Land, the methodology, called “Big Data + Panel,” launches with the new TV season and merges Nielsen’s traditional home panel data with information from devices such as cable set-top boxes, satellite receivers, and smart TVs.
The device-based data will cover 45 million households and 75 million devices, including viewership from platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and YouTube. Negotiations are ongoing to add ESPN, Tubi, Peacock, and Paramount, according to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Measurement begins this week, kicking off with the NFL and other major sports.
The push for this update comes largely from the NFL, which has raised concerns that traditional ratings — excluding streaming — underreported viewership by up to 20%. Preseason tests showed viewership increases of roughly 17% when streaming data was included.
Not all platforms or sports are yet included, and it remains unclear if professional wrestling will be measured. Reports under the new system will take longer to release than traditional ratings, but the expectation is that the more comprehensive data could allow networks and other providers to raise advertising rates.
— And finally, you can check out the updated lineup for the September 20th WWE Wrestlepalooza pay-per-view event below:
* Women’s World Championship Match: IYO SKY (c) vs. Stephanie Vaquer
* John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
* The Usos vs. Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker
* CM Punk and AJ Lee vs. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch
