Is the future of WWE's Saudi Arabia relationship in jeopardy after Crown Jewel?
Saudi Arabia is the center of controversy yet again, but this time, WWE has found itself in the eye of the storm. Following WWE Crown Jewel, reports emerged that WWE Superstars were stranded in Saudi Arabia after they had to get off the plane they had boarded to return home.
Since then, rumors have run rampant about what exactly went on between Saudi Arabia and WWE, and if there was far more behind them being told to get off the plane.
In this article, I am going to outline what has been reported, and what this could mean for the future relationship between Saudi Arabia and WWE. Please note, the facts of most of the reports are not confirmed.
What happened after WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia?
After the WWE Crown Jewel pay-per-view, the WWE Superstars were supposed to board their planes to return to the United States, with a large portion of the roster scheduled to take part in the broadcast of SmackDown on Fox.
However, this is where issues first became apparent to the public. AJ Styles talked about the details of what happened when they tried to board the plane on his Mixer stream. He said that the crew was not allowed to board the plane and while he is not sure what the problem was, he heard that fuel truck that was essential to their plane leaving was not working as the person operating the fuel truck had gone home. They were also told that there were issues with paperwork.
Finally, they were allowed to board the plane, only for something to be wrong with the fuel. All the excessive delays caused the pilots to time out citing the mechanical issues, thereby saying that there was not going to be a flight at that moment. They had to return to the hotel, where he says he had the best sleep of his life, rubbishing reports of there being soldiers with guns. He said that the reports were exaggerated. He admitted that he had no knowledge of issues with the Crown Prince.
He ended by saying that if he found out that there were issues and someone was at fault, he would confront that person.
This more or less matches the statement that WWE had issued regarding the incident, although there was no mention of the separate charter they talked about.
"More than 175 Superstars, production crew and employees boarded a 747 charter flight back to the United States on Thursday. After the door closed, due to several aircraft problems including mechanical issues, all passengers sat on the tarmac for more than six hours.
With SmackDown emanating live from Buffalo, N.Y., several Superstars felt so strongly that they arranged for their own separate charter in order to make it back to the U.S. for the show. Due to unforeseen issues, that charter did not land until after the live broadcast on FOX.
The remainder of WWE's Superstars, staff and crew departed on a charter set to depart Saudi Arabia on Friday."
While the Superstars were not able to make the show, NXT stepped in on SmackDown and invaded, thus saving the show at the last minute.
Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, and Tyson Fury were all able to fly out on private jets before the travel issues had risen, thus they had left the country without knowing what would happen to the Superstars who were catching a later flight out of KSA.
There were reportedly a couple more Superstars who left, but it is not known who they are. It should be noted, Cain Velasquez did not leave the country with Vince McMahon and was stuck with the rest of the Superstars.
Read on to know about what happened between Vince McMahon and the Crown Prince, and the possible damaged future relationship between Saudi Arabia and WWE.