What Really Happened With the WWE Saudi Flight Delay? + Wrestlers Upset

WWE’s story for why the majority of their roster was stranded in Saudi Arabia on Thursday and Friday was that the airplane had “mechanical issues.” But many people, including several wrestlers who were stuck on the plane, aren’t buying it and there’s speculation that a squabble about money between Vince McMahon and the Saudi government was the cause of the problems.

Dave Meltzer gave a detailed rundown on Wrestling Observer Radio, with the following notes:

– There’s been wide speculation that the issue stemmed from WWE not being paid for their last Saudi show, Super ShowDown in June. WWE was owed $60 million from the Saudi government, and that money was reportedly paid on October 31, the day that Crown Jewel took place.

– There has been speculation that because of the money owed, something may have happened delaying the airing of Crown Jewel on TV in Saudi Arabia. Crown Jewel aired one hour after its advertised time on MBC Action, a channel partly owned by the Saudi government. The speculation is that WWE/Vince McMahon threatened to not broadcast the feed of the show unless the owed money was paid, but that’s not confirmed.

– Several wrestlers told Meltzer that they were also told that money was owed. Later, they were told that the delay was caused by a mechanical issue with the plane. Everyone who spoke to Meltzer but one person said that they didn’t believe the “mechanical issue” story at all. The one person said that he believed it and that there were people working on the plane. Others said that military police were around the plane.

– After the original flight was delayed, there was a second flight arranged for all wrestlers, but then that plane didn’t arrive for some reason and wrestlers were only able to fly out several hours later.

– WWE is trying to get talent to go along with the “mechanical issues” story.

– A lot of wrestlers are understandably very upset. Some have said that they will never go back to Saudi Arabia and others are saying that they “can’t wait to get out of the company.”

– One wrestler said that he felt that the wrestlers were used as “pawns in a dick-waving contest.” Others felt that they were essentially being held hostage.

– Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn and Vince’s staff left immediately on their own private jet. It’s not clear if Vince knew about the potential delay of the wrestlers’ plane when he left. But some people reportedly felt that Vince “deserted” them.

– Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman also flew out on their own private jet, which is why they were on SmackDown. They were not originally supposed to be on the show. The announcement that Lesnar was “quitting” SmackDown was supposed to take place on Tuesday’s debut episode of WWE Backstage on FS1. WWE had been teasing “huge news” taking place on the show, and the Lesnar announcement may have been it.

– Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Jimmy Hart also took another private jet together. Tyson Fury also flew out on one of the private jets (not the Lesnar one). Cain Velasquez was among the wrestlers who were stranded.

Wrestlers Upset

Adding more to the wrestlers’ frustrations was the statement that WWE released about the situation, which said, “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.”

That story is “complete bullshit,” Meltzer says. As mentioned before, WWE arranged a separate charter for 12 wrestlers and 8 other crew members who they felt were most important for SmackDown that night, likely wrestlers who were booked in advertised segments (Roman Reigns, Baron Corbin, Bray Wyatt, The New Day). WWE’s statement made it sound like some wrestlers loved WWE so much that they arranged their own flights, while the rest didn’t care enough.

Some wrestlers have been posting about it on social media, using the hash tag “#NotTop20” (the 20 people who WWE flew out on the backup plane).

Not the #Top20?🖕🏻I’m #1 at home! We don’t leave each other behind. @WWE pic.twitter.com/Cbj3XUV6VT

— Joe Hennig (@RealCurtisAxel) November 3, 2019

View this post on Instagram

Larry, I'm home. I guess I didn't want it enough to pay for my own charter, but I'm home now. #NotTop20

A post shared by Luke Harper (@thislukeharper) on Nov 2, 2019 at 4:10pm PDT

Other wrestlers commented on Harper’s post, including Chris Jericho:

Chris Jericho: Shame on you lazy embarrassments to the company….. 👎 Glad everybody made it home safely!! 💋

Eric Young: I’ll pitch in guys. Next time I’ll have more pride in my self and take it upon my self to be better! What a world. What a FN UNIVERSE!!

Tyson Kidd: Next time we’ll pool our money together instead of being lazy

Dash Wilder: #poor

Karl Anderson’s wife posted this about WWE wrestlers being “held hostage.”

2nd house!! Not a pool..but don’t ever go back AGAIN! We don’t need our daddy/papi/motherlover/absanderson/besttagteam etc. being held hostage while we’re at home worried to death ❤️

— Tini (@Strawtini) November 2, 2019

Looking forward to seeing who the locker room leader is on Monday..
🍿
❤️

— Karl Anderson (@KarlAndersonWWE) November 3, 2019