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WWE will be presenting a special edition of Friday Night SmackDown in lieu of travel issues which forced a large number of the roster to be delayed in Saudi Arabia.
According to the Wrestling Observer, a number of NXT talent have been flown to Buffalo for tonight’s Smackdown event.
Fightful Select reported earlier today that a number of stars were able to leave on a chartered flight back including Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kofi Kingston, Big E, The Revival and a few others.
In total 20 people, including 12 wrestlers were on the chartered flight that was able to leave Riyadh. These stars will not make the show due to other issues, and will be flown to Newark, NJ instead of Buffalo according to Dave Meltzer.
WWE released a statement citing mechanical issues have prevented the original charter from leaving. Meltzer explains there are other issues involved, but that has yet to be revealed. Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Brock Lesnar, and Paul Heyman left the event immediate prior to talent’s scheduled flight.
There were other issues involved but Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn and Vince’s personal staff were out of Saudi Arabia before they surfaced as they left earlier on Vince’s private jet. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman were able to leave the country immediately on the private jet Lesnar is given for these events.
A few WWE stars have commented on on the issue including Buddy Murphy, Humberto Carillo, and Rusev.
At this point and time We need all the prayers… brother.
— Miro (@ToBeMiro) November 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/WWE_Murphy/status/1190208151859138560
Humberto Carillo has since deleted this tweet. pic.twitter.com/IRFQoGS4nP
— HeelByNature.com (@HeelByNatureYT) November 1, 2019
The second charter flight with the majority of the WWE crew is set to leave Riyadh at 3:00 am local time, which is 8pm ET.