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WWE talent are not happy following a delay which lasted over 24 hours leaving the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after Thursday’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view.
Following the event various reports surfaced regarding the real reason WWE talent were unable to leave the Kingdom. While rumours of a dispute between Vince McMahon and the Government of Saudi Arabia are not confirmed, many talent feel that a money dispute is what caused them to be left behind.
WWE Lies About Second Charter
Dave Meltzer discussed the situation at length during Sunday morning’s Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer called out WWE for blatantly lying in a statement indicating several WWE stars arranged their own separate charter to leave Riyadh. This second charter which carried 12 WWE Superstars and 8 crew members was arranged and purchased by the company and not talent.
“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.” – WWE Statement
WWE issued a statement indicating mechanical issues were the reason the Atlas Air charted flight was grounded, and the airline released a statement via the company. WWE Public Relations and Corporate Communications manager Joe Villa issued the following press release to HeelByNature.com
Fightful Select reported that Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kofi Kingston, Big E, The Revival and a few others were able to leave the country on that separate charter.
Possible Money Dispute Between Vince McMahon and Saudi Government
Meltzer confirmed that Crown Jewel was supposed to air live in Saudi Arabia but instead it ending up airing there on a 40 minute delay. An initial report from former WWE announcer Hugo Savinovich indicated Vince McMahon instructed Kevin Dunn to the cut the feed of the event in the area, possibly due to money disputes.
WWE was owed money from the Super ShowDown event this past June. As of 9/30 payment was not made for the show. Hours before the WWE Crown Jewel show an undisclosed payment of $60 million dollars was made to the WWE.
George Barrios tippy toed around questions regarding the agreement with Saudi Arabia during Thursday morning’s Q3 investor call. Barrios did state, “Notably subsequent to quarter end we received a $60 million payment for an outstanding receivable.” during the investor call. Barriors added, “Although we are holding a second large-scale event today in Riyadh Saudi Arabia our previously contemplated agreement for the region has not yet been completed.”
Barrios was pressed for more information regarding the deal with Saudi Arabia by Needham Analyst Laura Martin.
Laura Martin — Needham — Analyst
Okay. And my last thing is a modeling question. We’ve now — since we’ve done a deal with Saudi Arabia we’ve done two events a year. Can we just model those in going forward George to a year? Is that the right modeling answer?
George A. Barrios — Co-President and Director
Yes I can’t talk to that right now Laura especially around 2020. We said for the reasons I mentioned we want to talk about 2020 once we’ve lock down several elements that are still open. So I really can’t answer the question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm4MSf4ZgeE&t=2041s
WWE Talent Felt Like They Were ‘Held Hostage’
Meltzer noted that none of the talent were harmed during the extended stay in Riyadh, but talent felt they were hostages in country with all the uncertainly surrounding their departure. Military Police were reportedly present during the removal of WWE personal from the flight, prior to being sent back to their hotel.
Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch indicated that talent were not able to leave their hotel, but were allowed to order anything they wanted to stay comfortable.
A second flight was originally scheduled to leave at 8pm local time, but that was also cancelled prior to the final charter departing at 4:58 local time. The final charter was also delayed by over an hour for unknown reasons.
Several members of the WWE roster have now indicated they will never go back to Saudi Arabia, while others stated they couldn’t wait to leave to company.
Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn left Saudi Arabia immediately following the show. Brock Lesnar, Tyson Fury, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Jimmy Hart also had private jet’s to leave the country following the event.
Some talent who were stranded in the country feel that Vince McMahon arranged for top stars to leave immediately, leaving them behind.
According to Dave Meltzer, WWE officials have requested video footage from as much talent as possible to claim the mechanical issues on the plane were the problem.
Initial Reports Of Disagreement
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful was first to report that rumors among talent indicated Vince McMahon had a disagreement in Saudi Arabia. No further details were provided, or confirmation of what exactly happened.
There were rumors among talent that Vince McMahon got in some kind of disagreement in Saudi Arabia, though I haven’t been able to fully confirm that.
Former WWE announcer Hugo Savinovich revealed additional information regarding the incident on Facebook, claiming Vince McMahon was owed Money from the Saudi Government which was not paid. This dispute between Vince McMahon and Saudi officials allegedly led to the WWE’s plane being grounded following the event.