There’s a major developing story coming out of Saudi Arabia on Friday morning as several members of the WWE roster are apparently stranded in the country as WWE’s charter flight has been delayed by officials.
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As first reported by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, WWE talent were prevented from leaving the country on their charter flight following Crown Jewel on Thursday. Talent on the flight were not informed of the specifics of why the flight was being delayed. With WWE SmackDown taking place in Buffalo, New York on Friday night, there is obviously some concern about the timing of that show.
WWE personel were reportedly still waiting on the plane until 2:00 a.m. EST. At that point, some left to go to a hotel. They were being fed while they waited on the plane. Sapp’s report notes that some talent were suspicious and concerned about the delays while others were not as they were of the opinion that WWE would get it figured out “because they always do.”
There are rumors that Vince McMahon had some kind of disagreement while in the country, though nothing has been confirmed on that. McMahon has left on a separate flight already, as has Brock Lesnar and Hulk Hogan.
It appears that the talent still in the country will not be able to make SmackDown at this point due to the delay. Only 12 performers have left the country that were part of the Crown Jewel trip. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer added to the reports on Friday morning:
Some notes since nobody can say anything. WWE had a problem in Saudi Arabia. Talent was not allowed to leave on their flight and most are still there. 20 people, 12 of which were talent, have left but the rest are still there. It’s a 14-hour flight, Smackdown starts in 17 hours. The last we heard the rest of the talent wasn’t going to be able to leave for a lot longer than three hours.
This story is developing.
