WWE forced to deny nearly 200 wrestlers and crew were ‘held hostage’ in Saudi Arabia after Crown Jewel event
WWE have denied claims nearly 200 wrestlers and crew members were held “hostage” by Saudi Arabia following a row over money after last week’s Crown Jewel event.
A number of stars were forced to miss Friday’s edition of SmackDown Live after their flight home from the pay-per-view in Riyadh the night before was delayed.
Several outlets have claimed Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), may have ordered 175 employees off the plane to sit on the tarmac for six hours.
WWE insist that the delay was due to “mechanical issues”.
According to US reports, MBS was furious WWE’s CEO Vince McMahon pulled the plug on the live feed of Crown Jewel in Saudi because the company was owed around £390m for two previous shows in the Middle East country last year.
It was also claimed that an agreement was thrashed out after Crown Jewel had already begun – 40 minutes after the broadcast was due to begin.
However, despite the live feed being turned back on, that did not stop WWE’s entourage having a 14-hour delay when trying to leave.
McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, and boxing star Tyson Fury, all managed to get out of there quickly on their own private jets.
But that left those left behind furious with a number vowing never to go back to Saudi.
Karl Anderson, part of The Original Club, tweeted: “Couldn't pay me enough to go back..well, that's not true, I need a second pool, so…”
With his wife Tini responding: “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.”
Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer claimed military police were sent to the airport.
He reported: “The talent felt they were hostages…nobody was harmed or anything like that. It's a really tense story.”
Ex-WWE announcer Hugo Savinovich also posted a Facebook video claiming the real reason behind the delay was Saudi retaliation for the live feed being pulled.
And Wrestlingnews website claim “the Crown Prince was so upset by the feed being cut off that he ordered to have the wrestlers be taken off Atlas Air just before the plane was about to take off”.
When confirming the delay last week, a WWE statement said: In a statement it said: “The WWE roster is delayed in its return from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following a historic performance at yesterday's record-breaking WWE Crown Jewel event.
“More than 175 Superstars, production crew and employees boarded a 747 charter flight 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.
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“With SmackDown set to emanate 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 US for the show.
“Due to unforeseen issues, that charter will not land until after the live broadcast on FOX.
'The remainder of WWE's Superstars, staff and crew will depart on a charter set to depart Saudi Arabia later tonight”.
WWE began holding live house shows in Saudi Arabia back in 2014.
It signed the bumper £390m ten-year deal with the Saudi General Sports Authority in early 2018 but the American wrestling company faced huge pressure criticism from campaigners over the country's human rights record and the murder of the Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul a year ago.
It was reported last week by CNN that WWE’s share price had dropped by 25 per cent – with some speculating this was due to the failure to sign a new TV deal in the Middle East.