Dozens of WWE Superstars have found themselves unable to return to the United States following yesterday's Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. The wrestlers were reportedly stuck on planes waiting to depart before being grounded. This delay lasted several hours, with reports first suggesting there was a problem with their aircraft.
A second charter flight was pulled together in an effort to get Superstars across the ocean for tonight's episode of SmackDown Live, which takes place in Buffalo, New York. It's worth noting that the flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Buffalo, New York takes approximately 14 hours. When news first broke regarding WWE's travel woes, they only had 17 hours until SmackDown started.
Twenty people, a mix of both Superstars and WWE staff, were able to leave the country, but the rest are still stranded. Out of the twenty, twelve were wrestlers, though it is not known at this point in time who they are, though it has been reported that WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan and WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon left earlier in the night, seemingly without issue.
Pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer shared, via Twitter, what he knows. "Some notes since nobody can say anything. WWE had a problem in Saudi Arabia. Talent were 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."
Jim Valley and Meltzer have also discussed the issue on their show, Wrestling Observer Radio. Asked if the problems were related to plane or weather problems, Meltzer replied, "No. Not at all. ... My impression was that they were on the plane waiting to take off, and then they were told to leave the plane. Vince was able to get another plane there to get a few people to Buffalo, I'm presuming. I just know a few people left, but it was only 12 wrestlers of the dozens that were on that show."
Fightful.com's Bob Sapp has confirmed Meltzer's reporting, with some additions of his own. "WWE talent is being fed well," he reported early in the morning. He later shared a rumor that "Vince McMahon got in some kind of disagreement in Saudi Arabia." Sapp was unable to confirm the rumor, and offered no further insight into whether it may have played a role in the current situation.
Adding to the confusion, the majority of WWE talent has been quiet on social media, with only a handful of talent posting updates. Thus far, none of the social media posts have explicitly discussed what is happening in Saudi Arabia, though it has been referenced obliquely. Buddy Murphy, for example, simply tweeted "Never again...," while Humberto Carillo satiated in a now-deleted tweet, "Stuck in 🇸🇦 wanttogohome."
PWInsider has reported that the "majority" of the talent delayed in leaving Saudi Arabia will not arrive in time to attend tonight's episode of Friday Night SmackDown and are now staying in hotels in Riyadh. There is no indication as to when they would depart Saudi Arabia to return to America. WWE has, however, made arrangements for those deemed "absolutely necessary" for the show. Whether they make it back in time or not remains to be seen. This entire situation has caused a lot of upset within WWE, from Superstars and backstage workers all the way to top high-ranking executives.
Given these travel issues, tonight's episode of SmackDown will likely be forced into a significant rewrite. WWE does, however, have a number of Superstars still in the United States that it can utilize. The Miz, Charlotte Flair, Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan are just some of the talent who did not travel to Saudi Arabia for WWE's Crown Jewel pay-per-view.