The official story regarding WWE talent being stuck for 24 hours in Saudi Arabia this week is that the plane suffered a mechanical failure. According to a report from Wrestling Observer Radio, however, a financial dispute between WWE and the Saudi government might actually be to blame.
“They had not been paid for the last Saudi show, the Super ShowDown show that was the last Saudi show, as of September 30th,” Dave Meltzer said.
“They did say (on the investors call) they received $60 million after September 30th, which is when the report closed but before October 31st, and so this would be a couple of hours before (Crown Jewel) started. So, there was talk about money owed, and there was clearly money owed but exactly what happened that led to Vince McMahon having whatever happened that led to the delay…”
At this point, Meltzer talked about how Crown Jewel was to air live on television in Saudi Arabia but did not.
“In Saudi Arabia, the show was supposed to air live on television and it did not air live on television,” Meltzer continued.
What Happened In Saudi Arabia?
“The talent all knew the story that there was some sort of showdown and Vince would not allow the thing to be televised and then it was evidently settled in some form and then the show aired like, one person said 2 hours but I think it was like 40 minutes late.”
“A lot of the talent knew this, a lot of the talent had been told that money was owed. But then the talent was all then told ‘oh, it was a mechanical failure on the plane.'”
Meltzer would continue to say that one person he spoke to did believe Vince’s story about a mechanical failure on the plane, however.
“I know one person, of the many people who contacted me, one person did believe the story and did say there were mechanics working on the plane. Almost everyone else said that they didn’t buy the story at all.”
Meltzer and Alvarez’s full conversation on the matter can be listened to in the player below:
