WWE Superstars still stuck in Saudi Arabia as chartered flight not allowed to leave

Nov 1, 2019 - by Steve Gerweck

Fightful Wrestling reported yesterday night that the chartered flight that contained the majority of WWE Superstars and crew never left Saudi Arabia following Crown Jewel after several delays on the tarmac.

The reason for the delay was never announced to the talent and there were growing concerns that it was not something which was plane-related. Sean Sapp of Fightful continued saying that there were rumors that Vince McMahon got into some kind of disagreement which was the reason why the plane was never allowed to leave.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer added that “nobody can say anything” and that the company had a problem in Saudi where only around 20 out of the whole contingent were allowed to leave. Among those who left already are Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, and Brock Lesnar, who had their own private jets.

The WWE crew were supposed to arrive in Buffalo, New York for tonight’s Smackdown but at this point it’s unclear if they are even going to make it in time due to the long 12-hour non-stop flight.

According to live flight tracking, there was one plane scheduled from Riyadh airport to Buffalo and it’s Atlas Air 8185, a Boeing 747-400 jet. Atlas is the same charter company that WWE used in the past and it’s still listed as “taxing for takeoff” and is not airborne.

The last time WWE had a travel problem was for Monday Night Raw years ago when the volcano eruption in Iceland created a European-wide problem for air travel and those on the European tour were stuck there.

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