WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s issue with Crown Prince lead to plane mishap in Saudi Arabia?
Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar, Tyson Fury, Braun Strowman, Ric Flair, Roman Reigns, Hulk Hogan came to the Middle East to promote Crown Jewel. The WWE mega-event emanated from Saudi Arabia on Thursday where WWE hosted its annual show in Riyadh. The event went on as usual however there was a big issue when the superstars were returning back to the United States. WWE talent and personnel were left stranded at the Saudi Arabia airport for almost a day.
“More than 175 Superstars, production crew and employees boarded a 747 charter flight back 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.”
READ | Brock Lesnar is leaving SmackDown and Rey Mysterio should be worried
WWE had to plan SmackDown on the fly due to the delay. All the superstars finally landed in the United States on Saturday with several venting out their anger on Twitter.
Karl Anderson’s wife had a more scathing response on her husband’s post.
Atlas Air, the charter company that WWE was using to fly talent to US, had to issue an apology for the mechanical issue that caused the delays. But there have been different reports coming out from the controversial incident.
Former WWE Spanish commentator Hugo Savinovich posted a video on Facebook and discussed the incident. Savinovich claimed that he has several connections with people in Saudi Arabia and got some inside the information regarding the situation. WWE may be claiming that a mechanical issue led to the delay but Savinovich has another take on it.
Savinovich claimed that Saudi Arabian government owed WWE millions of dollars for two of the shows that the company held in Saudi Arabia (h/t to WrestlingNews.co). He said that the amount could be between $300 to $500 million.
“It was a very difficult and dangerous situation because of the fact that Saudi Arabia had already been in serious trouble when they killed that reporter in Turkey at the embassy. So the boys were a little bit - not a little bit, they were very, very concerned,” Hugo added. “Vince (McMahon) had left the country already and Brock (Lesnar) had his own plane. It was just about big, big money, millions of dollars that this guy did not send and Vince got upset and cut the feed for South Arabia,’ Savinovich said on THE HANNIBAL TV.
“And that has the Prince upset, and it stopped them from leaving the country and got them off the plane,” Hugo continued. “So basically what they’re doing is they’re originally trying to make it look like it was just a mechanical situation, but an executive from the company - well, my wife had died, so they were just calling to comfort me. At the same time, I was told not to mention any names but they were concerned, they were very concerned.”
“A friend of mine that is from Saudi Arabia, that I’ve known for years and years since the era of VHS tapes that I used to do from Puerto Rico, he also gave me the scoop about what happened at the airport,” Hugo explained. “So a lot of people will be talking more about it. The boys are very upset, so I don’t know what the deal is.”
“Of course, we always know that money talks. And if Vince gets the millions of dollars, and maybe the Middle East - that big TV contract, because it didn’t happen and in one day he lost over 200 million dollars (in stock value). So, it’s a very complicated situation but the talent was, you know, I don’t want to use the word kidnapped but he ordered a kidnapping and the guys were stopped from leaving the country.”
WWE is still maintaining that a technical issue was the reason behind the delay but the news floating around is concerning. The Saudi Arabian deal was already controversial for WWE and now things are going further down for the professional wrestling giants.
2 test positive for COVID-19 in Australian Open qualifying
Sandgren allowed to board Australian Open flight despite positive test
Man United and Liverpool to meet in 4th round of FA Cup
Isner says he'll skip Australian Open because of COVID-19
West Ham squeeze past non-league Stockport 1-0 in FA Cup
India shuttlers look to shake off pandemic blues
- PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth are among players who will feature in the three-leg Asia Series.
Kenin and Svitolina lose in Abu Dhabi Open quarterfinals
- Kenin lost to ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Svitolina lost to unseeded Russian Veronika Kudermetova 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Back from injury, Neymar resumes training with PSG
Lahiri improves his best at Sony Open in Hawaii with superb 64
Babita Phogat on motherhood: Looking forward to learn, unlearn and relearn
UFC: 445 strikes landed in one fight-Holloway is making his hands do the talking
- It came to such a stage that the commentators were suggesting for Kattar’s coaches to throw the towel in to save the fighter from further damage.
_1610781328311_1610781346791.jpg "Nick and Nate Diaz.(Screengrab.)")
UFC and its complicated history with marijuana
- USADA has announced that it has struck the use of marijuana as a punishable offence. USADA is the anti-doping partner of UFC and has seen several fighters being flagged for its use.
Santosh back in India, out of induced coma
Peterhansel wins Dakar Rally 30 years after first victory
