There are conflicting reports going around on Shane McMahon making the trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for Thursday’s WWE Crown Jewel event. PWInsider reported that Shane will not be making the trip, but a video from a wrestling fan page on Twitter, apparently based in the Kingdom, tweeted a video and said it was of Shane arriving in Riyadh today with his father, Vince McMahon.
It should be noted that the footage said to be of Shane and Vince arriving in Riyadh was created several hours ago, earlier on Tuesday afternoon or late morning, but reports from PWInsider said Vince wasn’t scheduled to arrive in the Kingdom until this evening.
There was some speculation on Vince not making the trip to Saudi Arabia because of the WWE 2019 Q3 investors call on Thursday morning at 11am ET from company HQ in Stamford. The calls usually include Vince, WWE Co-President George Barrios and WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson handling things, while Triple H and Stephanie McMahon sit in the same room with a few other executives, occasionally taking questions. With Vince making the trip to the Kingdom, it’s always possible that he calls in for Thursday’s talk with investors, but he will not be there in person with Barrios and Wilson. The call will end right around the time the Crown Jewel Kickoff pre-show begins at 12 noon ET.
Regarding Triple H, PWInsider reports that he’s not making the trip because he will be overseeing Wednesday’s WWE NXT episode from Full Sail Live. Triple H missed this week’s RAW from St. Louis and it was speculated that he missed the show because he was already on the way to Saudi Arabia. It looks like that speculation was incorrect as PWInsider is reporting he won’t be making the trip over for Crown Jewel.
The Twitter fan account based in Saudi Arabia also shared a video of various WWE Superstars at the airport in Riyadh today, including Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Braun Strowman, producer and WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley, WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart, among others. Hogan is still using the single crutch to get around, as you can see below.
On a related note, we noted earlier how Hogan and Hart went through some flight troubles as they had a bad landing in Iceland, likely stopping to refuel. It’s now been revealed that WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair was also traveling on the flight with Hogan and Hart, which The Hulkster likely didn’t mention because of Thursday’s ten-man Team Hogan vs. Team Flair match. Hogan said a “former Minnesota boy” was allowing he and Hart to fly to Saudi Arabia on his plane. PWInsider reports that Hogan, Flair and Hart caught a ride to the Kingdom on the plane chartered by WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. We also noted earlier, via PWInsider, that Lesnar actually flew to Saudi Arabia with the rest of the WWE crew this time, and not on his own plane like before. They have since apologized for that error when reporting how Hogan, Flair and Hart caught a ride with Lesnar, on his own plane, from Iceland to the Kingdom.
The whole WWE crew is now in Riyadh preparing for Thursday’s big event. As noted, we will have coverage from the Crown Jewel Media Event on Wednesday, and then coverage of the big event on Thursday, beginning with the Kickoff pre-show at noon ET.
Stay tuned for more updates from the Kingdom.
Below are the videos of various WWE Superstars arriving in the Kingdom today:
https://twitter.com/WrestlinClub/status/1189142384464015361
https://twitter.com/WrestlinClub/status/1189309847012966400
