As noted, WWE has been dealing with flight issues in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that will likely prevent some of the SmackDown Superstars and crew from making it to the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY for tonight’s live episode on FOX.
In an update, PWInsider reports that the “majority” of those delayed leaving the Kingdom for SmackDown will not make the TV tapings and are now at hotels in Riyadh. It was said that there is no word yet on when the talents and crew are now leaving to return to the United States.
WWE officials have made arrangements to try and get those “absolute necessary” for SmackDown to Buffalo, but nothing has been confirmed.
It was also noted by PWInsider that there are a lot of people within WWE upset about the situation, going as far up the ladder as one could imagine. Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp added on Twitter that there were rumors among some of the talent that Vince McMahon got into some kind of disagreement in Saudi Arabia, but no other details were available as of this writing.
Sean on Fightful also noted that Vince, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar are already flying back to the States as they had their own flights. One talent said Vince flew out hours ago while other talents were still stuck on the ground. Until about 2am ET, a lot of the staff and talent were still on the plane, on the ground, hanging out and being fed. At that point some of them went to a hotel in Riyadh. It was also noted on Fightful tht some talents are clearly annoyed and perturbed by the whole situation, while others aren’t so concerned and have an attitude of “they’ll figure it out, because they always do.”
Stay tuned for updates on the situation.