More On WWE Travel Issues + Superstars Finally Arrive Home

More On WWE’s Travel Issues Leaving Saudi Arabia

Thursday gave us WWE’s last Middle East major show of the year-Crown Jewel.

After the show, Superstars were expected to scramble to get on planes and get back to the United States as fast as possible. With the change in the SmackDown schedule, a bunch of wrestlers and staff were expected to make it from Riyadh to Buffalo, NY, in time for the Friday show.

News made the rounds Friday morning that WWE Superstars were delayed in leaving, reportedly due to mechanical issues, and that many would likely not make it back in time for the show. Some Superstars opted to get off the delayed flight and hop on a private option, but even those Superstars saw their flight plans get delayed, to the point where they didn’t make it to Buffalo in time for the show either.

Now, we are hearing rumblings that the flight being wickedly delayed may not have been a technical issue at all, but rather could have been a response from Saudi Arabia to Vince McMahon for something or another.

Fightful.com reported more on the incident via Twitter:

About the only thing Sapp seemed sure of, was that whatever the disagreement might have been, it was not political in nature.

WWE Superstars Finally Arrive Home After Flight Delayed

As mentioned above, WWE Superstars experienced perhaps one of the worst trips of their lives following Crown Jewel.

The vast majority of talent were expected to be back in the United States in time for Friday’s SmackDown in Buffalo. However, upon getting on the plane, Superstars were told that there was a “mechanical issue” that could take a long time to resolve.

The result? NXT wrestlers were called up in an emergency move to ensure that the show could indeed go on.

Fans who tuned in on Friday night were treated to appearances by NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler, NXT Champion Adam Cole and many other top NXT Superstars. WWE wisely took advantage of the opportunity to really run with the NXT-Survivor Series angle.

Now that this week’s episode of SmackDown is in the can, we are starting to see posts from Superstars saying that, after an extremely long delay, they are finally arriving back to the United States.

It should also be pointed out that the hastily put together blue brand show was met with high praise from fans, so while we are glad to hear Superstars are landing stateside, fans were not unhappy.

Now it looks like the flight with most of the talent and staff on it ended up taking off during the show, rather than having them there for it. At least for those involved, the trip is on it’s way to a conclusion, whatever the cause may be.