WWE Crown Jewel was a mixed bag but what happened post-show was worse than anyone could’ve possibly imagined – Superstars and crew members were detained in Saudi Arabia due to internal issues between WWE and The Kingdom.
Several Superstars failed to make it to SmackDown the following night due to the detention while others who didn’t make the trip to The Middle East were glad for not working the show despite missing out on the huge payday.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that Vince McMahon stranding the talent in The Kingdom has not only caused them to make up their minds about not working another Saudi Arabian show, but they are also extremely eager to quit WWE altogether.
“I’ve had people say they’re never going back. I’ve had people say they can’t wait to get out of the company. I don’t know if that’s going to be, you know, I don’t know in a few months if they’re going to change their minds if something’s going to happen at Raw when all of the Raw talent is there and there’s going to be a thing that someone says to management about what has happened.”
“I know that obviously they’re trying to get the talent to go on and say that it was a mechanical failure. You know, whatever. It’s like there’s so many things that happened, but they were definitely not paid as of September 30th. There was definitely $60 million that came before 8:00 in the morning on October 31st which was a couple hours before the show started.”
Bodyslam further reports that WWE was scheduled for a “private meeting” with Muhammad bin Salman which the Crown Prince “no-showed”, pissing McMahon off in the process and resulting in the fallout.
“Vince McMahon and other members of WWE’s staff were scheduled to have a private meeting with the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and others to discuss their Middle East TV deal […] Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was said to have no-showed the meeting. This was said to have really “pissed” Vince McMahon off, and subsequently set things in motion.
