10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Vince McMahon
6. The Saudi Arabia Plane Incident
Something happened on that plane, but for obvious reasons, nobody wants to talk about it.
On November 1, 2019, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter tweeted "Live by the sword, die by the sword," after which the rumour mill started to whir. WWE talents - aside from Vince McMahon, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart, who got out of Saudi Arabia in a hurry, and Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, who departed on the former's private jet - were stranded in Saudi Arabia. WWE cited "mechanical" issues.
Some have whispered about it in tones that suggest this was no mere mechanical fault. Karl Anderson shouted a little more loudly, saying on his own Talk N'Shop podcast "Do I think something happened? Do I think they did something to that plane that meant not [letting] us take off at the right time? F*ck yes!"
The short version of this unofficial/alleged story is thus: in revenge for not being paid for Crown Jewel 2019 in the expected timeframe, Vince McMahon entered a shoot programme with the f*cking Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Because it was WWE in 2019, it went 50/50; Vince pulled the plug on the MBC Action Saudi feed, delaying Crown Jewel by an hour, and in retaliation for that, the plane was held, after which certain midcard acts were put up in a hotel before the matter was resolved.
On his babyfacevheel substack, reporter David Bixenspan relayed the perspective of an anonymous wrestler. "Big sh*t show," the wrestler direct messaged Bixenspan as the drama unfolded. "We’re all pretty certain we’re being held hostage."
The wrestler was told by a flight attendant - who they reasoned would know for certain what the mechanical issue was, since this sort of thing is relayed between plane staff - "for some reason, these people don’t care to get you guys out of here".
Even if the chances of a true international incident were remote, and this was a blinking contest between Vince and the Crown Prince, the wrestlers weren't to know that - and they were left in a state of fairly profound anxiety as a result. Karl Anderson even texted his wife - who outright claimed on Twitter that the wrestlers were held hostage - to tell his children that he loves them.