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Arabia
WWE Stars 'Held Hostage' On Saudi Arabia Plane By MbS
2019-11-06
[Telegraph] WWE stars 'held hostage' on Saudi Arabia plane after dispute with crown prince, reports claim.

WWE wrestlers were "held hostage" in Saudi Arabia and stopped from boarding flights back to the US in a row over payment, according to reports.

Nearly 200 stars of the Smackdown brand and their entourage were ordered to wait on the tarmac for six hours at Riyadh International by Saudi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, The Mirror reported.

The prince, or MBS as he is nicknamed, was allegedly furious that Vince McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment’s chief executive, had cancelled the live feed of the show "Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia" because the company was owed up to $500m (£390m) for two shows in the kingdom last year.

The delay meant the wrestlers missed a live show in Buffalo, New York, the following day - with the no-show being blamed on "mechanical issues" that stopped their 747 plane leaving Riyadh.

Dave Meltzer, a US sports journalist, tweeted on Friday: "Some notes since nobody can say anything. WWE had a problem in Saudi Arabia.

"Talent was not allowed to leave on their flight and most are still there. Twenty people, twelve of which were talent, have left but the rest are still there."

Some – including Mr McMahon and stars such as Hulk Hogan and Tyson Fury – managed to get out on their own private jets.
Cheap bastards could've easily given nearly everyone a lift then ?
Mr Meltzer told the radio station, Wrestling Observer, that tensions grew when military police were sent to the airport in the capital Riyadh.

He said: "The talent felt they were hostages… nobody was harmed or anything like that. It's a really tense story."
Ever seen a 7 foot tall, 3 foot wide pro wrestler shiver in the sun ?
Former WWE announcer Hugo Savinovich posted a video on Facebook saying the reason for the flight delay was Saudi retaliation for the live feed being pulled by WWE.

WWE on Friday confirmed that wrestlers including Karl Anderson and Brian Myers, both of whom compete on "Raw," sat on the tarmac for six hours ‐ but blamed the late take-off on "mechanical issues."

The plane's owner, Atlas Air, issued a similar statement, adding that "the aircraft is being repaired and will be inspected and certified before returning to service."

Wrestlers that had been left waiting on the runway vowed never to go back. Wrestler Karl Anderson said on Twitter: "Couldn't pay me enough to go back..well, that's not true, I need a second pool, so…"

WWE launched in Saudi Arabia in 2014, with two to four shows a year in the desert kingdom.

The contests have have been held in the wake of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,
...who was simultaneously a very well paid Washington Post columnist and a long time propagandist for the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda — most recently for Qatar, but in the past at the behest of Saudi Arabia’s intel chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal...
a dissident journalist, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year.
How this last is relevant, only the journo knows. It's all 'in the wake' of Khashoggi in the same way as we're all living in the wake of Noah's flood.
Related:
Jamal Khashoggi: 2019-10-21 Turkey views Syrian Army’s protection of SDF and YPG as ‘act of war’
Jamal Khashoggi: 2019-10-20 Khashoggi Murder Suspect Dies In 'Suspicious Car Accident'
Jamal Khashoggi: 2019-09-13 Saudi Princess Convicted in France of Ordering Bodyguard to Beat Worker
Related:
Prince Mohammed bin Salman: 2019-10-12 US to deploy additional troops, aircraft, missile systems to Saudi Arabia
Prince Mohammed bin Salman: 2019-08-30 UAE-backed troops abandon Saudi-led battle against Ansarallah forces in northern Yemen
Prince Mohammed bin Salman: 2019-08-13 UAE calls for dialogue between warring Yemeni parties in Aden
Posted by:Dron66046

#2  I suspect the Iron Sheik!
Posted by: rjschwarz   2019-11-06 10:02  

#1  Who cares about Khashoggi besides the journalist? They know their time is coming too get the same treatment.
Posted by: chris   2019-11-06 09:29  

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