Former WWE star details hostage situation in Saudi Arabia

[MightyHealthy]

Anonymous Former WWE Wrestler Details Crown Jewel 2019 "Hostage" Incident In Lawsuit | Fightful Wrestling

In an amended class action complaint filed by Firefighters Pension System of the City of Kansas City Missouri Trust against WWE (h/t to Wrestlenomics Radio), an anonymous former WWE wrestler stepped forward and detailed his account of what happened.

The wrestler is referred to as CW-2 in the lawsuit and will be referred to as such in this article.

CW-2, who worked in the company from 2012 to April 2020, was part of the crew flown to Crown Jewel. CW-2 was part of the crew initially stranded and he noted that McMahon and others, including Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, were "in a hurry" to get out of Saudi Arabia on a separate flight. When the plane was delayed, a stewardess told CW-2 "someone doesn't want us to leave the country," that the pilot sounded distressed, and that there were a "ton of guards" blocking the exit.

The lawsuit is one of several that were opened due to WWE stock literally tanking pensions.

 

[NoMorePie]

CW-2 went to Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano for an update and was told by Carrano that McMahon and Bin Salman got into an argument over late payments regarding WWE Super ShowDown, which took place in June 2019. Carrano also told CW-2 that McMahon did cut the Crown Jewel feed, which made the Crown Prince "very mad."

CW-2 ended up being part of the "Top 20" who flew back the United States ahead of the rest of the crew in hopes of making it to SmackDown. CW-2 and another co-worker went to Talent Relations and told them they wouldn't go back to Saudi Arabia. It's noted that other wrestlers tried to do the same, but WWE "abused their power" and "threatened careers."

Also, as part of the amendment, an employee (referred to as CW-1) of the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) stepped forward and said WWE and MBC could not agree on the basic assumptions of a proposed deal. CW-1 said that WWE had "wildly unreasonable expectations of the revenue it expected from a potential partner," proposing an $80 million annual licensing fee for a projection of 100 million "OTT" subscribers. MBC projected only 6.5 million subscribers at first, before raising expectations for 15 million to appease WWE.

WWE reduced its licensing fee ask to $50 million, but MBC felt they couldn't go above $14.5 million, which led to negotiations ending.

As of now, WWE has yet to agree on a new broadcast deal in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region

 

[NoMorePie]

Who got fired in April and attended the event last year?

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Now yall b*stards going to make me play "Guess Who" to find out whose the "superstar" huh...and you know what...fukk it

 

[Paper Boi]

Who got fired in April and attended the event last year?

Scott Dawson or Luke Harper are the ones where the math adds up closest

 

[Sire366]

Scott Dawson or Luke Harper are the ones where the math adds up closest

I got Aiden English with the years adding up

 

[NYChase718]

Cut the feed off and get your stars heads cut off in return

 

[Paper Boi]

I got Aiden English with the years adding up

Aiden also didn't work the Saudi show tho.

 

[The Great One]

I got Aiden English with the years adding up

English still technically works there until July.

This has to be someone not under contract.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

My moneys on Zach ryder

 

[NoMorePie]

My moneys on Zach ryder

He was there before 2012

 

[PlayerNinety_Nine]

Wait....so Meltzer actually got one right? And it was this one?

 

[NoMorePie]

Someone in the comments mentioned that dawson the only one signed with wwe in 2012.

 

[prophecypro]

I've done some consultancy project work in Saudi a couple of years (even went to Greatest Royal Rumble on one trip) I been told from people there it was absolutley a hold them hostage situaton over the TV thing which was then over the money delays. Not like real hostage situation, they werent gonna donothing harmful to them but the idea was to get Vince back for cutting the feed which his team was managing and make the crew miss the show's the next night and just leg them sit and wait.

And yes the Saudis owe WWE A LOT of money...two shows worth. Thing is and I know this from dealing with companies out there, the Saudis are rich but they lost a shyt ton of money on the war vs Yemen and the Oil pricing going down. All the vision 2030 stuff was to better the economy but its costing them too much and even when things are good the government likes to take their sweet time on payment, This time theres valid reasons they are short, which is why any company doing business with them above all ethical stuff should be cautious. They aint got the bread like that. WWE will get paid but the payouts are gonna be delayed and inconsistent.

MBS and Cokeboy are two unstable brash parties, this deal might not make it to 2028 and theres gonna be more fukkery which both are very dangerous to try

 

[Vice Queen]

Remember, they were also ome of the Top 20