One of the men running WWE in 2019 thinks the Crown Jewel plane saga got blown out of proportion.
George Barrios, who was WWE’s co-president at the time, was asked about the incident on My World with Jeff Jarrett. Co-host Conrad Thompson brought up the online rumors that talent had been kept from leaving Saudi Arabia.
I don’t know what the right phrase is, I think it was exaggerated to some degree.
Barrios then pointed to a separate situation in another country, which he declined to name, where WWE’s plane was held up over a new airport fee.
Usually, this stuff is just getting handled, but it reached my desk because a new airport fee had been instituted in this country. It was a lot of money, right? Somebody could look at this and say you’re being extorted, being let out of the country. I guess it depends on how you want to look at it.
But in that moment, there was a fee. So, what did I say? I said, ‘Pay the f***ing fee. We’re coming home.’ So, I don’t even know why you’re calling me.
He was careful not to draw a direct line between that episode and Riyadh.
So, when you ask about what happened in Saudi Arabia, I think, for the most part, I don’t know exactly, and I’m not trying to say there was an analog there. I’m just saying there was a delay, and then we got out. I’ll leave it at that.
Crown Jewel took place on Oct. 31, 2019, in Riyadh. Afterward, many WWE wrestlers and crew members were stuck in Saudi Arabia for hours, and several missed the next night’s SmackDown. WWE and its charter company cited mechanical issues, and WWE said at the time that its relationship with its Saudi partners was good.
Barrios and fellow co-president Michelle Wilson left WWE in January 2020. Later that year, WWE agreed to a $39 million settlement of a shareholder class action tied to its Saudi Arabia business that named Barrios, Wilson and Vince McMahon.
