During today's edition of the After The Bell podcast,
SmackDown commentator Corey Graves attempted to set the record straight with WWE's recent travel issues in Saudi Arabia. He started by addressing the theories which have been doing the rounds online, the fact that select talent boarded a charter flight, and the reaction from Superstars about being left behind in the country.
"[Conspiracy theories] had nothing to do with who was most important or who had the most cache. There are a lot more important people than myself and Michael Cole and sweaty the camera guy who made it onto that smaller charter. The fact is it was decided who was essential to make Friday Night SmackDown as close to whole as possible and the efforts were made. Obviously, it didn’t work out, but that was the effort.”
"Understandably this led to some talent, led to some of the crew going ‘Oh my god we’re stuck here — this sucks’ — and it did. Nobody wants to be stuck in an airport that doesn’t even have a bar or a restaurant or anything like that for hours on end. Nobody wants to be sitting on a plane on the tarmac for hours on end. It sucks, there are no two ways about it, but all these conspiracy theories that have been drawn up — and half of it comes from the boys that were on the plane. If you are so insecure and you feel so strongly that you’re gonna get on Twitter and complain because our flight got screwed up for whatever the reason would be — what’s Twitter gonna do?"
Graves went on to insist that Vince McMahon didn't flee the country as some people have claimed and that he didn't conduct himself any differently in Saudi Arabia than he normally would.
Now, it's worth noting that we've heard claims WWE has asked talent to double down on the story about mechanical issues but a lot of what Graves is saying does make sense and you can see why Vince would want to take home those he believed were essential for Friday's SmackDown.
Then again, you can also understand why the other Superstars were so frustrated! It's a tricky situation and, unfortunately, we may never know what really happened following Crown Jewel.