Former WWE Co-President Speaks About 2019 Crown Jewel Plane Incident: “I Think It Was Exaggerated To Some Degree”

The former WWE Co-President spoke about the situation.

WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia was a focus point during former WWE Co-President and Board member George Barrios’ appearance on My World With Jeff Jarrett.

Barrios spoke about the 2019 Crown Jewel plane incident, where some felt WWE talents were being held hostage. Barrios said that situation has been slightly exaggerated. He stated that there was a new airport fee that had been instituted.

“I think it was exaggerated to some degree, and again, look, back to doing business in other countries, there were other runways around the world where our plane was delayed. I remember somebody calling us like, ‘Hey, there’s a new fee –’ it was not in Riyadh. It was in a different country; I won’t name it. But we’re getting called. Our plane had been delayed… It had gotten serious enough; it had reached my desk. Usually this stuff is just getting handled. But it reached my desk because a new fee had been instituted in this country — airport fee — that was a lot of money… to get out… Someone could look at this and say you’re being extorted to being left out of the country. I guess it depends how you wanna look at it. But in that moment, there was a fee… What did I say? I said, ‘Pay the f*cking fee. We’re coming home, right? So I don’t even know why you’re calling me. Yes, it’s a lot of money but yeah, we’re paying the airport fee.’ If anybody’s listening and is gonna charge me with a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, I say bullsh*t. That was the then law in that country and we obeyed it. 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.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Barrios did a deep dive about the meeting to close the WWE/Saudi deal. That can be read here.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit My World With Jeff Jarrett with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.