The infamous WWE Crown Jewel 2019 plane situation has been surrounded by rumors for years, and George Barrios just gave his side of what happened. The former WWE co-president doesn’t claim to know every little detail, but he thinks the whole thing got blown way out of proportion.
Speaking on My World with Jeff Jarrett, Barrios was asked about the flight delay that left a bunch of WWE talent stuck in Saudi Arabia after Crown Jewel 2019. Conrad Thompson brought up all the rumors that followed, including speculation that WWE talent had somehow been prevented from leaving the country, and asked Barrios what he understood actually happened. Barrios didn’t exactly give the conspiracy theories much oxygen.
“Yeah, I think it was kind of — I don’t know what the right phrase is — I think it was exaggerated to some degree.”
He then brought up another travel nightmare WWE dealt with in a completely different country. Barrios wouldn’t say where it happened, but WWE apparently had a plane sitting around because a new airport fee suddenly needed to be paid before they could leave. And apparently, this wasn’t some tiny fee either.
“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, and somehow it had gotten serious enough that it reached my desk, right? Usually, this stuff is just getting handled, but it reached my desk because a new fee had been instituted in this country — an airport fee that was a lot of money to get out.”
Someone even pointed out that the whole thing could look a lot like WWE was being shaken down just to leave the country.
“And somebody said you could — someone could look at this and say, ‘You’re being extorted to be let out of the country.’ I guess it depends how you want to look at it.”
Barrios apparently wasn’t interested in sitting around debating it. He just wanted everyone on the plane and headed home.
“But in that moment, there was a fee. And so, what did I say? I said, ‘Pay the f***ing 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.”
He even threw in a joke about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act while insisting WWE was simply paying a legal airport fee.
“But if anybody’s listening and is going to charge me with a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, I say, ‘F*** it.’ That was the law in that country at the time, and we obeyed it.”
That story wasn’t Barrios saying the exact same thing happened in Saudi Arabia. In fact, he went out of his way to make sure nobody walked away thinking that was his point. When it came to Crown Jewel 2019 specifically, Barrios admitted he doesn’t know exactly what caused the delay. His basic takeaway was much less dramatic than some of the stories that have followed the incident for years.
“So when you ask, Conrad, 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, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Of course, plenty of people weren’t willing to leave it at that back in 2019. The incident kicked off years of speculation about what was really happening behind the scenes, with some wondering whether WWE talent had actually been held in the country against their will. The controversy even became part of a shareholder lawsuit involving WWE, which the company ultimately settled for $39 million in 2020.
Barrios isn’t offering some major explanation that suddenly clears up every question from that night. If anything, his answer is pretty simple — there was a delay, WWE eventually got out, and he believes the story became a lot crazier than what actually happened.
Do you buy George Barrios’ explanation of the Crown Jewel 2019 plane incident, or do you think there’s still more to that story? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
