It'll probably stay up even if it is not, more as a testament to the power of words of respected journalists in a given field.
But we may be on the cusp of something bad. And it may have been from something they tried to do that was very good.
Vince McMahon held his fourth Saudi blood-money event yesterday in Riyadh. The main events involved the likes of Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, gypsy homophobe lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, and a Hulk Hogan-Ric Flair match (through proxy teams of five because of the advanced age of the pair).
It appears that, as of this hour, only the talent necessary to appear in Buffalo, NY, in a scant 17 hours time (and that's if the plane makes it there -- the flight is about 15 hours!!) for Smackdown on FOX tonight has been allowed to leave the country.
Original reports over the last several hours appeared to indicate plane trouble.
Respected professional wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer is using verbiage to appear to indicate otherwise!!
His first ominous (and rather cryptic) tweet on the subject appeared about three hours ago:
The next two reports, however, make it appear that this isn't basically being bit by a mechanical problem on a very tight schedule to get the talent back to the United States in time for house shows, Smackdown, and the like...
Why would this be so concerning?
Because of the third to the last match on the card.
Much of the criticism surrounding the Saudi events has been due to the Islamic beliefs on the place and status of women in Islamic law.
So much so that, even after WWE held a match with two female wrestlers in Power Ranger bodysuits almost two years ago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, no one could've believed at the time that would ever have been allowed in Saudi Arabia under any circumstance.
One day before Thursday's card, WWE and the Saudi officials announced that they had come to an agreement on the first women's wrestling match in the Islamic kingdom -- a carefully-constructed so as not to offend match between Lacey Evans and Natalya Neidhart.
The match did take place. Both women wore neck to feet black bodysuits with baggy T-shirts to ensure nothing was shown which would be offensive. Both women were beyond honored, wrestled a basic house-show level match, honored each other's involvement in the history, thanked relevant parties, and it appeared that everything was fine. The crowd was extremely entertained at the event.
It now appears, and it may be just the verbiage, that Dave Meltzer is implying otherwise -- and, if that's the case, I don't think I have to say it's major trouble.
There are over 50 wrestlers stuck on a plane in Saudi Arabia, unable to leave -- if not disallowed and detained under a situation with the Islamic Saud Kingdom.
As I say in the title: I hope that, in a few hours, when I wake up, this post will have been largely unnecessary and will only be left as a testament to the verbiage of a respected journalist in his field like Meltzer...
