Corey Graves blasts WWE Superstars and defends Vince McMahon

Speaking on the latest episode of his After The Bell podcast, Corey Graves defended Vince McMahon following WWE’s issues returning from Saudi Arabia and blasted some of the company’s Superstars for complaining on social media.

Over 175 Superstars, production crew and employees boarded a 747 charter flight back to the United States after the Crown Jewel event in Riyadh on October 31. However, due to mechanical problems with the plane, passengers were delayed for several hours and many of them ended up arriving in the US around 24 hours later than planned.

Various Superstars had already been advertised for the November 1 episode of SmackDown in Buffalo, New York, so WWE arranged for 20 people to fly back earlier than other members of the roster.

This led to some Superstars writing on social media that they were “#NotTop20”, while others complained about the situation in cryptic tweets and Instagram posts.

Graves, who flew back as part of the ‘Saudi 20’ because WWE wanted him to commentate on SmackDown, said the Superstars who vented their frustration need to “quit crying about it on Twitter”.

“If you’re mad because your flight got delayed and you weren’t one of the ‘Saudi 20’ and you weren’t important enough to get on the jet, that’s on you. Quit crying about it on Twitter. You’re a WWE Superstar. This happens, this is part of our life. We all have travel woes, we all have travel issues.”

Why did Vince McMahon leave Crown Jewel before WWE Superstars?

Regarding reports that Vince McMahon “deserted” his employees by leaving Saudi Arabia on a private jet before everyone else, Corey Graves defended the WWE Chairman by explaining that he always leaves shows immediately after the final match.

“If you work here, you know that every week, no matter where on the planet earth we are, as soon as the final bell rings, as soon as it’s made sure that all the talent is okay, whoever was in the last match, Vince gets on his jet and goes home or to the next city because the guy is busy running WWE.”

Graves went on to name-check Randy Orton as somebody who was not chosen as one of the 20 people on the first flight back from Saudi Arabia.

The SmackDown announcer mentioned that, given his status in WWE, the 13-time World Champion had more right than anybody to complain about the travel issues, but he stayed quiet on social media because he understood the situation.

(If you use quotes from this article, please credit After The Bell and give a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription).