What happened after WWE Crown Jewel?

[VIDEO] Wrestlelamia discusses the latest news on what happened in Saudi Arabia when WWE talent attempted to flight to the next town for another TV taping.

The situation after last week's Saudi Arabia PPV WWE Crown Jewel has gone from some form of international intrique involving another government to just more internal disarray within WWE. We hear that Vince McMahon left his talent in Saudi Arabia while they were held in a "hostage situation". We also heard about McMahon being owned money to his contract with the Saudi Arabian gov't for WWE events there and even him cutting off the feed of the PPV to Saudi viewers.

As far as that "hostage situation" we heard the delay was due to mechanical problems and some military police was involved. We heard a lot of superstars weren't happy with this situation. Whatever the story it was enough to keep those talent who were expected to be at FOX Friday Nite SmackDown in Buffalo to have missed the show. Which resulted in NXT talent being utilized for SmackDown instead which also helped make this the highest rated SmackDown since the move to the FOX network.

Who knows what the truth was and at least from what I can tell it was handled badly by WWE's PR with a release stating WWE talent weren't passionate enough to make it to SmackDown on Friday nite. I'm sure for most wrestling fans this is something that might be looked at for a while yet.

Sometimes it pays to look at other governments...

Case in point Saudi Arabia! When I was in the third grade it was one of the nations I remember studying back then. I and some friends of mine used to repeat the name several times to a rhythm because well we were children and it was new!

Anyway over the weekend, I had learned that a member of the royal family and heir to the thrown had passed away. Time takes a look at the new heir apparent!

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud would be the new heir to the throne, after the sudden death of previous Crown Prince Nayef on Saturday. Prince Salman’s elevation to the next in line to the throne was not entirely unexpected—as a well respected Minister of Defense and half brother to the current king, he was one of the top choices—but as the dust settles over this latest transition, Saudis and Saudi-watchers alike will be fervently hoping that this time the new crown prince will stick around long enough to make it to the throne. Salman, who is 75, is the third prince to be appointed heir to King Abdullah, 87, since he came to power in 2005. Saudi Arabia, already threatened with fallout from the Arab spring lapping at its authoritarian shores, can little afford the instability that interrupted lines of succession might bring.

And as long as the rest of the world depends on Saudi oil, few nations will want to see anything but a steady hand at its helm.

Salman, who has no known health issues beyond a bad back, is likely to be that reassuring presence, especially with King Abdullah’s inevitable decline into very old age. “A Saudi crown prince has more power and influence than an American Vice President,” says historian Robert Lacey, author of two books on the Saudi royal family. “And if the king is incapacitated, the channels of power run through the Crown Prince.”

OK, so let's remember Saudi Arabia is considered an ally! It's probably in our best interest for there to be a favorable regime there. That means the Saud family must remain in power even if they have to make concessions to the "Arab spring". Slowly if at all, Saudia Arabia will gradually move out of it's religious monarchy as the dominant religion there is Wahhabi Islam.

Why Saudi Arabia is ripe for revolution.

Could the turmoil of Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt & Libya spread to the Kindgom of Saudi Arabia? What does this article from Foreign Policy say?

In the age of Arab revolutions, will Saudis dare to honor Facebook calls for anti-government demonstrations on March 11? Will they protest at one of Jeddah's main roundabouts? Or will they start in Qatif, the eastern region where a substantial Shiite majority has had more experience in real protest? Will Riyadh remain cocooned in its cloak of pomp and power, hidden from public gaze in its mighty sand castles?

Saudi Arabia is ripe for change. Despite its image as a fabulously wealthy realm with a quiescent, apolitical population, it has similar economic, demographic, social, and political conditions as those prevailing in its neighboring Arab countries. There is no reason to believe Saudis are immune to the protest fever sweeping the region.

Saudi Arabia is indeed wealthy, but most of its young population cannot find jobs in either the public or private sector. The expansion of its $430 billion economy has benefited a substantial section of the entrepreneurial elite -- particularly those well connected with the ruling family -- but has failed to produce jobs for thousands of college graduates every year. This same elite has resisted employing expensive Saudis and contributed to the rise in local unemployment by hiring foreign labor. Rising oil prices since 2003 and the expansion of state investment in education, infrastructure, and welfare, meanwhile, have produced an explosive economy of desires.

Like their neighbors, Saudis want jobs, houses, and education, but they also desire something else. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in 2003, they have expressed their political demands in their own way, through petitions that circulated and were signed by hundreds of activists and professionals, men and women, Sunnis, Shiites, and Ismailis. Reformers petitioned King Abdullah to establish an elected consultative assembly to replace the 120-member appointed Consultative Council Saudis inherited from King Fahd. Political organizers were jailed and some banned from travel to this day. The "Riyadh spring" that many reformers anticipated upon King Abdullah's accession in 2005 was put on hold while torrential rain swept away decaying infrastructure and people in major cities. Rising unemployment pushed the youth toward antisocial behavior, marriages collapsed, the number of bachelors soared, and the number of people under the poverty line increased in one of the wealthiest states of the Arab world. Today, nearly 40 percent of Saudis ages 20 to 24 are unemployed.

Meanwhile, scandal after scandal exposed the level of corruption and nepotism in state institutions. Princes promised to establish investigative committees, yet culprits were left unpunished. Criticism of the king and top ruling princes remained taboo, and few crossed the red line surrounding the substantial sacrosanct clique that monopolizes government posts from defense to sports. The number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience swelled Saudi prisons. Under the pretext of the war on terror, the Saudi regime enjoyed a free hand. The interior minister, Prince Nayef, and his son and deputy, Prince Mohammed, rounded up peaceful activists, bloggers, lawyers, and academics and jailed them for extended periods. Saudis watched in silence while the outside world either remained oblivious to abuses of human rights or turned a blind eye in the interests of oil, arms, and investment.

As you read the rest of this article, what do you think will go on in that nation?