WWE Issues Statement On Technical Issues During SmackDown

WWE

WWE has issued a statement to address technical difficulties with today’s episode of SmackDown from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

UPDATE: The issue with SmackDown going down wasn’t a Netflix issue, but was due to a local power outage in Riyadh.

PWInsider reports there was no power in Gorilla Position or the control room, so WWE wasn’t able to control any facets of the show during that time.

For the first time, SmackDown is taking place in Saudi Arabia, ahead of tomorrow’s Night of Champions premium live event.

However, around 10 minutes into the show after the entrances of Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, the international Netflix live stream for the show went down.

Rhodes and Orton were set for a promo segment in the ring ahead of their King of the Ring final against each other at Night of Champions.

After they’d both made their entrances with singalongs from the crowd, Orton had barely started speaking before the feed cut out.

Following 20 minutes of the stream being down, WWE tweeted:

To our international audiences watching #SmackDown on Netflix:

We apologize for any technical difficulties and should be back up and running shortly.

As of this writing, five minutes after the above tweeted was posted, the stream is still down and SmackDown hasn’t returned to the air.

UPDATE: A few minutes later and the show is back live, with Michael Cole apologizing for the delay. Wade Barrett jokingly blamed Cole for the issues and said this never happens when Joe Tessitore is calling the show.

Fans in the venue have posted video footage of Orton having fun with the crowd and yeeting in the meantime.