AJ Styles Talks Saudi Arabia, Nia Jax-Paige Buzz and Cody Teases AEW Reveal

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE and AEW.

AJ Styles Discusses Saudi Plane Delay

Friday's SmackDown was sent into a state of flux after a majority of the roster was stuck for several hours in Saudi Arabia due to travel difficulties. The circumstances surrounding the delay remain murky, but several WWE Superstars have expressed displeasure with the situation following the Crown Jewel event.

Speaking on his Mixer stream, AJ Styles explained his experience and noted the rumors going around the internet were far more severe than the reality (h/t Daniel Yanofsky of Wrestling Inc.):

"We were supposed to leave after the show. We got to the airport, they weren't letting us board. What was the problem? Not really sure, heard there was a fuel truck in the way, the guy who drove the truck had left to go home. I know, this makes no sense. Why would the fuel guy leave if he knows he's got a plane that's leaving? Then there were some paperwork issues.

"Finally, after at least 4-5 hours, we get on the plane. Then they found something wrong, the fuel or something or another was broken. People can say what they want, 'It wasn't broken.' But I talked to the pilot. On that 14-hour flight the pilots, I guess they take naps as well. We were all chatting, sitting around on this flight and he said, 'Listen, there was a problem. That's a real thing.'

"The problem was, we spent all that time, from one o'clock all the way to six or eight in the morning, waiting to board this plane, they are telling us we can't go anywhere because the pilots and everybody had timed out. They can only go so long before they are not able to fly because they're not able to go 24 hours at a time. They had to go back to a hotel, we had to find a hotel.

"Were there guns? Were there people yelling 'EVERYBODY OFF THE PLANE!'? No, that never happened. My wife called me in a panic, she's scared to death. I go, 'Babe, listen, we're just not able to go anywhere. It is not a big issue, nobody has threatened to kill us.' There was none of that going on. Nobody was going to get murdered, it never happened. There was no threat of physical harm or anything like that."

There are likely Superstars who view the situation more harshly than Styles, though few have offered such extended comments. That said, given the wild speculation that transpired during those hours WWE personnel was stuck in Saudi, it's good to know Styles never truly felt he was in danger.

Paige to Manage Nia Jax?

Paige was unceremoniously unseated from her (extremely part-time) management of the Kabuki Warriors last week when Asuka sprayed green mist into her eyes. It felt like little more than a tied-up loose end to give the Warriors heat given Paige had barely been seen with the tag team in months.

That said, the Kabuki Warriors' loss could be a soon-to-be-returning Nia Jax's gain. Jax took to Twitter and asked for Paige to manage her after Paige opened up the potential pairing:

Jax has been off WWE television for months while recovering from a torn ACL. A timetable for her return has not formally been set, but the initial eight-month recovery estimate could have her back in December or January—enough time for both to use social media to promote the relationship.

Social media teases happen constantly in WWE circles without follow-up, so we're not holding our breath here. But Paige is a talented performer who could get Jax over given the latter's struggles to be believable on the mic.

Cody Rhodes to Make His Major Announcement This Week on Dynamite

The go-home Dynamite before Full Gear takes place Wednesday, and with only four matches formally on the card, AEW has some storyline work to set up its pay-per-view. The most fully realized story has been the feud between Cody and Chris Jericho, which has done fantastic work at setting up The Inner Circle as a dominant heel faction and Cody as a worthy challenger.

A couple weeks ago, Cody teased an important announcement—only to wind up in a massive brawl after being interrupted by Jericho. There won't be any interruptions this time around, with Cody saying said announcement will come this Wednesday on Dynamite:

It's unclear what the announcement could be, though logic would dictate it will include a stipulation for his match against Jericho. It seems unlikely that Cody would go over in Jericho's first pay-per-view title defense, so whatever the announcement is will be worth monitoring for future storylines.