The reason why WWE Smackdown’s feed from Saudi Arabia went down for around 30 minutes
The June 27th 2025 edition of WWE Smackdown took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and aired live for international Netflix users. During Cody Rhodes’ segment with Randy Orton, the Netflix feed cut out for around 30 minutes with a “Pardon the delay” message to users.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com noted the following about what happened…
“PWInsider.com can confirm that there was a power loss in Riyadh that affected WWE’s entire production including the control room and the gorilla position. WWE lost all power and with that went any ability to control the different facets of the show. They are working to get everything back on line but again it was not a Netflix issue, it was an issue originating at the actual venue.”
While the feed was down, Rhodes hyped up Night of Champions for the live crowd. Orton also “yeeted” with fans to kill time. The feed finally returned with Cole and Barrett apologizing to Netflix viewers.
The #WWE #Smackdown feed went down for international Netflix users during the Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes segment. pic.twitter.com/viY35paXOI
— NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW news (@nodqdotcom) June 27, 2025