WWE Vs. The Volcano

Under the Vince McMahon regime of WWE, the company would typically embark on a tour of Europe following WrestleMania for what was often dubbed the WrestleMania Revenge tour, and that was the case once again following 2010’s WrestleMania XXVI.

Usually, the shows would take place and everyone would head back to the United States without any issues. That isn’t what happened this time around, however, as WWE had to deal with the effects of an actual volcanic eruption. 

Not even a week and a half after WrestleMania 26, the Monday Night Raw crew headed to Vienna, Austria to kick off their half of the European tour. After filming SmackDown in Illinois, the blue crew made their own cross-Atlantic trip, kicking off their portion of the tour in Berlin, Germany. Both brands were to spend over a week abroad, each filming TV in London the following week, before the tour wrapped up on the weekend of April 17 and 18. April 18 was also scheduled to be WWE's first ever event in Turkey at the Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul.

Following the planned Istanbul card, the Raw crowd would've already arrived home, where they would perform in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the April 19 Raw taping. SmackDown would then make it back to the US for their Tuesday taping in Connecticut. After four days off for each brand, both would convene in Baltimore for Extreme Rules, blowing off most of the WrestleMania feuds, and beginning to ease into all the summer programs.

Not everything went to plan, however. Towards the end of 2009, an ice capped volcano name Eyjafjallajökull began to experience seismic activity. Over a period of three months, the activity slowly increased, ultimately leading to a small eruption on Saturday, March 20.

The eruptions continued into April and on Wednesday, April 14, the eruption created a cloud of ash that began enveloping much of Europe. By the weekend, the ash cloud covered most of the northern two-thirds of the continent. The hazards posed to aircraft led to the majority of flights to and from Europe being cancelled, leading to what some cite as the largest volume of disrupted air travel in around 60 years.

Unfortunately for WWE, they were already in Europe. After performing in Strasbourg, France on April 14, the Raw crew had a 330 mile trip to the French city of Lievin, where they would be working on Thursday. Ordinarily, this would involve taking a short flight, so they could check into hotel rooms, get a reasonable amount of sleep, and then continue resting up before heading to the arena for their matches.

With no flights, WWE talent hopped onto a bus for a six-hour journey and performed on Thursday. The situation only worsened, though, as they were set to perform in Belfast, Northern Ireland the next day. 

According to The Miz, to complete the 644 mile trip to Belfast, the Raw crew took a two-hour bus ride, followed by a ferry ride, then another seven-hour bus ride, another ride on a ferry, and then a three-hour bus ride into Belfast. This was particularly bad for Chris Masters, whose sole involvement on the Belfast show was being jumped by Sheamus on his way to the ring. 

After this, though, Masters and the rest of the Raw roster weren’t wrestling for the next nine days. With no airports in operation on the island of Ireland, there was little chance of the roster catching a flight back to the United States in time for Raw in New Jersey on April 19, and WWE were stuck in Ireland until the volcano calmed down. 

On the SmackDown side, the roster finished up their own Friday night show in Zurich, Switzerland before they were scheduled to head to Innsbruck, Austria for a show on Saturday. The volcano caused plans to change, however, and WWE cancelled the planned shows in Innsbruck and Istanbul as the SmackDown was given the task of getting back to the US to replace the Raw roster for Monday night’s TV taping. 

The last major airport in Europe still permitting flights was in Madrid, as Spain was just south enough to not catch the brunt of the ash-filled air in the early going. However, there was a deadline. According to then-SmackDown star Chris Jericho, the roster had until 10:45 pm on Saturday night, around 24 hours away, to get to the Madrid airport so that they could fly back to the United States in time for Monday's Raw.

Jericho noted that no flights were permissible after that time, so once the Zurich show was done, they had to get a coach to Madrid, a 1,000-mile journey, 18-hour journey. While the journey would be long, the roster initially had first-class service, only for the bus to only travel for three of the planned 18 hours, couriering the roster as far as the city of Geneva. For some reason, the bus couldn't take the SmackDown crew any further, and it would have to be another bus that brought Jericho and company into Madrid.

The new bus was not only not luxurious, but it was so small that not everybody was going to fit. As Jericho remembered, a number of individuals had to be left off the bus, including numerous backstage crew members and the tag team of The Dudebusters in Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta.

The wrestlers (including Kane, Rey Mysterio, R-Truth, Drew McIntyre, and others) were tightly cramped like muscular sardines, with 15 hours of travel still to go. The rickety old coach, however, had to navigate the Alps and was unable to go faster than 45 miles per hour. The journey then only got worse as the bus almost overheated in the middle of the Alps.

For a while, it seemed as though the deadline wasn't going to be made. Jericho and others were in contact with WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, updating him on their whereabouts and situation. By 1 pm, the group were still nearly 350 miles away from Madrid, and the bus wasn't moving any quicker.

By 8:30 pm, it was coming down to the wire. The crew had about 45 miles to travel in two hours, which wouldn’t usually be a difficult journey, but the slow-moving bus only added to the drama. By 10 pm, though, the airport was in sight, but that wasn’t the end of the drama as, according to Jericho, the bus driver screwed up trying to find the airport entrance, took a wrong turn, and spent nearly 15 minutes trying to get back onto the main road. 

With a mere 25 minutes to spare, the bus pulled into departures at the airport. As soon as the vehicle pulled up, the wrestlers and backstage crew exited and sprinted through customs, got their luggage on the plane, and scrambled to their seats. Chris Jericho noted that when the plane took off, it was 10:44 pm. They made it with one minute to spare. 

With the Raw roster stuck on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the Monday Night Raw taping in East Rutherford, New Jersey was understandably a strange one. It began with Triple H monologuing about the recent events that compromised WWE's plans, before he was suddenly interrupted by CM Punk and the rest of the Straight Edge Society in Luke Gallows and Serena Deeb.

Lilian Garcia also made a guest appearance to fill in as the ring announcer, having left the company the previous September, and a minor controversy ensued when Triple H made an offhand comment that night that many (including Mick Foley) interpreted to be a dig at Garcia and how The Game felt about her physical appearance.

On the night, only four matches took place and they were an eclectic mix. In the three-minute opener, reigning Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre defeated Matt Hardy. This was followed by an open challenge from World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger that was answered by The Undertaker, three weeks removed from his retiring of Shawn Michaels. They went on to have an enjoyable 16-minute match won by Mark Calaway. 

Not all of Raw was good, however, including a segment between Vladimir Kozlov and actor Will Forte to promote the movie 'MacGruber' which led to a handicap match of Forte and Great Khali defeating Kozlov via count-out. 

To close Raw, Triple H, Rey Mysterio, and Edge teamed together to defeat CM Punk, Luke Gallows, and Chris Jericho in what was essentially a feel-good house show main event.

It wasn’t the greatest Raw of all time, but it was arguably the best show WWE could put together under the circumstances. SmackDown had done good in Raw's stead.

For the Raw crew still in the United Kingdom, they suffered through more ferry rides and bus trips as they travelled from Belfast to Scotland. They eventually got on an airplane home on Wednesday, April 21.

The volcano had one last trick, though, and another plume of ash caused the flight to be re-routed, causing a further two and a half hour delay, before they eventually reached Connecticut. By the time Extreme Rules rolled around on Sunday, April 25, the entire ordeal was behind them. 

The volcano did cause issues for another promotion in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, however. Englishman Doug Williams was scheduled to defend the X-Division Championship at TNA Lockdown in St. Louis on April 18 in a three-way cage match against Frankie Kazarian and Shannon Moore. However, Williams was unable to fly in for the pay-per-view due to the travel restrictions, and was thus forced to vacate the belt.

Homicide ended up subbing into the match, which was won by Kazarian. When Williams was finally able to get back to the US, he challenged Kazarian for the title he never lost and was able to win it back at May's Sacrifice pay-per-view.

For Istanbul and Innsbruck, WWE held the cancelled house shows when they had another European tour in November of 2010. The fans in Turkey even witnessed Bret Hart’s penultimate match as he teamed with Edge and Rey Mysterio to defeat the trio of Cody Rhodes, Alberto Del Rio, and Drew McIntyre. 

Wrestling promotions have been tasked with making the best of bad circumstances on many occasions. In this one, WWE had to deal with a volcanic eruption, increasingly restricted airspace, a road trip from hell to reach the last available airport. They then had to fight off sleep and frustration, all with the knowledge that if they did make it back to the US by Monday, they'd have to share the stage with one of the guys from the hideous The Brothers Solomon movie.

What started routinely as one of WWE's bi-annual European tours proved far more noteworthy than anyone could have anticipated.