Whats wrong with Google play app review?Internal testing pending for over a week

I am a new developer to google play. i had uploaded and published my game app - Word Hookup - to google play for "internal testing" a week back. The status still shows "pending publication". Why does google play need app review for internal testing, and that too over a week. My game app submission on iOS went live within 2 days [shameless plug - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/word-hookup/id1467012830]. I had the impression that it was apple that took too long for app reviews. Not being able to even internal test has been very frustrating. Google play support has not responded to my emails. A chat rep I spoke to told me that he would escalate the issue, but no further response yet. Anyone else experience anything similar, or is something wrong with my submission as this would be my first submission to Google Play.