Tony Khan vs. Ariel Helwani Heat Referenced During WWE Elimination Chamber

By
PWMania.com Staff
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(Photo Credit: WWE)

While doing WWE Elimination Chamber commentary on Saturday night, Michael Cole may have referred to comments made by AEW President Tony Khan.

We previously mentioned how combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani appeared on Friday’s SmackDown in Montreal for two crowd segments to hype up Sami Zayn’s show-closing segment. Helwani also narrated and wrote a WWE video package about Montreal wrestling history and Zayn’s journey to Elimination Chamber, and he interviewed Zayn before Saturday’s big match against Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.

“You’re a fraud @arielhelwani. You’re as legitimate of a reporter as @tonyschiavone24. #AEWRampage,” Khan tweeted after his SmackDown appearance on Friday.

Helwani responded, “Thanks for watching, old friend! Can’t wait for our next chat. (Also, don’t listen to the snowman, Schiavone. You’re a legend in my books.) ”

Khan replied to end the exchange, “Good luck with the unbiased journalism.”

In an update, Helwani was in the audience at WWE Elimination Chamber on Saturday night, alongside another legendary Montrealer, UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre. Cole introduced both men while on commentary, apparently referencing Khan’s tweets and Khan’s history with Helwani.

“The unbiased, world renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani who asks all the hard questions whether you want to answer them or not!,” Cole said as Helwani and GSP were shown in the crowd.

BT Sport, for whom Helwani covers WWE, tweeted Cole’s quote, which Helwani retweeted, but he has not commented as of this writing. Helwani also retweeted a tweet with the words “Unbiased. World renowned. [goat emoji] > [snowman emoji],” referring to his Friday night jab at Khan.

Cole’s line about asking tough questions appears to be a reference to the fallout from Helwani’s interview with Khan on The MMA Hour. Helwani commented after the interview on why it was “one of the most frustrating, and to a degree, not-so-fun interviews” of his career.

“He didn’t want to answer anything,” Helwani explained on October 22.  “You’re going to come on and promote X, Y, and Z, great. And I’ll play that dance with you. I did, at the beginning. But you got to give us something, to not even tell me how you were feeling. I’m not asking for specifics, alright fine I am, but is Punk going to wrestle for you, is he coming back, you don’t want to get into it, fine. But tell me how you were feeling. Give me something.”

Helwani also appeared on the Elimination Chamber Kickoff pre-show and in a WWE Digital backstage segment with GSP. He has long been a fan of pro wrestling and is friends with WWE CEO Nick Khan.

As of this writing, Khan had not responded to Cole’s remarks.

Related posts on Helwani and GSP, as well as Zayn, can be found below, along with the aforementioned Khan vs. Helwani tweets from Friday night:

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