WWE traveled to Montreal for the weekend for Elimination Chamber and SmackDown. The blue brand kicked things off on Friday night and people couldn’t help but notice that Ariel Helwani appeared on SmackDown this week as he hyped up Elimination Chamber from the crowd. Following his big appearance on SmackDown, AEW’s own Tony Khan took to Twitter to call Ariel Helwani a “fraud” when he posted the following:
You're a fraud @arielhelwani. You're as legitimate of a reporter as @tonyschiavone24. #AEWRampage
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) February 18, 2023
Khan later followed up with another tweet directed at Helwani which said, “Good luck with the unbiased journalism.” Ariel Helwani interviewed Tony Khan last fall and noted that it was one of the most frustrating interviews of his career because Tony, “didn’t want to answer anything.”
Ariel Helwani appeared on WWE programming once again at Elimination Chamber, and while he was standing in the crowd Michael Cole referred to him as an “unbiased, world renowned, combat sports journalist” who, “asks the hard questions, whether you wanna answer them or not.”
Peter Rosenberg also seemingly referenced Tony Khan’s comments when he introduced Ariel Helwani during the pre-show and said, “A man who is respected by anyone of any intelligence whatsoever as a MMA Journalist.”
Earlier this month Tony Khan appeared on the Dan Le Batard Show and hyped up the idea of a wrestling war between AEW and WWE while saying, “I think we truly, truly hate each other and I think it makes for really exciting TV and it makes for an exciting wrestling war.”
Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.
