Michael Cole may have referenced comments made by AEW President Tony Khan while doing WWE Elimination Chamber commentary on Saturday night.
We noted before how combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani appeared on Friday’s SmackDown in his hometown of Montreal for two crowd segments to hype up Sami Zayn’s show-closing segment. Helwani also narrated and wrote a video package for WWE on Montreal’s wrestling history and Zayn’s journey to Elimination Chamber, then he interviewed Zayn before Saturday’s big match against Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
Friday’s SmackDown appearance brought Twitter shots from Khan, who tweeted, “You’re a fraud @arielhelwani. You’re as legitimate of a reporter as @tonyschiavone24. #AEWRampage”
Helwani later wrote back, “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 appeared in the crowd at WWE Elimination Chamber on Saturday night, with another legendary Montrealer – UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre. Cole introduced both men while on commentary, and apparently referenced Khan’s tweets, and the past history between Khan and 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, who Helwani works for in covering WWE, tweeted Cole’s quote and that post was re-tweeted by Helwani, but he has not commented as of this writing. Helwani also re-tweeted a post that said, “Unbiased. World renowned. [goat emoji] > [snowman emoji],” in a reference to his jab at Khan on Friday night.
Cole’s line about asking hard questions seems to be a reference to the drama coming out of Helwani’s interview with Khan on The MMA Hour last fall. After the interview, Helwani commented on why the interview 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 said on October 22 as detailed here. “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 backstage segment with GSP for WWE Digital. He is a longtime pro wrestling fan, and is friends with WWE CEO Nick Khan.
Khan has not addressed Cole’s comments as of this writing.
You can see the related posts on Helwani and GSP, and Zayn, below, along with the aforementioned Khan vs. Helwani tweets from Friday night:
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