Ariel Helwani, a combat sports reporter, analyst, and podcaster, made two appearances throughout the event while seated in the audience.
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“WWE SmackDown” on Friday night in Montreal, Quebec, Canada served as the “go-home” programme for the Elimination Chamber match on Saturday night. Ariel Helwani, a combat sports reporter, analyst, and podcaster, made two appearances throughout the event while seated in the audience and clutching a microphone with the WWE logo. Although Helwani has previously provided narration for various video features on WWE programming as part of his work with BT Sport, the company’s British broadcast partner, this was by far Helwani’s most overt affiliation with the organization to date.
Helwani posted a video of one of his appearances on Twitter and just included three “exploding skull” emojis as a remark. Many of his supporters applauded him, but at least one important figure in the wrestling industry was not pleased. “You’re a fraud (Ariel Helwani),” wrote AEW President Tony Khan in a tweet of his own. “You’re as legitimate of a reporter as (Tony Schiavone).”
Helwani replied to Khan’s initial tweet and expressed his gratitude for watching SmackDown in a follow-up. Khan was also referred to as a “snowman” by Helwani, which may have been a reference to reports about extracurricular activities Khan may be engaged in. “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.),” Helwani wrote. Khan responded by writing, “Good luck with the unbiased journalism,” in response.
When Khan attempted to refute rumors that WWE had agreed to sell the firm to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in a tweet on January 11, it appeared that he was making reference to the way Helwani had reported on significant WWE news at the time, among other things. Khan previously made an appearance on “The MMA Hour,” Helwani’s podcast, in October. Khan refused to discuss the All Out backstage fight that occurred after the event in September, which made the interview tense.
The interview, according to Helwani, was “one of the most irritating of my career.” Following the incident, Helwani came under fire for not applying the same standard of scrutiny to Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the WWE Chief Content Officer, during an interview he had with him in September.
WWE is covered by Helwani for BT Sport. He is close with WWE CEO Nick Khan and has been a longtime follower of professional wrestling. This week’s Zayn vs. Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns match featured him as the narrator of a WWE Elimination Chamber video package. As of the time of this writing, Helwani has not commented on Khan’s most recent tweet, although as was already mentioned, he did tweet his thoughts on Zayn’s enthusiastic response at the Bell Centre.
