-- MMA journalist Ariel Helwani was all over the news last weekend, appearing on WWE's Friday Night Smackdown in a surprise appearance that prompted AEW CEO Tony Khan to almost immediately call him a "fraud" in a now infamous tweet. On the latest MMA Hour, Helwani went into detail on how his appearance for WWE materialized as well as the reaction from Khan.
- He said that he only believed he would be on WWE programming by Wednesday, but was at the Royal Rumble and no plans at that time. However, he started feeling like he had to be in Montreal for Elimination Chamber, but proposed to WWE that he write an article what having the event in Montreal and Sami Zayn's ascent meant to those living there.
- He said his piece was written in 10 minutes and he sent it to WWE but never heard back and contemplated whether he should followup but didn't want to seem like an "eager beaver." WWE got back and said they wanted him and the wheels were in motion for him to attend Smackdown and do the voiceover.
- Helwani thanked Paul Levesque for making it happen, who went to bat for him and was very welcoming and kind. He also thanked Paul Heyman for helping him out by telling him "little things" that he would never have thought of like using the word arena instead of building or championship instead of belt.
- He said that he made it a point not to look at his phone or plug it or promote it and just live in the moment after his Smackdown appearance. But he did look at it as he wanted to know if people were watching and he saw the tweet from Tony Khan calling him a fraud. Helwani said he looked at it three times and thought it was fake, there's no way that he would tweet something like that. First by proving that he was watching the competition, and second by putting down his own guy Tony Schiavone. He called the tweet an "own goal" and chalked it up to Khan still being upset when Helwani interviewed him and then called it one of the worst interviews he had ever conducted. He noted that he had tried to get Tony on his show multiple times but it never went anywhere as Khan was always skeptical believing that Helwani was a "Nick Khan guy" since Nick was his agent at one point. But eventually, AEW reached out to Helwani to set up the interview.
- Helwani said the "old Ariel" would have let this tweet and a guy like Khan bother him but in actuality, he was invigorated by it and thought it was hilarious and wasn't sure if she should tweet him back. He said backstage in WWE, the news spread rapidly and everyone was buzzing asking him about it.
- Helwani then took a major shot at Khan, saying he has built something good but if it wasn't for his "old man", suggesting that Tony wouldn't have been able to do anything without the finances of his father Shahid Khan. He later said that what he's built as an MMA reporter was all him and that he's very proud of that. He said that he wasn't going to respond to Khan's tweet but in his car on his way back home, he decided he wasn't going to let it slide being called a fraud.
- He said he arrived at Elimination Chamber and found himself in the same room as Georges St. Pierre and Sami Zayn and that he'd be doing a celebrity shot on the show with GSP. He said that before the show Michael Cole told him "just wait until you hear how I introduce you" and because he wasn't listening to the broadcast he didn't know what was said until he got to the backstage area. Helwani said everyone was going nuts at what Cole said and he's getting high-fived and stuff.
- While not specifically addressing why he called Tony Khan a snowman, he acknowledged that his tweet in response "popped the boys in the back" and he felt like he was part of the team. He took aim at his critics and said that if people felt disappointed in him, he doesn't care or give a f*ck. He noted that for now this is a one-off but said he would consider future offers if they were extended to him. Helwani even left the door open to working for AEW and joked that they should start printing the "fraud" t-shirts.
