Ariel Helwani details WWE reaction to Tony Khan tweet reply, addresses critics

During the Monday edition of The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani went into detail about how his WWE experience in Montreal came to be, including his infamous reply-tweet to AEW head Tony Khan and some pointed barbs at his critics.

Helwani said he didn't know until Wednesday of last week that he was even going to Montreal. Following January's Royal Rumble, he had reached out to WWE about writing something to honor the event in Montreal and WWE took him up on it, but he didn't hear back after he submitted it.

He later followed up and an agreement was made for him to do the voiceover and then attend both Elimination Chamber and SmackDown over the weekend, but there was nothing else arranged.

He said he talked to someone backstage Friday who suggested that due to him being so tied to Montreal and for this being a big event, he should be part of the broadcast. 

He credited Paul "Triple H" Levesque for making this happen and also shouted out Paul Heyman with helping him out with specific terminology and how he would deliver his message on Friday.

He said he initially made it a point to not look at his phone backstage or while he was in the Gorilla position and just let the moment be. 

However, when he did after his first appearance, he saw Tony Khan's tweet calling him a fraud and originally thought it wasn't him. 

Helwani said the tweet was an "own goal" and feels Khan is still upset about Helwani's criticism about his 2022 interview with him being a bad one. He said Khan had turned down interviews in the past because of trepidations with Helwani's relationship with Nick Khan and BT Sport.

He then debated about whether he should reply and wanted to wait until after his second hit during SmackDown. He said Khan's tweet would have ruined the night for the "old Helwani" but he wasn't going to let that happen. Meanwhile, he said people were buzzing backstage about Khan's tweet toward him. 

Helwani said he tweeted his reply on the way back home that night and felt bad for Tony Schiavone being mentioned by Khan. He never addressed why he specifically called Khan "snowman."

He also threw a jab that the only reason Khan was able to launch AEW was due to the finances of his father and that while his own father is an immigrant, what he's built as an MMA journalist and personality is his own.

After the second hit, Helwani said he was invited back the next night. When he arrived at Elimination Chamber and was told he would be out in the crowd as part of a celebrity shot with Georges St. Pierre, he saw Michael Cole and Cole said, "Just wait until you hear how I introduce you." It wasn't until Helwani went backstage that he saw what Cole said and said people were giving him high fives. He joked his tweet toward Khan "popped the boys in the back."

"I felt like I was part of the team," he said, later addressing his critics, "If I disappointed you by doing this (WWE appearance), I don't give a f**k."

He said this was a one-off and there are no plans for him to do anything further. He even joked that he is up for hire for AEW and that they should do a "fraud" t-shirt. 

He thought Khan tweeting that actually helped him be featured on the Elimination Chamber.

Helwani reiterated that, "I am not a wrestling journalist," saying for MMA, he will not break that rule of working for a promotion and revealed he was offered the change to do a voiceover for Fedor Emelianenko's last fight for Bellator MMA and turned it down. 

He said he wants to have fun and do things that give him joy and that's what this WWE appearance was all about, reiterating he doesn't do daily wrestling news or have a website like Dave Meltzer and didn't understand the constant comparisons on social media all weekend.

He did get paid by WWE whereas he initially turned it down for his first video package voiceover that he offered last year.

He said when he was hired by BT Sport, it was primarily for UFC but Dana White "threw a fit" and they then moved him to do WWE interviews instead.

Helwani added he thinks Sami Zayn should have beaten Roman Reigns for the WWE undisputed Universal title.