Michael Cole went after AEW President Tony Khan during the WWE Elimination Chamber PLE after the shots that were fired on Friday night.
Ariel Helwani appeared on WWE Friday Night SmackDown and Khan took to Twitter to knock him for doing so.
Khan tweeted, “You’re a fraud @arielhelwani. You’re as legitimate of a reporter as @tonyschiavone24.” Helwani fired back by stating:
THE SCENES!!!!
GET IN @arielhelwani!!!!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/hpISCL0yFT
— WWE on TNT Sports (@wweontnt) February 18, 2023
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.)
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 18, 2023
Helwani has known WWE’s Nick Khan for years as Khan was Helwani’s agent at one point. Some of Helwani’s critics believe that he is biased towards WWE because of this.
Also, when he interviewed Khan last October, he publicly criticized the AEW President for not wanting to answer his questions.
Ariel Helwani says interviewing Tony Khan last week was one of the most frustrating interviews of his career
(via The MMA Hour) pic.twitter.com/6dlPuizXlZ
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) October 12, 2022
While showing Helwani and former UFC Welterweight and Middleweight Champion Georges St-Pierre, Cole stated the following:
“On your right, there’s Georges St-Pierre, one of the greatest MMA stars of all-time. On the left, the unbiased, world renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani who asks all the hard questions whether you want to answer them or not.”
Michael Cole wants the smoke. pic.twitter.com/9rTM3Tqs8l
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) February 19, 2023