Wrestling fanatics waited patiently for Saturday night’s WWE Elimination Chamber premium event, and that should have been the focus of attention until the last match, but someone was able to steal a little shine. MMA journalist and former ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani showed up at the event. Now fans are wondering, who in the world is this guy?
Although WWE fans may not have been familiar with Helwani’s name, last night was not the first time the sports world had seen him. In fact, he’s had a bit of an issue with UFC owner Dana White. During the UFC 258 post-fight press conference, White was asked about the Gina Carano firing controversy, “Leave her alone. We make mistakes, we all make mistakes. For everybody to go in on her…I love how Ariel Helwani made it all about him, such a douche.”
Dana’s disdain might have been a little misguided since the Carano controversy was over her comparison of Republicans to Jews during the Holocaust, which Helwani found offensive because of his Jewish heritage.
That’s merely a highlight of the feud between White and Helwani that has been going on for years since the journalist worked at Fox and was fired in 2016 because the UFC President didn’t appreciate him leaking news about Brock Lesner’s return before it was officially announced. Helwani was escorted out of the UFC 199 event, and his press credentials were revoked for life, a ban that was lifted a few days later because of the outpouring of support from fans and social media.
The ban did affect his employment with ESPN in 2018. “Dana White tried to get me not even to make it to my first day. I mean, he raised hell to try to stop me,” he shared (via Sporting News). He went on to say, “To the credit of a lot of the executives there, they all said no…but for the next three years, it was one roadblock after the next.”
Tony Khan, owner of WWE’s rival promotion All Elite Wrestling, must be feeling that same steam when he saw Helwani at Elimination Chamber. However, that may have been in jest, considering Tony Schiavone is part of Khan’s AEW Dynamite team.
Of course, Helwani has credentials what with graduating from Syracuse University in 2004 and having covered the 2004 Summer Olympics as an intern for NBC. His broadcasting and journalism career doesn’t only include working with ESPN and Fox, but also BT Sport as witnessed last night when he was reporting from the crowd.
Taking it all in stride, Helwani hilariously replied to Khan’s tweet, taking advantage of the fact that even bad press is good press.
Thanks for watching, old friend! Can’t wait for our next chat.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 18, 2023
(Also, don’t listen to the snowman, Schiavone. You’re a legend in my books.)
For Khan, the opportunity to respond with a retort was too good to pass on.
Good luck with the unbiased journalism.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) February 18, 2023
While Elimination Chamber should have been the highlight of the night, the drama including Helwani and Khan has nabbed its spot as the top buzzworthy topic from the event.