Helwani explained his reaction to the initial attack by Khan.
“I looked at it three times! I thought it was fake…It proves he was watching, which is bizarre. Why would you put the competition over and show that you are watching a random Smackdown and a random moment of the telecast?” asked Helwani.
He also defended Tony Schiavone.
“He put down his own guy in the process, the great Tony Schiavone. He’s an Atlanta sports legend!” said Helwani who is still confused as to what point Tony Khan was making with his tweet. “He was trying to imply I wasn’t a real journalist and Schiavone isn’t a real journalist. Why insult your own guy in the process?”.
Helwani called Khan’s c0mment “an all-time great own goal”.
“This f—–g guy doesn’t know what journalism is,” said Helwani, who has been covering MMA for 20 years.
Helwani who admits he was paid for his WWE appearance and has turned down their offers before, laughed as he talked about how Khan’s post was received by the WWE.
“It was amazing how the whole thing spread backstage! ‘Did you see the Tweet? Did you see the Tweet?’ I had been there for four hours. I don’t even know a lot of these people,” he said smiling.
At Smackdown and Elimination Chamber, Helwani was shocked and confused as to why he was being given the screen time he was.
“What am I doing here? One of these things is not like the other. Why am I in the shot? I don’t deserve to be here,” he said recalling what he was thinking the entire time.
He did get a hint of what was to come at Chamber when Michael Cole stopped him backstage.
“Just wait until you hear how I am going to introduce you,” said Cole smiling.
“The unbiased, world renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani who asks all the hard questions whether you want to answer them or not!” Cole said on the live broadcast.
Helwani claimed that Khan was trying to “curry favour” with his idol Dana White.
As far as some of the criticism his appearances received Helwani brushed it aside saying it isn’t his world, his beat and he has turned down opportunities before.
“I don’t consider myself a wrestling journalist,” he said. “I have never claimed to be Dave Meltzer. I don’t cover pro-wrestling for a living. I don’t have a wrestling show. I don’t have a wrestling site. I don’t have a wrestling newsletter. Why do you keep comparing me to that guy? I may be that guy in MMA but I have never been that guy in this sport.”
Helwani believes that Khan’s reason for lashing out was because he is still mad at the comments he made after his interview with him last year.
“It is a bulls–t move. One has nothing to do with the other. He is just mad because he came off looking like a guy who doesn’t know how to handle these situations and is only comfortable promoting and talking on and on about a product. That is not what the public wants to hear…It is all just silly bulls–t,” said Helwani stating that there were all sorts of “weird” and “bizarre” things about the interview but he wouldn’t comment or talk about those things. He admitted it was one of the worst interviews he has ever conducted.
