“Answer them or not,” Michael Cole took a personal jab at Tony Khan during the Elimination Chamber

Michael Cole introduced Ariel Helwani and an MMA legend during the Elimination Chamber, while introducing, Cole also took a personal dig at Tony Khan following Khan's heated back and forth with Helwani on Twitter.

“Answer them or not,” Michael Cole took a personal jab at Tony Khan during the Elimination Chamber

Tony Khan and Michael Cole(via-Wrestling News)

Since its inception in 2019, Tony Khan has claimed AEW is a viable competitor to the WWE. AEW also defeated WWE’s developmental brand NXT in the ratings war in the past. Tony has also taken multiple shots at the WWE during interviews or on social media. WWE, on the other hand, also took a dig at AEW multiple times on live TV. However, sometimes Khan stuck his nose into WWE programming when it was not even necessary. 

In October last year, Tony Khan gave an interview to the MMA journalist Ariel Helwani from BT Sport. Following the interview, Helwani described the interview as the most frustrating. On the recent episode of SmackDown, Helwani appeared and rooted for Sami Zayn with the Montreal crowd and talked to Michael Cole.

YouTube video

However, Tony Khan was not happy about his appearance on SmackDown. Tony tweeted his disgust, stating, “You’re a fraud, You’re as legitimate of a reporter as @tonyschiavone24” referring to Helwani. Helwani also replied, tweeting, “Thanks for watching, old friend! Can’t wait for our next chat.” He also called Tony Schiavone a legend and urged him not to listen to Khan.

Following their war of words on Twitter and Khan also taunting Helwani’s unbiased journalism, Michael Cole also got involved in the mix. During the Elimination Chamber, Cole introduced Helwani, saying, “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 was clearly referring to Helwani’s interview with Khan and their war of words on Twitter. Tony Khan might also have heard what Cole said, and it will be interesting to see if he reacts or not.

Related: Tony Khan discloses his working relationship with MJF

The interview of Tony Khan by Ariel Helwani and the start of their conflict

Tony Khan
Ariel Helwani with Tony Khan(via-Awful announcing)

In October last year, Ariel Helwani had a chat with Tony Khan regarding multiple aspects. Khan answered why he doesn’t appear on AEW TV often. Khan said, “I am a device. And when it is necessary, it can be a very effective one. And we’ve done 160 episodes, I have made all of four appearances in 160 episodes, all of them did about a million.”

It was a long interview with Khan, discussing many other things as well. However, days after their interaction, Helwani described it as his most frustrating interview. He addressed how Khan was not answering his questions about Cm Punk and other tough questions related to AEW as well.

The confession by Helwani might have disgusted Tony Khan, and he was also not pleased to see him on WWE TV last Friday. However, we will have to wait for more developments in their conflict.

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