The ongoing dispute between Tony Khan, president of AEW, and renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani has intensified. As Ariel Helwani participated in two crowd segments on WWE SmackDown to promote Sami Zayn’s segment, Tony Khan referred to him as a phony. The two men have been exchanging words back and forth ever since, prompting WWE Hall of Famer Booker T to give his opinion on the same.
Booker T stepped into the matter and called this ongoing feud between Tony Khan and Ariel Helwani some cool high school stuff. He further elaborated on the topic during the recent episode of his “Hall Of Fame” podcast.
“It seemed like some high school stuff, man. It did not seem like something that a boss would be thinking about as far as Ariel Helwani making an appearance on WWE TV. The thing is, you never want to let someone see you sweat. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to let someone see when you’re upset about something and it seemed like Tony Khan was upset about Ariel Helwani making an appearance on WWE TV after, I don’t know, they had had some kind of conversation or some kind of relationship. You know, I could be wrong. I could be wrong. 100%. I could be wrong. But it seemed like he was pretty much butt hurt a little bit about Ariel Helwani being a part of WWE weekend in Canada.”
“When you put yourself in a line of fire, you might get some shots. I think that’s exactly what happened with that right there. Tony Khan bit on something that he shouldn’t have. This should not even be a story today. It shouldn’t. It shouldn’t even be a story, but it is because Tony Khan, there again, I always say man, if you’re going to be the boss, you gotta act like the boss. You gotta play that role and you gotta play it 100%. To me, it does not seem like Tony Khan got what it takes to be that guy. I’m serious. That’s just me. I don’t know if you saw Jonathan Coachman. He chimed in on it as well. Jonathan Coachman, he threw Ariel Helwani under the bus. He was talking about how much time he put into the business, and Ariel, who didn’t know anything about the business, who couldn’t even get into a UFC event anymore and has the nerve to talk to wrestlers and disrespect wrestlers in a certain way such as Booker T. I’m like, wait a minute. Since when is Jonathan Coachman going to start defending me (he laughs). I can defend myself. I don’t need anybody defending me and throwing my name in there as far as me and Ariel Helwani having beef. Ariel knows he had beef with me. Ariel and I have buried the hatchet. To bring my name up is wrong more than anything. Ariel Helwani apologized to me. Coachman, whatever you’re trying to do out there, bro, if you got a beef with Helwani, make it between you guys. Don’t bring my name up in it. I just want to put that out there. I don’t need any help with anybody.”
Booker T
The apparent war of words began due to Tony Khan not being happy with an earlier interview conducted with Ariel Helwani as stated by him. But Helwani has already held Khan’s AEW in high regard praising the company on multiple occasions.
H/T to Ringside News
Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.ⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘ
