AEW Lifts Ban on Ariel Helwani’s Show After Tony Khan “Snowman” Fallout

The feud between Ariel Helwani and Tony Khan has been one of wrestling’s most unusual clashes, and now it looks like a line has finally been crossed in the other direction.

According to Dave Meltzer in the September 19, 2025 Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW talent was banned from appearing on Helwani’s show after the journalist buried his infamous interview with Tony Khan—but the freeze has now been lifted, with Ricochet and Toni Storm appearing this week to promote a head-to-head pay-per-view weekend. Meltzer explained:

“AEW talent was not allowed on Ariel Helwani’s show after Helwani called an interview with Tony Khan the worst of his career, even to the point of calling him ‘Snowman’ (the WWE insider term among some for him), but I guess it’s been worked out with Ricochet and Toni Storm on the show this week leading to the head-to-head PPV night.”

The bad blood between the two dates back to 2023 when Tony Khan called Helwani a “fraud” for appearing on WWE SmackDown during a Sami Zayn storyline. On The MMA Hour, Helwani revealed that he initially thought Khan’s tweet was fake.

“I look at this fcking tweet from Tony Khan. And I swear to God, I looked at this tweet three times because I thought it was fake… This guy doesn’t follow me. This guy has never tweeted me. There’s no way he actually tweeted this. Number one, proving that he was watching, which is bizarre, why would you do that? Why would you put the competition over and show that you’re watching some random SmackDown… Number two, putting down his own guy in the process, your guy, the great Tony Schiavone, calling me a fraud and then saying that I’m as much of a journalist as Tony Schiavone.”*

Helwani took offense to Schiavone being dragged into the fight and accused Khan of taking a needless shot at his own announcer. He also pointed out that Khan was still bitter about what Helwani called one of the “all-time worst interviews.”

“So, this guy is calling me a fraud and then he is saying that Tony Schiavone is as much of a journalist as me, I guess he’s trying to imply that he’s not real journalist and I’m not real journalist, why insult your guy in the process? You could have said that in a million different ways. I mean, the real thing he should’ve done is said nothing because number one, why are you putting over the competition’s broadcast… this sht, you talk about a non-goal… I just couldn’t believe it.”*

Helwani further said that Khan ducked tough questions during their sit-down, and argued AEW was punishing him because of his role with BT Sport, WWE’s partner broadcaster in the UK.

“I had asked Tony multiple times to come on the show, I stopped asking because I was told that he wasn’t sure, I’m Nick Khan’s guy, I work for BT, which is ridiculous… That would be like saying Marc Raimondi shouldn’t interview Bellator guys because he works for ESPN and UFC is on ESPN. Anyways, I just stopped asking. They reached out to me several months later and said, do you want Tony on? I said, really, cool. Never said, don’t ask this, don’t ask about that… Anybody worth a salt would ask these things.”

The fallout led Helwani to fire back, saying he wasn’t going to let Khan define him.

“I wasn’t gonna let this fcking guy soil my name, drag it through the mud, ruin my night… And I know he’s trying to get himself over on me because lord knows he needs it… You’re not gonna call me a fraud and get away with it. And, honestly, I felt bad for Tony Schiavone, I felt like I needed to stand up for my guy.”*

Helwani later compared Khan to Dana White, accusing him of trying to emulate UFC’s president by picking fights with media.

“This fcking guy doesn’t know what journalism is. He’s no different than Dana… He’s just trying to do that thing. It hasn’t worked for Dana and it ain’t going to work for Tony Khan, I could assure you of that.”*

Despite all of this, Helwani concluded that Khan’s tweet ended up benefiting him.

“This is not a work. Tony wants to shoot, he’s looking for a foil, he’s trying to pick a fight with the biggest name in combat sports and wrestling media… thank you for the tweet, man. Honestly, thank you, it was great. I think it helped me out.”

Now, after two years of talent being kept away from Helwani’s show, AEW has seemingly put the grudge on ice. With Ricochet and Toni Storm appearing on The MMA Hour this week to hype the company’s pay-per-view, business may have finally overridden personal grudges.

Do you think AEW was right to thaw things out with Ariel Helwani, or should Tony Khan have kept the ban in place after being called “Snowman” and buried on air? Share your thoughts in the comments.