Ariel Gets Called Out for Bias and Can't Handle It

[SalvadorAllende]

I don't care about professional wrestling or anything. Ariel is a bitch anyways.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Does Ariel even watch MMA? Every time I hear him talk he's just referencing pro wrestling.

Probably not, he just attaches himself to whatever drama is going on.

 

[2004 account]

Ariel triggered the ufc into blacklisting him by asking hardball and uncomfortable questions from the beginning. And he has stayed the course, props for his consistency. He may not be the most formal journalist but he is the best mma reporter.

Without Ariel the ufc would already have a full blown dictatorship probably

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

lol so now he can't take a job with the WWE? He already gets paid to cover them for BT, these Helwani hate threads since Slapgate have become weirder and weirded.

Also doesn't Tony work for AEW?

He's specifically said he's not with the WWE in an attempt to pretend he's being fair and unbiased, which entirely counters the defense people have brought up of him allowed to be a shill. He's also still got his fingers on the 'this is how journalism works' before jumping to, things like seemingly implying Tony's a cokehead on one hand and saying 'I'll work for AEW if the pay makes sense' on the other.

Also, the fucking irony of saying Tony Khan is just like Dana, when he's sucking Vince McMahon balls, of all people

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Ariel triggered the ufc into blacklisting him by asking hardball and uncofortable questions from the beginning. And he has stayed the course, props for his consistency. He may not be the most formal journalist but he is the best mma reporter.

Without Ariel the ufc would already have a full blown dictatorship probably

Nah man, I agree with the first part, but holding a grudge against a guy who won't answer currently pending legal questions while tossing incredible softballs to Trips isn't being consistent.

I don't mind him being upset his interview with Tony was shit, but ya can't 'expose' mma journalists for asking kid glove questions to Dana, while putting on some fucking oven mitts to avoid talking about multiple sexual allegations, tens of millions of dollars in settlements and misuse of company funds, and the falling out of wrestling's most powerful family, including his wife's sudden departure and even more immediate return before the 40+ year chairman stepped down. All that's going on, and Ariel's basically like, "Hey Paul. Weather's nice, isn't it?"

 

[Chalky White]

I don’t have an opinion on Ariel, but I’ll always go against these “daddy’s money” types that people admire for some reason.

 

[RiseAboveHat]

Lmao. TS got worked into a shoot. Classic

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Does Ariel even watch MMA? Every time I hear him talk he's just referencing pro wrestling.

I think he likes WWE and women's boxing mostly.

 

[BearGrounds]

Ariel is a weasel. Always has been.

 

[Thad Castle v2]

Ariel is a weak little bitch

 

[Deleted member 359865]

Sports ran by conservative businessmen employing non unionized labor force hate a journalist doing his job! Shocker!

Lol if NBA and NFL owners could get away with slandering journalists you don’t think they would? Their money is tied up and beholden to labor laws so things are a bit different when it comes to PR. There’s no difference between Adam Schefter or Woj dropping an internal leak or reporting from a particular team facility and what Ariel Helwani does. Except owners of large combat promotions can slander him without large financial repercussions and professional sports teams can’t without running the risk of losing access to certain media rights and talent obligations.


Please stop letting these billionaires brain wash you into believing Ariel Helwani is the bad guy for reporting news they don’t like or working with whoever they want.

 

[Deleted member 359865]

He's specifically said he's not with the WWE in an attempt to pretend he's being fair and unbiased, which entirely counters the defense people have brought up of him allowed to be a shill. He's also still got his fingers on the 'this is how journalism works' before jumping to, things like seemingly implying Tony's a cokehead on one hand and saying 'I'll work for AEW if the pay makes sense' on the other.

Also, the fucking irony of saying Tony Khan is just like Dana, when he's sucking Vince McMahon balls, of all people

The WWE on air talent are independent contractors so he’s technically not IN the WWE it’s no different than Shaq or Mike Tyson or any other public figure appearing on their program.

 

[XociDe]

I had to unfollow Ariel after 10+ years on twitter. He has become extremely annoying. He can not handle any type of criticism and is the most sensitive person I have ever seen in any kind of public arena. Multiple fighters have called him out for being sensitive and he will go on 10 minute monologues explaining how he is not sensitive, not even realizing how ironic that is. He will also jump on any kind of bandwagon that's out there.

And what's with all the F bombs these days? It doesn't suit him and it comes off as cringe.

The whole Dana slap situation was pathetic as well. Dana handled it about as well as anyone could have but Ariel was desperate for blood and tried to drag it on for as long as possible.

I'd rather have a world full of Danas than a world full of Ariels.

 

[Xanzito]

W/e, asking pro wrasslers questions about their trade is as hard-hitting as asking a Marvel actor who's stronger between Thor and The Hulk. Its whoever the writers want to.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

The WWE on air talent are independent contractors so he’s technically not IN the WWE it’s no different than Shaq or Mike Tyson or any other public figure appearing on their program.

Yes. Not in the 'independent contractor' way that the WWE uses on its superstars, but our an actual independent contractor. Issue is still a biased approach, considering how much he remarked his remarks to Khan "popped the boys" and made him feel like "part of the team."

He's still a team player dressed up as a hard- hitting journalist

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

W/e, asking pro wrasslers questions about their trade is as hard-hitting as asking a Marvel actor who's stronger between Thor and The Hulk. Its whoever the writers want to.

But that's not the situation at all. It's Ariel asking administrative questions of executives of competing companies, but clearly working for one of them

 

[MuffinsAppletree]

I like Ariel.

He reminds me of an underdog his whole life, who finally has the balls to stand up for himself.

Right or wrong he’s better than that shill John Morgan who gets the first questions each event.

 

[Deleted member 359865]

Yes. Not in the 'independent contractor' way that the WWE uses on its superstars, but our an actual independent contractor. Issue is still a biased approach, considering how much he remarked his remarks to Khan "popped the boys" and made him feel like "part of the team."

He's still a team player dressed up as a hard- hitting journalist

So what? Sports analysts have favorite sports teams and you don’t see other team owners dragging them in the same way Ariel gets done. Khan is salty. Ariel appearing on WWE does not make him any less of a journalist and it doesn’t make him anymore biased than Kham himself.

 

[fzoid4454]

So background here is - Ariel has a very cosy relationship with WWE. Via BT sport he's done some hugely softball interviews with people from over there and its well known that he's got a long standing relationship with Nick Khan who is now running shit over there.

Last weekend they did a TV taping and PPV in Montreal, which is obv Ariel's hometown, and Ariel appeared on the TV show and then the kick off show for the PPV fully involved in their product. Tony Khan, who is the owner/CEO of their competitor AEW, then tweeted at Ariel saying he was a fraud and as much of a journalist as the guy on their show who does their backstage interviews.



Ariel then responded by taking shots at Khan over how his dad is responsible for his success and claiming he only got involved with WWE because he couldn't properly cover UFC on BT due to Dana and that its ok for him to be biased in that arena bc he doesn't consider himself a wrestling journalist.



Whilst I back Ariel over the likes of Paddy and Dana in their arguments - this is a situation where he is doing the exact same thing he's (rightly) taken shots at MMA 'journalists' for in doing softball interviews for the broadcast partner (like a WWE Brett Okamoto) and what he (rightly) said he would never do with UFC which is be paid/accept gifts directly from them to appear on their programme doing what they want (unless he flew to Montreal and did all this for free which I don't believe). He then goes on to kind of suggest he'd be open to appearing as a character on WWE in the future.

Someone calls that out and he is extremely salty about the whole thing and tells anyone who 'he might have disappointed' to 'fuck off cause he I'm not going to live with these bizarro rules you want to put on me' - which is like these are the rules which you so strongly have put in on the other guys in MMA yet you'd like to cover wrestling also and not abide by them?

Ariel has been getting a lot of praise for putting it on basically the worst people in MMA (Schaub, Paddy, Dana) but he's also quite full of shit on some fronts and can't seem to handle getting called on it.

Since professional wrestling is staged performances, a sports reporter doing promotions for their events is, by definition, not working as a sport journalist. So an accusation of "bias" as it relates to professional wrestling is about as stupid as it gets.

The ONLY non-"softball" interview possible is one where you point out that it's not a real sport. ANY interview with ANY wrestler or person involved is going to be a PR softball-fest. Because it's all fake.

And the fact that he's the owner of a rival fake-sports promotion bitching about Ariel working for or promoting his competitors makes his observations (dare I say it?) more than a little "biased."

I don't know what this obsession is that some of you have with Ariel, other than being Dana nut-huggers, but this is stupid Jr High popular-girl gossip nonsense.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

So what? Sports analysts have favorite sports teams and you don’t see other team owners dragging them in the same way Ariel gets done. Khan is salty. Ariel appearing on WWE does not make him any less of a journalist and it doesn’t make him anymore biased than Kham himself.

It's not the appearing that's the problem, my guy. Yes, favoring a team DOES make you biased, especially when you report on them differently, which as a reporting journalist DOES make him less of a journalist.