>>19301710Helwani seemed to deliberately take it easy on Tony. His goal was to establish this mutually beneficial relationship in such a way that Tony would be open to returning again and again. He pulled this off. He didn't back Tony into any corners or press him on the "challenging questions" that made Tony visibly uneasy. Helwani was careful to bring up the sort of topics that fans would shit on him for if he ignored them -- the Punk controversy, Jericho's contract status, etc. -- but he gave Tony the freedom to give vague non-answers before moving on. The Ariel Helwani I used to know would have waited an hour before springing something like: "Looking back at it now that Cody Rhodes became the biggest star in the business from the very moment he left your company, AEW, shortly before its nosedive, do you wish you did things differently? Do you wish you made a stronger push to keep that guy you didn't keep who then did amazing things because he didn't have to take his cues from you? Or would you make the same decision again today, the one that led to failure?"
To anyone who hasn't seen it but plans to, it's mostly fluff you can skip. The only insightful part comes towards the beginning, when Tony confirms that he is the sole creative mind who writes and books the show's mind-meltingly dull storylines. Perhaps Helwani can sack up during their second or third in-studio interview and draw out Tony's rationale for this when it is the single biggest reason AEW vacillates between treading water and (mostly) sinking.
