During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Khan was asked about Matt Hardy’s recent comments suggesting the WWE–TNA alliance was designed to undercut AEW.
He said: “I really like Matt and Jeff a lot. I loved working with them in AEW and I still love them very much. I respect that opinion a lot and I think it’s probably true. The fact that Matt said it, that’s really cool.”
When asked specifically about the WWE–TNA alliance, Khan called it “a very interesting collaboration,” adding, “Matt hit the nail on the head and it makes sense. AEW is a very strong challenger brand. It’s not that unusual.”
Helwani then asked whether Khan viewed the partnership as a compliment toward AEW. He stated,
“Absolutely. I remember when WCW was starting to do better, and Smoky Mountain was running Georgia, Vince McMahon called Jim Cornette and sent a bunch of WWF wrestlers to Smoky Mountain. I do think when you have a strong challenger brand, it’s not unusual to see the WWF collaborate with another company. I don’t take it personally. It makes some sense, looking at the wrestling playbook for the WWF.”
