You quoted "This led to the development of special relativity and the abandonment of the aether hypothesis."
Presumably, you therefore agreed with this statement. Yes, it is generally accepted as a true statement. However, you may agree with me that the experiment proved something about light rather than the absence of an aether. My point is that space itself is not nothing, and this is also accepted as a true statement and proven.
Whether or not to suggest a theoretical Aether equates to space is a debate hardly worth having. We can debate it though, could be fun.