Jonathan Gresham is reportedly not figured into any AEW or ROH creative plans moving forward after asking for his release.
As we’ve noted, Gresham lost the ROH World Title to Claudio Castagnoli at Saturday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor XIX pay-per-view. It was later reported that Gresham met with ROH owner Tony Khan before the pay-per-view and aired out some frustrations he had, mainly over Khan’s lack of communication with him, and how he felt disrespected because of that. The conversation reportedly saw Gresham “cuss out” Khan before asking for his release.
It was also reported that Gresham was upset due to how he found out that the match with Castagnoli would not be given much time. Gresham reportedly went into the meeting with Khan pretty heated as he was also unhappy with the booking and direction of his character. Gresham had recently turned heel, and joined Tully Blanchard Enterprises (now The Embassy) seemingly out of nowhere, and that was said to be a decision that was supposedly done for the “bigger picture” of ROH. Gresham was said to be very passionate about ROH, but his vision for the company didn’t line up with what Khan has in mind. Gresham was also upset over how he wasn’t getting any answers for ROH creative. While the conversation between Khan and Gresham took place in a private setting, the talks got heated enough that everyone backstage, including staff and security, heard most of what was said.
In an update, a new report from Fightful Select notes that there are no current AEW or ROH creative plans for Gresham. The situation where Gresham asked for his release was confirmed by both sides as “getting heated” privately. However, AEW sources noted that they were happy with how the Gresham vs. Castagnoli match came off, and many respected the professionalism of Gresham continuing with the match.
Despite the heated nature of the conversation between Gresham and Khan, it did not appear that any bridges were burned. Furthermore, there is no confirmation that Gresham’s release was granted.
Gresham reportedly had interest from “at least three companies” before he ended up signing with AEW/ROH, but it was also said that his immediate feelings were that he was done with pro wrestling for a while. Many of Gresham’s co-workers feel like he loves wrestling too much for that to be a reality.
There’s no word yet on a connection between Gresham and Tully Blanchard leaving the company, and there’s been no indication that one of the other were particularly attached to their on-screen pairing.
Gresham’s Instagram is currently online but he still has not reactivated his Twitter account after deactivating it following Death Before Dishonor.
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