As previously reported, Jonathan Gresham met with AEW and ROH owner Tony Khan prior to last weekend’s ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV Event and revealed the frustrations he had, mainly due to the fact that Khan has been having lack of communication with him and how he felt disrespected because of that. The reports also mentions how Gresham “cussed out” Khan before asking for his release after Gresham found out that he will be dropping the title and the ROH World Title Match would not be given much time.
The opening matchup of this past Saturday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV saw Claudio Castagnoli beat Jonathan Gresham to become the new ROH World Champion. There were then reports moments later that the former ROH World Champion would deactivate his Twitter account as he was unhappy with Khan’s decision of him losing the ROH World Championship and that would lead to rumors and speculations on his status with AEW/ROH.
Fightful Select then reported that Gresham’s meeting with Tony Khan took place prior to the ROH Death Before Dishonor Event and that Gresham went into the meeting more heated than usual as he was already unhappy with the booking and direction of his character, mainly due to the fact that he became a heel and joined Tully Blanchard Enterprises (now the Embassy) as his vision for the company as well as his creative didn’t line up with what Khan wanted and had in mind, but what Khan had in mind was believed to have been done for the “bigger picture” of ROH. Fightful also revealed that the meeting, which was supposed to stay private, got so heated and the conversations got so loud between the Khan and former ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham that it could no longer be contained and it would even spill into the locker room area, where everyone backstage, including the wrestlers, staff and security were able to hear it.
An update was recently provided by Fightful Select that Jonathan Gresham is not factored into any ROH or AEW creative for the foreseeable future and despite Gresham and Khan’s recent conversation getting heated, it did not appear that any bridges were burned and there has been no confirmation that former ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham’s release was granted. Fightful also revealed that sources in AEW have mentioned that they were happy with how the matchup between Gresham and Castagnoli went and many of them even respected the professionalism of Gresham continuing the match despite his feelings.
Three companies were reportedly interested in the former ROH World Champion before he signed with AEW and ROH, but there is no word yet on who those three companies are. Shortly following last Saturday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV Event, word is that Gresham has decided to step away from pro wrestling for the foreseeable future, but Fightful Select revealed that many of Gresham’s co-workers believe he loves wrestling too much for those feelings to be permanent and it is unlikely that Jonathan’s desire to leave AEW/ROH and Tully Blanchard’s recent departure is somehow connected.
As of this writing, Gresham was still advertised to compete at STARRCAST V for Ric Flair’s Last Match Event on July 31, where he will face Konosuke Takeshita, Alan Angels and Nick Wayne in a 4-Way Match.
