Jonathan Gresham shares his side of his departure from AEW and ROH.
Gresham was one of ROH's top stars when the promotion went on hiatus following ROH Final Battle 2021. There, he defeated Jay Lethal to win the ROH World Championship; he was set to challenge Bandido for the gold, but Bandido was pulled from the show when he tested positive for COVID-19. AEW CEO Tony Khan subsequently acquired ROH, and at ROH Supercard of Honor XV, the first pay-per-view in the new era, Gresham beat Bandido to become the undisputed champion. Gresham started to appear on AEW programming, as he reportedly signed with the company. He then lost the title to Claudio Castagnoli at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022
Fightful Select previously reported that Gresham cussed at Khan during a heated meeting, and he asked for his release from AEW and ROH. Another report noted that no bridges were burned, though Gresham didn't factor into the plans for either company.
Speaking with Nick Hausman of Haus of Wrestling, Gresham shared his side of the story. He recalled how he was in contact with Christopher Daniels ahead of ROH Death Before Dishonor, and while he was signed with AEW, he continued to compete for PROGRESS and wXw. Gresham noted that Tony Khan and AEW could have pulled him from these dates, but he was permitted to honor the dates he had committed to. Gresham made it clear that he was grateful for helping him maintain his relationships with these companies, and he explained that these dates were the reason for the absence from TV.
“So, that is why I was gone, I would like to think I probably would have been seen on TV at the time because I know a lot of people were asking, ‘Why isn’t that person here?’ Blah blah blah. So, that’s pretty much why, because I was honoring those commitments. I was, to be honest, overseas the entire time between Germany and Ireland, and stuff, I was always gone," Gresham said.
Gresham then emphasized that he is a very passionate person, and he is protective about his character because it took years for him to develop. The former ROH World Champion admitted that he acted unprofessionally in his efforts to convey his message to Khan and AEW, but he grew frustrated when he felt like he wasn't being heard.
“I can admit that I was acting very unprofessionally while trying and failing to convey the message to my former employer. After weeks of feeling like I wasn’t being heard or blown off, I was frustrated, to be honest. All I wanted was to be heard and for the communication to be had. If they had agreed and liked my ideas and what I wanted to say, great, if not, I would have appreciated the time and just accepted the outcome," Gresham said.
Gresham then recalled how he felt ahead of the meeting with Khan. He stated that he felt like he was blown off, and he was perhaps wrong to expect the same kind of relationship with Khan that he had with the previous regime. Gresham noted that he realized that Khan is busy, and he was just a small part of the machine.
“Now, speaking about the actual meeting, leading up to it, I felt like I was blown off in different ways. I had made contact with my employer and me coming from, like I mentioned before, under the last regime with Ring of Honor, I had a really good relationship where we could talk over the phone. If I texted them, they would get back to me relatively quickly. It was just a really good back-and-forth communication. So, I think, for me, I was expecting the same thing and maybe I shouldn’t have. I know TK is a very busy guy, owning a lot of different businesses, and I am a very small gear in this machine. That just came after so much time thinking about it through therapy and things of that nature. I felt like I was blown off, we made contact, and I was flown into a show," Gresham said.
Looking back on his experience at ROH Supercard of Honor, Gresham described how it was a new environment for him, as he wasn't used to being part of a big show. He noted that he never got a time for the meeting, and he was left waiting for practically two days. Gresham went on to explain that he previously never got the chance to meet with Khan because he was busy.
“I showed up, this is a new environment for me. I wasn’t really used to these big shows and so much going on. I arrived, I’m waiting and I never really got a time or anything about when we were going to meet. I just figured, ‘Hey, I know how wrestling is so I’ll just wait until he has time.’ I was there pretty much the entire two days, the fly-in day and then the day of the event where everything is filmed and then the next day. The gist of this is, I never got the chance to see him. Even when I went to Sonjay or QT to ask, ‘Hey, man, I’m supposed to have a meeting with Tony. Can I get it?’ I didn’t get it. So, the first time I felt like, ‘Okay, the dude is busy, whatever.’ I think I messaged him or he messaged me but I remember him saying something along the lines of ‘I’m sorry we didn’t get together. Let’s meet another time.’ Something like that," Gresham said.
To elaborate, Gresham described how he had to hunt Khan down in order to finally get a meeting with Khan, and when he approached the AEW CEO, Khan introduced him to someone and started walking away. Gresham made it clear that he felt disrespected, and he also stated that he was his own worst enemy, as he was dealing with some things personally, including his mom being hospitalized.
"I fly out again and the same thing kinda happens. I’m not sure if I should say this part but this is what made me kinda feel like I was being blown off. I had to, for lack of a better word, hunt him down. When I finally get a chance to have a face-to-face with him, he introduces me to someone he is close with and as I go to shake her hand, I turn around and TK, from the way it looked to me, was walking away from me. So, at this point, I am thinking to myself, ‘This guy must not respect me at all.’ I just started having things roll around in my mind and I think, at the time, I was my own worst enemy with this. There was a lot of stuff going on personally with me. Nobody but the Progress guys know that my Mom had a really bad incident, she was in the hospital for like a week and it was the first time I had ever seen my Mom so vulnerable with tubes going through her face and stuff. A lot of this was just me under a lot of stress, I believe. But, I really felt I was disrespected," Gresham said.
As for his behavior, Gresham emphasized that he knew he was wrong for yelling and cursing in a professional environment. He stated that he regretted his behavior, but he struggled with feeling like he couldn't get a few minutes with his boss despite his own reputation. Gresham expressed that therapy has given him some introspection. Gresham pointed out that he wasn't actually supposed to meet with Khan the day of the fateful meeting, but they were both there.
Gresham detailed how, even before the meeting, he had "checked out," as he knew he wa going to ask for his release. He emphasized that the notion that he left because he lost the ROH World Championship was not true, as losing titles is part of the business. However, though he knew of his intent to ask for his release in advance, he admitted that the meeting got away from him.
“I remember getting a text from Sonjay and I was sitting with one of my buddies in the bleachers and, at that time, I had already checked out. I knew I was going to leave. I knew that I was going to ask for my release. The other thing that really bothered me was, a lot of people were under the impression that I left because I lost the Ring of Honor title and that’s not true. I’ve been wrestling for a long time and I’ve won championships and had to lose championships, that’s just part of business and life in general. You can’t be the champion forever, so, that’s not what it was. It was everything I had mentioned before so, I had already kinda checked out and I had told myself that I was going to ask for my release and leave. I already kinda knew what was going to happen and I was okay with that. Like I said before, I shouldn’t have yelled or cursed in a professional environment. The whole meeting just kind of got away from me, I was really emotional. That’s pretty much the gist of it," Gresham said.
Gresham also apologized to Castagnoli and noted that it was a "difficult day". He also stated that he hasn't had any contact with anyone from AEW or ROH aside from a few texts with QT Marshall. Additionally, Gresham revealed that Tony Khan came up to him after the match and told him that no bridges were burned.
“After my match with Claudio, I was kinda booking it out of there, I couldn’t be there,” Gresham revealed as we began to close our conversation. “Claudio did come up to me and say some things, along with Mr. Regal, who was there at the time. But, before I did get out of there completely, my wife had my bags and stuff, and TK, he didn’t have to, but he came over to me and said some really nice things. He told me that no bridges were burned, he shook my hand and he said he knows that I am not a bad person. I can only imagine him dealing with athletes for so long. He kinda understands how things are, how people are. He deals with people from all different backgrounds. I’m pretty sure he probably saw where I was coming from and he just granted me my release. That was it," Gresham said.
Gresham signed with IMPACT Wrestling in December 2022. He recently stated that he's not targeting any specific title in the company. Check out his comments here.
On the April 6 episode of IMPACT Wrestling, Gresham will face Mike Bailey. Check out the card here.
Jordan Oliver previously discussed his match against Gresham. Click here to see what he had to say.
