According to Fightful Select, former Ring of Honor World Champion Jonathan Gresham is reportedly seeking to be immediately released from his current AEW/ROH contract.
The report notes that Gresham asked for his release on Saturday before the Death Before Dishonor PPV. It is also being said there was an apparent “lack of communication” between Tony Khan and Gresham leading up to the PPV. The report further states that Gresham felt “disrespected”, which was due to the lack of time given to the ROH World Title match, that was also noted as the “tipping point.”
Fightful Select also stated that Gresham reportedly met with Khan before the start of the PPV, and got “heated enough” to the point that he cussed out Khan. Fightful Select notes there were several people backstage that have corroborated this story, and that Gresham said he is “done with wrestling for the foreseeable future after this month.”
The report also indicates that those in AEW believe Gresham made up his mind before the meeting with Khan even began. Gresham apparently had his own vision for ROH, his own direction and his own creative direction, which was reportedly different from what Khan wanted. Gresham did not want to turn heel. Khan reportedly had a “bigger picture” for the heel turn.
Additional details indicate that during the week leading up to the show Gresham had spoken with QT Marshall and Sonjay Dutt that were said to have gone well. He was reportedly told creative decisions go through Khan, who apparently could not meet with him until just a few hours before the PPV was to begin.
As of this report, Tony Khan has not commented on this situation. We will provide more details as they become available.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful also noted they have heard that there seems to be a lot of lack of communication between talent relations and talent, Gresham, Marko Stunt Brian Cage, and Joey Janela.