Booker T Addresses Jonathan Gresham Quitting ROH/AEW
Jonathan Gresham lost his ROH World Championship to Claudio Castagnoli in the opening match of Death Before Dishonor in what was the second shortest match of the night of seven total matches. Despite the accomplishment, Castganoli's first major singles World Championship win may have been overshadowed by reports the next day which stated Gresham asking for his release from ROH/AEW.
While on The Hall of Fame podcast, two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T addressed former Ring of Honor Champion Jonathan Gresham requesting his release from ROH/AEW.
"Jonathan Gresham been an ROH loyal for about eight years now," Booker T said. "That guy has been pretty much the guy that's been leading the ship along with Jay Lethal at one point ... definitely the pillars of ROH."
"He did his job," Booker T said. "Then afterward he said, 'Look man, give me my, give me my release' ... The business has changed. It's changed a lot ... Then again, maybe it hasn't changed a whole lot, because I remember guys, you know just say for instance, back in the day, they were told they were going to be losing the belt. And I remember one guy, I don't even want to say his name, he started crying."
Prior to his loss to Castagnoli, Gresham held the ROH World Championship for 224 days and defended it in multiple different promotions, including during the period of time when ROH went on hiatus from December 2021 to March 2022. Gresham successfully defended his title 17 times against opponents such as Santana, Chris Sabin, and Lee Moriarty.
Despite being signed to ROH/AEW, Gresham has barely appeared on AEW programming, only defending the ROH World Championship twice on AEW TV. After he lost the title at Death Before Dishonor, Fightful reportedthat Gresham took part in a meeting with AEW and Ring of Honor owner Tony Khan where he expressed frustration and "cussed out" the owner. As of this current moment, there has not been any indication that Gresham was released from his contract, but in the same report, it was mentioned that Gresham is done wrestling for the foreseeable future after the end of the month.
Gresham will wrestle next on July 31st at "Ric Flair's Last Match" in Nashville, TN, the day after WWE SummerSlam, when he takes on Nick Wayne, Alan Angels, and Konosuke Takeshita in a fatal four-way match. The Octopus has no announced bookings past that date at this time.
If you use quotes in this article, please credit "The Hall of Fame" Podcast and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.