Jonathan Gresham Reveals Why He Stopped Interacting With Fans

Despite being considered one of the best technical wrestlers in pro wrestling today, former Ring of Honor World Champion Jonathan Gresham has faced constant ridicule for his size, particularly his lack of height. He has even faced it from colleagues, most recently going back and forth with Anthony Ogogo after Ogogo mocked Gresham's height in a Twitter exchange back in December.

In an interview with WrestlePurists that aired prior to him asking for his AEW/Ring of Honor release, Gresham talked about being criticized for his size, and how that factored into his decision to stop engaging with fans like he used to.

"I got out of interacting with the fans a few years back because I realized they just want to spew whatever they believe as the gospel," Gresham said. "The stats on Wikipedia, they take as the gospel. But the thing is, that Wikipedia could've been made seven years ago. Since then, of course, the person probably didn't grow in height. But his weight has changed. Also, I've never been embarrassed by my size. So when wrestling promoters are like 'What's your height?', I was like. '5'4".' They're like 'You want me to say 5'7"?' I say 'Nah, 5'4."'

"I hear this thing a lot that I'm smaller than Rey Mysterio. I can assure you, I've met the man on three occasions. We are the exact same height. But for some reason, for some reason, I am 4'9 or whatever the f*ck. My mom is 4'10" and I can see on top of her head. It's just ridiculous that people want to believe. My Wikipedia might say I weigh 160 something, but I literally almost weighed 200 lbs a few months back. I'm literally at 180 something right now."

Towards the end of the interview, Gresham's wife, Impact Wrestling Knockout's Champion Jordynne Grace, made an appearance and brought up an interesting point regarding the body shaming Gresham endures.

"I get a lot of sh*t on Twitter for defending Jon about stuff," Grace said. "But I really feel passionately about body shaming in general. So let me leave you guys with a think piece, and you don't have to answer this at all. Why is it that, when people like Eddie Kingston, Adam Cole, Deonna Purrazzo are body-shamed online, everybody jumps to their defense, but when someone like Jon is ridiculed for something that he has absolutely no control over, everybody piles on? That's my thought."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WrestlePurists and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription