ROH: Wrestling fans seem to be sleeping on Jonathan Gresham

Ring of Honor has a long history of cultivating excellent talent early in their careers, before they move on to the next level.

And in the current crop of ROH talent, Jonathan Gresham is certainly a top-tier talent knocking on the door of success. In the game since 2005, one would hardly call him a fresh-faced youngster but he doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention from fans.

To be blunt, the current ROH Pure Champion rarely seems to be included in conversations about the best in the business, even though he should be. There are a lot of potential reasons for this, but all it will take is one break for Gresham to make the leap to the big time.

Jonathan Gresham builds a career

As previously mentioned, Jonathan Gresham has been in the business since 2005. For 14 years, he was a mainstay of the independent scene as well as having lengthy runs with CZW, wXw, and Chikara. But in 2014, he started working with ROH which would help build a reputable resume.

Having several great matches over a few years with the company led to a proper contract in 2017. He became part of the faction Search and Destroy alongside Jay White, Chris Sabin, and Alex Shelley, an impressive group to say the least.

In 2019, Gresham would team with Jay Lethal to become the ROH World Tag Team Champions. That led to 2020, a quiet year for wrestling as a whole. ROH completely shut down operations for a sizable portion of that year.

When it came back in mid-2020, the company held a tournament for the ROH Pure Championship. The last person to hold it was Daniel Bryan 14 years earlier. That tournament was won by Jonathan Gresham in October 2020, and he has held it ever since.

A wrestler of pure talent

Jonathan Gresham is, plain and simple, absolutely talented between the ropes. On top of that, the man is pure charisma and knows how to carry himself in an interview. There’s a reason why he became the first ROH Pure Champion since 2006.

Over the years, Gresham has had incredible matches with the likes of Flip Gordon, Dak Draper, David Starr, Zack Sabre Jr., Chuck Taylor, and Jay Lethal. He has also had great matches outside of ROH with Bobby Fish, Matt Riddle, Adam Cole, Lince Dorado, and Brian Cage.

As a member of the ROH faction known as The Foundation, he has continued to distinguish himself in the ring and outside of it. The man is a superb athlete, to say the least, and one that has the untapped potential to become an absolute all-star.

The question is why more fans and promotions are not paying attention to Gresham. He holds a major belt in ROH, one formerly held by the likes of A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe, and has all the tools required to be one of the greats.  Everyone should be talking about him, too.

Pay attention to Jonathan Gresham

Part of the problem for Gresham is that his biggest successes are in Ring of Honor, and fans simply are not tuning in as much as they used to. This is in part due to a series of minor and major controversies suffered by the company in the last few years.

The other problem has been that ROH lost some major talents to AEW when they opened up shop in 2019. A lot of TV viewers followed them. Jonathan Gresham’s main event run in the company has been part of ROH’s rebuilding process, one that was slowed by the pandemic closure.

ROH is starting to pick up some post-pandemic steam, though, particularly with their efforts to rebuild their Women’s Division now in full swing. The company is heating up, and will hopefully take Jonathan Gresham with it as it grows.

But the reality is that Gresham is going to need to leave ROH to find the next level, a familiar tale for a number of top-tier talents in WWE, AEW, and beyond. Jonathan Gresham’s career will follow a similar path, taking him to the top of any company he works with.