Think it sucks for Khan that he had issues of mistreatment of black wrestlers like Big Swole that guys like Lio Rush & now Gresham are walking out on him. Not to say this screams racism by any means but it's not a good look to lose the guy who carried ROH in it's final days on these terms.

This ‘body-shaming’ talk is getting out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I sympathise with wrestlers opening up Twitter every day and having their bodies analysed. But this is wrestling. You’re selling a fake fight as real. To me, it is problematic to see someone like Adam Cole beating people up, I struggle to suspend my disbelief. Gresham is very small, again it’s difficult to suspend the disbelief especially when he’s a technical wrestler. The Eddie Kingston one I don’t get, some of the greatest wrestlers of all time are fat bastards and he looks like a menace so who cares.

She's got a point TBH. If someone is fat or skinny, there's at least something they can do about it (if they want/need to).

This dude can't just grow 8 inches.

Rey Mysterio and some other luchadors are beloved despite height. I guess it's the high flying ability they present vs the Greco-Roman/grappling that Gresham does where it looks bad when trying to pick up guys that tower over him. You can get away with a high flyer vs a big man as it's a "David vs Goliath" sort of thing(It was tough to suspend disbelief for Big Show vs Rey though for the WWE title). But when you have two guys who are grapplers going after one another, it becomes less convincing.

I hear he’s also not got much personality. Rey didn’t either, so WWE made him colourful to go along with his exciting ring style. His matches were believable (except for the 619 setup anyway) because they made sense. Smaller guy goes at 100 miles an hour to overwhelm bigger, slower guy. By all accounts this isn’t what Gresham does.

It sucks for him. Aaron made a good point reiterating what Grace said. It’s true, Gresham is probably in the gym twice a day working his ass off. He looks like an athlete. But no promotion that wants to make money will have a bland, 5’4 chain wrestler as their poster boy. It is what it is.

Jul 24, 2022 19:22:19 GMT Todd said:

This ‘body-shaming’ talk is getting out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I sympathise with wrestlers opening up Twitter every day and having their bodies analysed. But this is wrestling. You’re selling a fake fight as real. To me, it is problematic to see someone like Adam Cole beating people up, I struggle to suspend my disbelief. Gresham is very small, again it’s difficult to suspend the disbelief especially when he’s a technical wrestler. The Eddie Kingston one I don’t get, some of the greatest wrestlers of all time are fat bastards and he looks like a menace so who cares.

I think Kingston got the Kevin Owens/Steen treatment in that he looks like a slob and they don't ever dress up in a suit & tie that they don't feel "larger than life". They feel like some dude you meet up at the bar and I guess that's their appeal to the audience but for some, that doesn't feel like a wrestler. 

The Deonna hate I don't really get though, she looks natural. Is she completely ripped or shredded? Nah but that's alright. I haven't seen her in a while though I guess. 

I think women get it easier and the ridicule is toned down when it comes to weight for them, especially after the Hana Kimura bullying that led to her suicide. People like Doudrop and Nia Jax are plus size but at least the former isn't really shamed since she seems super nice and is pleasant. Nia brings it to herself with her controversial takes I guess and sort of eggs on the flack in some regard. 

Yeah I mean there’s a difference between doing what we’re doing by talking about the merits of wrestlers physiques, and making fun of people on Twitter. The latter should be stamped out completely but unfortunately as we all know, it comes with the territory of being a famous person. It shouldn’t, but this is the world.

The wardrobe thing is an interesting discussion. I don’t think AEW do a good job with it compared with WWE. I think that’s almost certainly by design, they prefer ‘street clothes’. That’s their thing. I personally think it doesn’t do a lot for most people and because everyone dresses that way, it’s also too homogenous and no one gets over with it. Okada in a t shirt cheapened the moment immediately. We’re going to be accused of being sports entertainment marks for having this discussion. 😂

Eddie Kingston’s biggest problem is he is a terrible wrestler. I really like him and he’s really believable especially for this day and age, but he needs wrestling school. It’s holding him back.

TK not speaking to wrestlers he doesn't fancy is problematic. He needs to fix that.

This is pretty short-sighted of TK.

Sounds like Gresham been around his girlfriend too long. I like the dude, but many people think he lacks the look to be a believable prowrestler, and are bored by his style.

The Claudio match kind of showed the problem with him clearly. Claudio looked like a giant. While Gresham may have been ok wrestling against people who had half a foot on him that RoH traditionally used, move to AEW or WWE and guys will have a foot on him all the time.

Looking the people complaining, sounds like a creative has nothing for you situation. Mostly people the fans are not exactly asking to see, that may be riding out contracts. Stunt and Joey were released already.

I read that TK had some really interesting ideas for this match, but what happened was, a lot of it went over Gresham's head.

People implying part of the problem was Gresham did not want to turn heel or be part of the Embassy. He still sees himself as a top face who can get over strictly by his ring work alone.

During this fit it seems he also killed Terminus.

Tully also done with AEW and RoH. He was not even at the show.

Hieracon NEVER FORGETS!

Interesting. Gresham talked with both QT and Dutt several times last week about his creative direction but neither could make the changes he wanted without Tony's ok. They set up the meeting with Tony to run the ideas before the show and by the time Gresham came in his mind was already made up, either he got creative control or he would leave. Turning heel was the final straw that led him to leave.

But the whole no communication thing was bullshit as Tony uses the coaches as a filter to let people know what will and will not work, just as WWE does. But the coaches cannot grant creative control, they just flag the good ideas to pitch to Tony and let others know when ideas will not work.  People have good ideas they go to Tony, and Tony gives the yes or no to the coaches and the coaches rely it to talent.

And Janela said the lack of communication stuff is BS and that Tony always replied. Tony Deppen said Tony was super approachable too.

Gresham takes me as a guy who'd appreciate short and sharp communication.

Ever heard of “short man syndrome?” I don’t want to speculate but I wouldn’t be shocked if Gresham suffers from it.

I can see why Gresham didn’t want to join the Embassy. He would look fucking ridiculous standing next to those other three guys. They’re all gigantic. Shoving Gresham with them feels like an afterthought.

Part of me understands why he got so upset but part of me also feels like this was a massive overreaction. Creative was trying to find a way to use him and he decided to quit because he didn’t like their idea. If every wrestler did that there would be no wrestling.

Creatively, the best way to book a Jonathan Gresham match, is to keep it short.

Jul 24, 2022 19:13:44 GMT RT said:

From a wreddit comment since I don’t pay for Fightful and SRS blocked me:


Per fightful:
he felt disrespected due to lack of communication from the company leading up to this weekend

lack of time for the match also lead to feeling disrespected

asked for release before the match

met with Tony before the show and voiced his frustration and it escalated to him cussing Tony out

Gresham is done with wrestling for the foreseeable future after this month

came out without his usual attire to show people the real him for what could be his last match

no statement from ROH/Tony

…..

Sounds like he’s just fed up all around and might quit for good.

So it was the time which is understandable considering AEW gives their opening tv matches about 20 minutes. And he was given about 10 for a world title match and as opening match. The second shortest match on the show.

Others more trusted sources are saying it was not going on first, or the time, but working heel that set him off. Very likely he was set to win with help from Nana which he was not down with since in his mind, he could easily defeat Claudio.

He sees himself as a John Cena you can give the title to and build a company around. No one else sees this including most of the fans. Frankly, Tony has no need for people who think they are bigger than their spots. If they are, let them leave and prove it elsewhere. Tony got WAY too much talent for egos though.

I expect this story to repeat as more contracts come up for renewal.  Will see it a lot in people who are released.  Many will claim they would be big stars if Tony just gave them creative control and booked them in title matches.

Half waiting for the report of how Terminus misused him as well <.<

You can understand how he feels under appreciated here, he's probably feeling overlooked.

For a guy like Gresham, the top shelf in AEW is certainly out of reach.

Amazing how off SRS and Fightful been in the last week.

Definitely came up short.






I'll show myself out.

No wonder Nana looked out of place during the match.

Yeah it was so awkward he was like there but not there. It was very unlike Nana, who is normally one of the best managers.

I was watching the match & the volume cut out a few times but they didn't mention Nana.

He was at ringside. Have to REALLY look for him though as he did not take part in the match otherwise.