Jonathan Gresham Thought His Wrestling Career Was Done When COVID Brought The World To A Halt
Jonathan Gresham doubted his future in the ring when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit.
During a recent appearance on The Kurt Angle Show (via AdFreeShows), Ring of Honor World Champion Jonathan Gresham admitted that he thought his wrestling career was over when the pandemic first brought a halt to events in March 2020. Even though he wasn’t sure what he’d do, Gresham says he was more worried for his co-workers who were on pay-per-appearance deals.
“Yes. I try to stay optimistic. I’m a pessimist from the start, but when it hit I was financially in a pretty good situation but I was more concerned about my comrades, guys that were coming up and on pay-per-appearance with Ring of Honor. So, I was really thinking about them. ROH did a really good job of keeping us on payroll the entire pandemic, so I was concerned but I was also thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to jump to what next?’ I spent my entire adult life becoming a professional wrestler, so there was really nothing else I could really use that knowledge for, so that was kind of scary. But yeah, I thought it was over for me. But I was just going to ride the wave of the contract. Money was still coming in and hope for the best,” Gresham said.
ROH began taping shows again in August and they would welcome back fans in July 2021. In October they announced that Final Battle in December would be their final show before going on a hiatus to re-imagine the product. On March 2, 2022, AEW President Tony Khan revealed on TV that he had purchased Ring of Honor.
Gresham is set to defend the ROH Title against Bandido on April 1 when ROH returns with Supercard of Honor.
If you use the quote above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.