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  • 3 weeks later...
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I think the attachment to Brodie was a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, guaranteed to stay over with the crowd due to legacy. On the other, I think TK got cold feet on how to book the group because of that connection.

When they ran that DO implosion story that ended with Amanda Huber & -1 getting the group to stick together, they really should've gone the other way. Silver/Reynolds remaining babyface, Uno & Grayson going heel and probably keeping 5 & 10 with them as cronies. 

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Guest Fight Me.

Seems Alan Angels turned them down so he could make a name for himself outside AEW. I can respect that.

So that's Stu and now Angels both turning down AEW.

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  • 3 weeks later...

[Fightful] Wrestler update, AEW talent relations and communication process

Earlier today Fightful broke the story of former ROH World Champion: Jonathan Gresham asking for his release during a heated meeting with Tony Khan. Fightful has an update on that and what the communication process is like in AEW.

- Gresham met with Tony before the show and was very heated about his booking and character direction

- People that Gresham were said to have spoken to within the company are QT Marshall and Sonjay Dutt 

- Gresham’s main gripe was with his character direction/creative and when communicating this to AEW officials they said these types of conversations had to go through Tony as he has final say on creative.

- Gresham was unable to secure any meetings with Tony up until before the PPV

- Process of communication is to relay things to a coach like Pat Buck, Sonjay or QT who then pass things onto Tony if talent can’t get to him directly. It’s said Tony and coaches are frequently in communication.

- Tony tries to make it a point to get to talent directly but things have obviously became a bit more tedious with them being back on the road as opposed to Daily’s Place.

- TLDR: Gresham didn’t like the way his character was headed and it reached a boiling point with everything compiling into that snowball.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/more-details-on-69519437

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I get communication may not be the best but Gresham was champion for a brand that technically has no TV. Even though it’s gotten screen time on Dynamite and Rampage, ROH is not and should not be the top priority. I’m sure AEW is trying to keep ROH relevant enough that when they get a streaming deal(HBO hopefully), people will check out a weekly ROH show. Wouldn’t be surprised if Tony’s hands are tied as it comes to ROH plans and creative until the streaming deal gets done. Gresham probably thought he was being brought in and would get a consistent push as ROH champion

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Credit:pwinsider

If you saw the look on Jonathan Gresham's face at the ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV, you probably guessed he wasn't a happy person heading to the ring this past Saturday.  Add in that he came in and out of the ring without his usual costuming and didn't even wait for his new manager, Prince Nana, to walk out with him.  As we talked about on our ROH Post-Game Show for Elite subscribers on Saturday night, it was easy to guess something was amiss, and it was.

According to several sources, Gresham was very upset when told the planned outcome of his match, which saw him lose the ROH title to Claudio Castagnoli in under 11 minutes in the opening bout of the PPV.  As originally reported by Fightful.com, Gresham had words with AEW & ROH owner Tony Khan, which one person described to PWInsider.com as "ugly and unprofessional." 

One version of the story making the rounds is that Gresham "cursed out" Khan.  Another stories talents are sharing includes that Gresham used his ranking in thr Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine PWI 500 list as an argument as to why he should be presented better. 

In the end, Gresham dropped the title as requested.  We are told that Gresham left almost immediately after his match.  Gresham then deactivated his Twitter account as well as the Twitter account for his Georgia independent promotion TERMINUS, which just held it's third event.

Before the bout, Gresham is said to have asked for a release from his contract.  We have not confirmed that release has happened, but the belief is that he won't be back in any form for the promotion unless he and Khan make some sort of amends.  Gresham is slated to compete at the Ric Flair's Last Match PPV this Sunday 7/31 in Nashville.

The Gresham-Castagnoli bout was always scheduled to open the ROH PPV, so the Gresham issue did not lead to any change in how the event was formatted.

Neither AEW nor Gresham have publicly commented

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It almost seems like Gresham was in general just angry.
Was it before or after the event where he spoke about how he faces discrimination etc because of his height and that as a Black Wrestlers he is expected to have a gimmick instead of just being considered a good wrestler?

I could see him being upset with the way he was presented for a while in general and just reaching a point where he had enough of everything.
He was ROH champion and widely praised, he was rising in the ranks and it seemed that his name got out there more.
So maybe he expected a more prominent role and all, which i cant really blame him because yeah, Khan didnt handle him as ROH champion that well.

Unfortunate situation.

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Gresham is a great wrestler...but I wonder where exactly he plans on going. The whole thing seems like a very premature decision, IMO. Like...yeah, maybe Khan didn't present him well as a world champion...but it also didn't feel like Khan's version of RoH had fully "taken-off" until this PPV. I think Gresham would have done well to just wait a little while and see how things unfolded for him. Changing an entire company from the ground up is no small task.

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6 hours ago, glennsoe said:

“Another stories talents are sharing includes that Gresham used his ranking in thr Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine PWI 500 list as an argument as to why he should be presented better.”

Oh, no… lol

It’s true that they didn’t present him very well. Going into this PPV, it felt like they cared more about the ROH TV champ than the World champ. More went into that program than this one, which was booked last second.

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Truth is...Gresham didn't have the kind of name value to book as a main event for a show of this magnitude. I know he's a great talent. Lots of people know he's a great talent...but tons of people also missed what was happening in RoH for the past few years. The company has been in a sort of no-man's land. Which is not Gresham's fault...(in fact, he carried the company through some hard times). BUT...coming right out of that bleak era and trying to book him as a big deal when most people weren't necessarily familiar with him would certainly be a type of calculated risk. I think it made more sense to have the tag title match as the main...and I do think that Khan would have built RoH around Gresham moving forward...but it wasn't a smart opening gambit for the new beginning (so to speak).

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Never said his match should have main-evented — certainly not how they were booking him. My whole thing was how the World and TV titles were being presented on their TV. It was all flip-flopped. The TV title (midcard belt) was treated with more importance than the World title, which struck me as odd.

See, if you want someone to be a big deal you book them like they’re a big deal. Half the work was done already by having a World title around his waist. That automatically shows the audience who aren’t familiar with Gresham (like me) that he’s a somebody without uttering a single word. The other half is actually booking him as a somebody by giving him frequent matches & wins, promo time, and a meaningful feud. AEW didn’t do that (again, the TV title was given more significance). So if Tony didn’t see him as a somebody worthy of that belt (which is how it came across through his booking), then book Gresham to lose the belt the first chance you had. Like have him lose against Joe or whoever who has more star power if that was such a problem. It’s not that difficult. lol In all honesty that’s what he should have done because right now for someone who didn’t watch ROH, the World title is a total joke to me. And now Claudio has it and it’s like… yuck, I don’t want Claudio near this insignificant belt. lol

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  • 4 weeks later...

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