It's hard to call Death Before Dishonor XIX, the second Ring of Honor Pay-Per-View with AEW CEO Tony Khan at the helm, anything but a resounding success.
The card was loaded, with six title matches plus an awesome brother versus brother bout featuring Rush and Dragon Lee on the main card, and four very interesting matches on the Zero Hour pre-show that saw Prince Nana purchase Tully Blanchard Enterprises away from its namesake and then went on to manage an excellent match with the needs-to-be-signed trio of Blake Christian, Alex Zayne, and Tony Deppen under the name Embassy.
Did you want a feel-good story of a well-traveled professional finally securing championship gold? Well you got that in the opening match, as Claudio Castagnoli finally became a singles champion in ROH. How about Jay Lethal finally getting his comeuppance versus a returning Samoa Joe? That happened too, and it was a sight to see. And to cap off the night, TK delivered the second-straight match of the year candidate in FTR-Briscoes II; a match that will likely be remembered for years to come as one of the foundational performances of ROH 2.0.
And yet, the promotion didn't leave the show unscathed. No, despite avoiding any major injuries, the AEW/ROH universe may soon be without a former World Champion, as Jonathan Gresham has asked out of his full-time contract with Tony Khan's company and reportedly “cussed out” the booker before dropping his belt to Castagnoli in the card's opening bout.
There seems to be a lot of lack of communication between talent relations and talent that we've heard from. We've had stories of Gresham, Marko, Cage, Janela and others not being able to get answers or responses
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) July 24, 2022
Jonathan Gresham's ROH/AEW run is likely done.
One month ago, Jonathan Gresham was in a very different position. He was the babyface leader of The Foundation, a loosely-affiliated faction of Pure-focused ROH performers that also features/featured the likes of Rhett Titus and Josh Woods, though other than a single appearance on AEW television where he successfully defended his Ring of Honor World Championship against now-ROH Six Man Champion Dalton Castle, he was largely working other promotions.
Life was good, the future looked bright, and Gresham, though far from universally popular, was largely considered a wrestler's wrestler; the sort of performer who could elevate any card he was on and typically put on the best match on any given show. Since then, however, Gresham started appearing on AEW television, first on Rampage and then on Dynamite, turned his back on former ROH friend Lee Moriarty, joined Tully Blanchard Enterprises alongside Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony in a major heel-turn, and was booked against one of the hottest performers in pro wrestling in what many assumed would be a loss.
This, clearly, didn't sit well with Gresh, who did more than anyone else to keep the ROH title alive during the company's hiatus and their post-Supercard of Honor run when the promotion didn't have a steady television deal from which to keep their product fresh. Since winning the Interim ROH World Championship over Jay Lethal at Final Battle at the end of 2021, Gresham defended his belt on 17 occasions in promotions from Impact to GCW, Beyond, ROH, AEW, and even Terminus, his promotion booked out of Georgia, and kept the flame of ROH alive while most considered it dead.
To make matters worse, not only did Gresham go heel and morph his character into a sort of anti-authority rebel fighting against how Tony Khan had been booking him – which now feels incredibly ironic – but the man who “convinced” him to abandon the strict moral code he adhered to both in late ROH and on his indie run, Tully Blanchard, didn't show up at the Pay-Per-View and was swiftly replaced by Prince Nana, who is a great talker and a ton of fun, but doesn't exactly hit with “The Octopus'” ethos, let alone the ethos of Brian Cage. This, too, didn't sit well with Gresham as he not only didn't walk down to the ring for his match with Claudio Castagnoli with Nana but abandoned his usual entrance, including his Foundation flag, his sleeveless trenchcoat, and his Cthulhu-esque Octopus mask in favor of a no-nonsense walk down to the ring.
It's the #ROH World Champion @TheJonGresham, here to put his #ROH World Title on the line at #ROH #DeathBeforeDishonor! Order the PPV now on @BleacherReport, @PPV_com, @FiteTV, cable & satellite! pic.twitter.com/bmzzKOW6H0
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) July 24, 2022
On paper, rolling with Claudio Castagnoli as the Ring of Honor World Champion makes a lot of sense. The ROH crowd assembled in Lowell, Massachusetts, was clearly more AEW fans than OG ROH nuts, as the reaction to Jay Lethal clearly showed, and moving forward, having the super-over, international star headlining all of the promotional material could prove valuable in pursuing a television deal through Warner Bros. Discovery than a performer who isn't even over in the AEW Universe, let alone nationally. Still, if this ultimately is the end of Jonathan Gresham's time in ROH – and potentially wrestling as a whole – at least he left the ring adhering to the Code of Honor, shaking his foe's hand before leaving the promotion he kept afloat in its most uncertain time.
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