10 Wrestlers Having A Disappointing 2022
8. Jonathan Gresham
Claudio Castagnoli bet on himself by walking away from WWE. After years of midcard toil, no one could begrudge him the pay-off that was his Ring Of Honor World Championship victory. But what about the guy on the other side of the ring? Between 2020 and 2022, Jonathan Gresham held Ring of Honour’s Pure and World Titles at various points. He’s been a standard bearer for the struggling promotion even when it was out of action.
A supremely gifted technical wrestler, Gresham is also, by professional wrestling standards, very short. That’s not a dig, a lack of height doesn’t stop “The Octopus” putting on technical clinics and bending his opponents into human pretzels. Nonetheless, it’s undeniable Gresham’s stature might count against him in this image conscious business. Chad Gable has a billed height four inches taller than Gresham and still got repackaged as “Shorty G”.
That said, AEW is a broader church than WWE’s “land of the giants”. With Tony Khan’s purchase of Ring Of Honor, it looked like Gresham’s talents would be brought to a wider wrestling audience than ever before. Plus, there was the potential for classic matches with the likes of Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley and others.
What actually transpired was a sudden heel turn, a slanging match with Tony Khan, and a swift exit from the company the same weekend. Fans are left to daydream about what might have been.