10 Wrestlers Who Grabbed The Brass Ring In 2020

5. Jonathan Gresham

Eddie Kingston
Ring Of Honor

Since signing a permanent deal with Ring of Honor in 2017, Jonathan Gresham has proven himself to be one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers on the planet.

Gresham is the sort of in-ring talent who can tie an opponent into knots in a ludicrous amount of ways, with his technical skills being unmatched amongst those in the industry today. Having captured the ROH Tag Team Championship with Foundation buddy Jay Lethal at last December's Final Battle show, Gresham was presented with the biggest opportunity of his career here in 2020.

That opportunity came courtesy of ROH's decision to bring back the Pure Championship after 14 years out of action.

Stripping back professional wrestling to its technical, chess game roots, ROH ran a 16-man tournament to crown a new Pure Champion. For those who like their pro wrestling to look believable, be mat-based, a little snug, and all about outsmarting an opponent, this tournament has been an unequivocal highlight of 2020.

Front and centre in that tournament, Gresham only served to enhance his reputation as one of the best in the world as he pushed forward through the competition to grab the prize on offer. In giving Gresham this spotlight and opportunity, ROH showed its faith in the Octopus - and that faith was rewarded ten fold as Gresham marked 2020 as a career highlight.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.