10 Wrestlers Who Turned Heel On AEW
5. Jonathan Gresham
Jonathan Gresham's AEW/ROH run felt like it was over before it really began.
The ROH World Champion coming out of Tony Khan's first Ring Of Honor show, Gresham evidently wasn't in Khan's plans for long. He lost the title to new AEW regular Claudio Castagnoli three months later, entered without his signature mask, and didn't work for either Khan-helmed organisation in the aftermath.
It was rooted in miscommunication
"When I finally get a chance to have a face-to-face with him, he introduces me to someone he is close with and as I go to shake her hand, I turn around and TK, from the way it looked to me, was walking away from me. So, at this point, I am thinking to myself, ‘This guy must not respect me at all.’ I just started having things roll around in my mind and I think, at the time, I was my own worst enemy with this...A lot of this was just me under a lot of stress, I believe. But, I really felt I was disrespected.”
There were whispers of acrimony as Gresham distanced himself further from the brands ahead of signing with Impact. Several months later and more has at least emerged about the time. Gresham clarified his stance going as far as to bury any hatchets (if there were any) saying;
"But, before I did get out of there completely, my wife had my bags and stuff, and TK, he didn’t have to, but he came over to me and said some really nice things. He told me that no bridges were burned, he shook my hand and he said he knows that I am not a bad person. I can only imagine him dealing with athletes for so long. He kinda understands how things are, how people are. He deals with people from all different backgrounds. I’m pretty sure he probably saw where I was coming from and he just granted me my release. That was it.”
After seeming as though a door had been slammed shut, this might suggest it's not necessarily as forbidden as it first appeared.