Jonathan Gresham emerged as the winner of the Ring Of Honor Pure Championship tournament to become the NEW Pure Champion. Long considered the best technical wrestler in all of America Gresham finally has the opportunity to lead this pure wrestling division and showcase the art of pure wrestling. Every division needs a centrepiece and we believe that Jonathan Gresham is the perfect choice to lead the Pure Wrestling revolution in ROH.
Talent
The obvious ingredient needed to carry a division, thankfully for ROH Jonathan Gresham has that in spades. For years Gresham has been travelling the world and honing his technical wrestling skills, quickly becoming one of the best in the world at the style. Gresham is a student of the Pure Wrestling game and he has dedicated his career to mastering that art and bringing it back to the forefront of professional wrestling. Now is his chance to show the world his talent as the leader of the revamped Pure division.
Storytelling Opportunities
Welcome To The New Era Of Honor. pic.twitter.com/BGhAF2GT7g
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 3, 2020
Jonathan Gresham is adept at playing both the good guy, and the bad guy in the squared circle. Gresham mentioned in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated that he believes Pure Wrestling presents an easy opportunity to tell stories. He’s right too, while Gresham could easily play the straight-laced take on all comers champion he could also be the intelligent champion who takes cheap shots behind the referees back or uses his buddies Tracy Williams and Jay Lethal to his advantage and becomes a hypocrite who spits in the face of honor.
Gresham understands the wealth of stories that could be told by him as the champion of the division, probably better than anyone else on the roster. The fact he has a stable of people who could help him cheat just further makes him an excellent choice to stand atop the division for some time to come.
Ambition
Pure wrestling isn’t just some fad to Gresham. He isn’t being tasked with carrying a division that he doesn’t care about. On the contrary, it’s been Gresham’s goal for years to restore the prominence of technical wrestling and to revive the Pure Wrestling championship, and restore honor in pro wrestling. Gresham will dedicate himself to making this division the best it can be and that will hopefully manifest itself as an exciting and unique draw to Ring Of Honor, and possibly a revival of technical wrestling as a whole.
Recognisable Name
Best of The Super Juniors 26 entrants announced!
Bandido, Jonathan Gresham, Robbie Eagles and Shingo Takagi debut!
Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Flip Gordon and Titán are also coming!
Who is final entrant, X?=> https://t.co/Hh0PzdY20V #njbosj #njpw pic.twitter.com/VGCXfo9uYR
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) April 23, 2019
More than anything, Gresham isn’t some nobody who has been tasked with carrying this division as it’s champion. Gresham is a 15-year veteran who has traveled all over the world and has been competed in NJPW’s Best Of The Super Jr. tournament. Gresham has wrestled on the biggest stage in Japan, in most major companies in Europe, and been a mainstay in ROH and the top US indies for years. Gresham has some semblance of star power that he brings to the division, more star power than anyone else in the division arguably. And that star power and popularity will be important to getting eyes on things early on so they can continue to get buzz and grow the Pure Wrestling division to hit the heights it once did.
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