Jonathan Gresham now reigns supreme as the undisputed Ring of Honor World Champion, and AEW President Tony Khan wants him to defend the gold on AEW programming.
Khan recently acquired ROH, and the promotion held its first event under his ownership, Supercard of Honor on April 1. There, Gresham defeated Bandido to become the undisputed champion.
In the post-show media scrum, when asked whether he wants to incorporate Gresham into AEW or keep him separate, Khan made it clear that he wants “The Octopus” to defend the gold on AEW programming and elsewhere through the company’s relationship with other promotions.
“I definitely would love to Jonathan defend the title in AEW and on AEW programming, and I think that’s definitely something possible and Jonathan has traveled the world,” said Khan. “And he can tell you better than anybody about his vast experiences wrestling and all the championships he’s held in all the promotions around the world. So I’m excited for him to defend the championship in AEW, on Dynamite, on Rampage, on lots of our great programming, and also I think there are a lot of great relationships we have with other companies and relationships Jonathan has with other companies, and I think there’s a lot of possibilities both in AEW and through the forbidden door.”
Likewise, Gresham stated that he would be honored to take ROH to a national platform. He described how he has fallen in love with ROH, and Khan’s purchase saved the company. Gresham then emphasized that, thanks to Khan, he can remain loyal to ROH and wave the company’s flag from here on out.
“For me, it would be an honor to take Ring of Honor to national television,” said Gresham. “The funny thing is, my life has been somewhat of a Cinderella story. I grew up in wrestling, idolizing the men and women that worked for Ring of Honor. And my passion grew. It got me out of a lot of trouble. I wouldn’t be sitting next to Tony Khan right now if it wasn’t for Ring of Honor. And my goal was always to be Ring of Honor World Champion. I have told anybody, but I worked night and day to get exactly where I am today.
“And my goal along the way was to make sure that Ring of Honor lives on. And I want to take the idea, the essence and the heart and soul of Ring of Honor to everybody around the world. And now that Tony Khan has acquired Ring of Honor, I can now do that. I really appreciate the passion that he has for professional wrestling and the passion that he has for Ring of Honor. If it wasn’t for Tony Khan, honor would have died. And now I can stick with the company that I have fallen in love with all these years ago, and I don’t have to wave another flag ever, besides the Ring of Honor flag.”
Gresham was attacked by Jay Lethal after he won the title, but Samoa Joe made the save to close the show.
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