Ring of Honor World Champion Jonathan Gresham wants to prove that honor is real by facing Bryan Danielson, and “The American Dragon” is on board with this dream match.
Gresham is currently the face of ROH at a time when the promotion faces an unclear future and enters a planned hiatus for the first quarter of 2022. He won the title against a last-minute replacement opponent, Jay Lethal at the fittingly named ROH Final Battle: End of an Era pay-per-view. “The Octopus” subsequently expressed his interest in wrestling Danielson, an icon from the promotion’s past, and the latter has responded to the challenge.
In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Danielson noted that he didn’t find out about the unfortunate situation surrounding Final Battle — ROH World Champion Bandido tested positive for COVID-19, so the promotion had to call on Lethal — until the day of the show. Danielson recalled how he thought it would have been “perfect” if he could have competed against Gresham.
“It’s hard to get me to pick up my phone at any given point of the day,” said Danielson. “So I didn’t realize until Saturday morning that Bandido couldn’t do the show. I was like, ‘That would have been perfect for me to come in and do that.’ It would have been a lot of fun.”
Many fans were hoping that Danielson would return to ROH for this special show, and the World Championship match would have been a fitting way to have compete at the event. But “The American Dragon” described how he wasn’t entirely healthy heading into Final Battle, so he might not have been cleared to wrestle anyway. Still, he knows fans want to see him share the ring with Gresham.
“I’m not sure that would have even been OK with the state my knee was in on Friday… but I think that’s a match that a lot of wrestling fans would want to see,” said Danielson.”
Despite ROH’s looming hiatus, Danielson made it clear that he wants to face Gresham, but it’s “very difficult”, given the lack of the prpoper ROH platform.
“He’s one of the guys I want to wrestle,” said Danielson. “They say it’s the champions who make the championship, right? I think Jonathan Gresham is a great, great wrestler who would really make the championship. But without the platform, or if you don’t have the vehicle to show off how talented Jonathan Gresham is, it makes it very difficult.”
Ultimately, Danielson noted that he, and the fans, will just have to wait and see what happens next with ROH, but he emphasized his belief that Gresham is a champion who will make ROH proud.
“The title is in good hands with Jonathan Gresham, but the hard part is what happens with Ring of Honor,” said Danielson. “We’re all waiting to see what they end up doing.”
Gresham continues to defend the ROH World Championship outside of the compay; he retained it at GCW Blood on the Hills, and he’ll put the title on the line at “The Wrld on GCW” on January 23. “The Octopus” will also defend the gold at IMPACT Wrestling Hard To Kill.
