NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
Jonathan Gresham is one of the best professional wrestlers on the independents right now, but there was a moment when his career could have ended.
Gresham revealed in August 2025 that he suffered two strokes that may have been a complication from a “bad case of COVID.” He promised to return to the ring and he did. On January 23, 2026, Gresham was at the event Beyond Wildest Dreams and defeated Ryan Clancy.
COMPLETE PRO WRESTLING COVERAGE ON Pakinomist DIGITAL
Jonathan Gresham, right, performs in a Ring of Honor match. (Provided to Pakinomist Digital)
He spoke with Pakinomist Digital about what keeps him going after the sudden medical issue.
“I’m, how do you say it? I hope I’m using this term correctly, but I’m an empath. I empathize with people. I realized this after I came back from my strokes,” Gresham said. “Before my strokes, and I actually talk about this a lot, before my strokes, I was a very introverted person, but I loved people a lot, but my connections with people weren’t what I’d hoped, and I’d always be a little amazed by these things. After my stroke, I remember sitting there on the bed, and my whole left side was paralyzed and I prayed and prayed and I prayed and prayed. and the next day God gave me the ability to walk around, so I saw it as another opportunity to live life in a different way.”
Gresham said that since then he has found the ability to open up to people more. He wanted to focus on helping other professional wrestlers on the independent scene find their footing in the business.
“So since then, I’ve gotten closer to people that I’ve known for many years in the business. It’s because I’ve opened up to them more. Random people that I meet on the street and on planes, in malls, at the movies, I talk to people, I get to know people, I go out of my way to talk to people and get to know people,” he said. “And because of this, I have created relationships that I would never have had before.
Jonathan Gresham and Tiger Mask compete in a match during the New Japan Pro-Wrestling ‘Best Of Super Jr.’ at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on May 23, 2019. (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
PRO WRESTLER VINNIE MASSARO FOUND HIS ‘WRESTLEMANIA MOMENT’ IN JAPAN, SHARES LOVE OF BUILDING SPORTS FUTURE
“So, I look at life a lot differently now. And that kind of makes me feel more for my peers in the wrestling business. When I see them aimlessly wandering around the independents and not knowing where to go, and when they talk to me, I can feel their frustrations. I can feel how scared some of these young people are, and I desperately want them to create a wrest-pros where they can explore what I want to wrestle in their minds.”
Partly, Gresham suggested, is that the increased access to pro wrestling gives emboldened fans to criticize everything a wrestler does.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
He does not want young people trying to kick down a door in the company to be subjected to constant criticism.
“So, a good example: when I started wrestling, I was head over heels in love with Rey Mysterio and Bam Bam Bigelow. So I had time to perform and do what I loved about pro wrestling, and from that I grew into who I am today. Today, when I started around 2005, YouTube was in place, but it wasn’t to the point where every single stream that can be seen and shown on YouTube. and enjoy myself without it,” he explained.
Jonathan Gresham and Tiger Mask compete in a match during the New Japan Pro-Wrestling ‘Best Of Super Jr.’ at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on May 23, 2019. (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
“But now, all the kids that grow up in professional wrestling, no matter what show they’re doing, they go straight to YouTube or some streaming platform. So the problem now is they’re going to be criticized, not just by their coaches, they’re going to be criticized by fans who don’t know their history or care about their history, and they’re saying the most malicious things can come to them in a room or where they can get it in a room where they can reach them. their phones and they’re not going to get anything else than negative things about them online and it kind of spoils the pro wrestling journey and I want to help create a space where they don’t have to worry about that or go through that anymore.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pakinomist APP
Gresham recently went up against Fuminori Abe in PRODUCE by Orange Crush’s first event on Monday. He was a co-producer for the show.
The second event is set to take place on July 16 at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey.
