Jonathan Gresham Pulled From The WRLD on GCW, Lio Rush Takes His Place

By Connor Casey

Sunday's Game Changer Wrestling's pay-per-view, The WRLD on GCW, was supposed to feature an ROH World Championship match as Jonathan Gresham was booked to take on Blake Christian. Unfortunately, Gresham had to be pulled from the show at the last minute. It was confirmed prior to the bout that Christian would get a future shot at the ROH title, but in the meantime, he'd be taking on his old rival in former WWE and AEW star Lio Rush. Christian would go on to win the bout, nailing Rush with a 450 Double Stomp

Rush broke the news earlier this week that his current AEW contract will expire on Feb. 14 and that he has no intention of re-signing with the promotion. This announcement came weeks after Rush publicly called out Tony Khan to apologize to Big Swole for comments he made about not re-signing her, followed the next day by a lengthy statement. 

"I want this to be clear," Rush wrote. "I do not consider this to be a diversity issue, and I at no point have thought or said that AEW or Tony is racist. We can all clearly see that wrestling as a whole and the AEW roster is perpetually diverse. The issue at hand was a racial insensitivity issue. Having spoken to Tony and Megha, we have discussed the endeavors to further understand the struggles of the Black community. I am grateful to be able to understand more about Tony and Megha's own ethnic backgrounds and glad they are actively seeking input from an African American perspective.

"I am proud to work for a boss and company that try to make these strides in social equality. I look forward to working with Tony to keep making steps towards positive change," he added. I pray that 2022 is a year of positive change in all aspects."

Gresham is still scheduled to face Bandido for the undisputed ROH World Championship at ROH Supercard of Honor XV on April 1. Ring of Honor has been on hiatus since December's Final Battle event, allowing its roster to sign with and work for other companies. 

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