ROH's Kenny King Compares Jonathan Gresham to Danielson/McGuinness

Ring of Honor’s Kenny King recently sat down with Wrestling Inc. Daily’s Nick Hausman to talk all things ROH in a Covid-19 world.

Talk soon turned to ROH’s reinstated Pure Title, with King having one eye on the belt and champion Jonathan Gresham:

“The Pure Title literally almost vaporized before I got to Ring of Honor. I came in in 2008, and the belt hadn’t been retired, but there were like, remnants of it still. You know, still remnants of matches and people were still kind of high on the pure style. It had gone away for so long, and I think it has been one of the best things that we could’ve done.

Reset that style with the sports presentation, with the sit-downs and really get to know the guys that are going to go out there and wrestle, and then, go out there and wrestle a pure, technical, no nonsense no thrills kind of style. That was just one of the things that kind of turned the perception around on Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor wasn’t just floundering. We got a new direction, and it’s working out really well.”

King reserved special praise for Gresham, comparing the Pure Champion to legendary past holders of the title:

“I’ve known Jonathan Gresham since he was Jonathan Davis, way back when on the Florida indie circuit. So to see him, I’ve always thought he was always one of the most creative and just special people to watch in the ring. He’s just so fluid. The way that he just… there’s no wasted motion. He ties people up. He uses his size, which a lot of people would consider his size to be a disadvantage, he uses all of that to his advantage. And now, well, he’s definitely been hitting the gym. He’s so jacked.

“But I think there comes a time in every man’s life where you got to step up. This was Jon’s time. He saw the opportunity. I mean, the Pure Division is tailor-made for Jonathan Gresham. He’s still gonna lose to me when I get a shot, but it’s tailor-made for him. He is what you would consider, when you look at the Pure Division, you think about a guy like Gresham. You think about a guy like [Alex] Shelley, a guy like Nigel [McGuinness], a guy like [Daniel] Bryan. So in 2020, 2021, I couldn’t think of a better guy to lead that division and to step up. And he did it.”

“I’ve seen him, right? I’ve watched these guys. I’ve watched Nigel with my own eyes. I’ve watched Bryan in awe with my own eyes,” King continued “I’ve wrestled Bryan. If you watch these guys, the styles and the fluidity is very, very similar. It’s a credit to Jon that he’s taken his craft so seriously that he can be put in that kind of category.”