AEW Reportedly Pulled Jonathan Gresham From International Tour
The latest round of World Series Wrestling shows are currently ongoing, but one notable name won't be there as planned.
The promotion, based in Australia, is currently in the midst of the "Phoenix Rising" tour taking place in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Several prominent wrestlers from around the world are booked to appear, including talent from AEW, Impact Wrestling and Ring Of Honor, but the current Undisputed Ring of Honor Champion, Jonathan Gresham, is absent from the tour despite being booked, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The report claimed that Gresham was pulled by Tony Khan's All Elite Wrestling, as the company required him to be in the United States for the build-up to the next ROH pay-per-view, Death Before Dishonor, scheduled for July 23. Gresham will reportedly be turning heel on tonight's episode of "AEW Rampage."
Earlier this year, Gresham was pulled from a handful of events due to a suspected concussion injury sustained at AEW's "Battle of the Belts" taping. Gresham successfully defended the ROH World Championship against Dalton Castle at the event, but landed on his head and shoulder following a gut wrench suplex. He was not cleared to compete and ultimately missed events produced by PROGRESS Wrestling, and was absent from Impact's Rebellion pay-per-view, for which he had been previously scheduled.
Meanwhile, AEW wrestlers Buddy Matthews and Brian Cage are on the tour, with the former — who is an Australian native — having notably gone missing on this week's episode of "Dynamite" despite his House of Black stablemate, Brody King, competing in a match for the AEW Interim World Championship. Cage, however, is theoretically gearing up for Death Before Dishonor alongside Tully Blanchard — the pair have been absent from AEW programming as of late, but recently appeared at ROH's return event under Tony Khan's leadership, Supercard of Honor XV.
Earlier today, on the first show of the WSW tour,one-half of the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champions, Taya Valkyrie, added another title to her waist by capturing the WSW Women's Championship. Despite being currently injured, Matt Cardona is on the tour with his wife, Chelsea Green, and Valkyrie's husband, former WWE superstar John Morrison, is also competing in Australia, along with recent NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 29 competitor Alex Zayne. Former AEW wrestler and current GCW regular Joey Janela has also traveled for the four-show tour. An image was posted by WSW's Twitter account showing a number of the talent that are appearing on the shows this weekend.