Jonathan Gresham is one of the best professional wrestlers on the independents right now, but there was a moment in time when his career could have been finished.Gresham revealed in August 2025 he suffered two strokes that could have been a complication from a "bad case of COVID." He vowed to return to the ring and he did.On Jan.
23, 2026, Gresham was at the Beyond Wildest Dreams event and defeated Ryan Clancy.COMPLETE PRO WRESTLING COVERAGE ON FOX NEWS DIGITALJonathan Gresham, right, appears in a Ring of Honor match.(Provided to Fox News Digital)He talked to Fox News Digital about what keeps him going after the sudden medical issue."I am, how do you say it? I hope I’m using this term correctly, but I am an empath.
I feel for people.I realized this after I came back from my strokes," Gresham said.
"Before my strokes, and I talk about this a lot actually, before my strokes, I was a very introverted person but I cared very deeply for people but my connections with people wasn’t as I had hoped and I would always kind of be bummed out to myself about these things.After my stroke, I remember sitting there on the bed and my whole left side was paralyzed and I couldn’t move and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and the next day, God gave me the ability to walk around.
So, I looked at that as a second opportunity to live life a different way."Gresham said, since then, he’s found the ability to open up to people more.He wanted to focus on helping fellow pro wrestlers on the independent scene try to find their footing in the industry."So, since then, I’ve grown closer to people that I’ve known for years in the business.
That’s because I’ve opened up more to them.Random people, that I meet on the street and on planes, at 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’ve created relationships that I would have never had before.Jonathan Gresham a...