Various: Jordynne Grace Says Jonathan Gresham is 100 Percent Recovered from Strokes Incident, David Sahadi on His Firing from TNA in 2024 & Felt Relieved Due to Not Liking Being There After Scott D’Amore Was Fired, Indies/Misc.

Aug 23, 2025

Jonathan Gresham Strokes Incident & Break from Wrestling Update – Jordynne Grace Says Gresham is 100 Percent & Will Be Back In The Ring

As noted before, indies and former TNA talent Jonathan Gresham has been on a break from wrestling since earlier this month due to him suffering two strokes.

A recent episode of the Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez podcast featured Gresham’s wife and WWE NXT talent Jordynne Grace as the guest. One of the topic discussed included Grace provided an update on Gresham’s current recovery from his strokes.

“It was very scary. He’s actually bounced back incredibly well. He’s at 100 percent. He’s cleared right now to do pretty much everything, like work out. Everything besides wrestle. It’s insane, and I said the same thing. I talked to the doctor about it extensively. I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ But they say, basically, he’s so young and that’s why he bounced back so fast. They’re really now just trying to figure out why this might have happened, but, there’s this whole thing of like, you know, maybe we’ll never know. Maybe it was just a COVID complication. Sometimes these things just happen. So hopefully we’ll be able to figure it out at some point but he will be cleared to go back to wrestling in like a matter of weeks.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

David Sahadi Comments on His Firing from TNA in 2024 & Felt Relieved Due to Not Liking Being There After Scott D’Amore Was Fired

A recent episode of the Beyond The Lens podcast featured co-host and former MLW and TNA Executive Producer David Sahadi giving this thoughts about his firing from TNA Wrestling in 2024.

“That moment when I got that phone call (that I was being let go from TNA Wrestling), there were three things running through my mind. First was shock and disbelief. Two, I was pissed, and three, I was relieved, and that’s kind of a contradiction but I’ll explain each one. I was shocked because Anthony Cicione had just been there for three months, didn’t know much about me but I was on a conference call. We have a weekly production conference call, and I pitched some really great ideas and Anthony said, ‘Great. Great ideas, David. I like that. Let’s try that for the next TV taping,’ and then, less than 24 hours later, he’s calling me to fire me. So that shocked me. I was pissed because I felt I deserve more than a 15-second phone call from the now-President of TNA, a company which I’d worked for for 20 years, a company that I joined in 2024 when they were almost out of business. We can get into that later too if you want to, and then, you know, it’s like, I help keep them afloat. I helped get them a deal on Spike TV, and here is how it ends? With this guy that barely knows me, giving me a 15-second phone call after 20 years of service and loyalty to TNA, and helping that company and getting paid handsomely first but taking multiple pay cuts over the years to stay there, and I just felt disrespected, and then, I also felt relieved because I didn’t like working there when Scott (D’Amore) was fired, and Scott brought TNA back at Hard To Kill. It was his idea to bring that back.”

Sahadi also gave his thoughts about his conversation with the H.R. representative who did not know that Sahadi had an actual contract with TNA and how she had contacted former TNA President Scott D’Amore to confirm and find out the details of it so that he could get exactly what he was promised for signing with the company for his departure terms.

“And here’s how the rest of that day went: I’m transferred to Human Resources and nobody picks up. It goes to voicemail. So I say, no, let me digest this and call back and I call back. This lady, I forget her name momentarily. Julie? Linda? It doesn’t matter. Let’s just say Julie. I call back in a day and she goes, ‘Hi, David.’ I said, ‘Hi. Hello, Julie.’ She goes, ‘I’ve heard nothing but great things about you, especially as a character and as a person, and I really hate that our first phone conversation is on a day like this’ and I said, ‘Julie, let me make it easy on you. I lost a father a year ago. A man who is so close to my heart. I can never get him back. Tonight, I just lost a job. I can get another job tomorrow. So, it‘s not life or death. Don’t worry. It’s okay. You’re just a messenger.’ She’s like, ‘David, wow. You’re handling it so well’ and I said, ‘Well, why wouldn’t I?’ And she said, ‘Well, the others were really angry and yelling and screaming at me.’ I said, ‘Oh, there were others? It’s not just me?’ And she goes, ‘Yeah, there’s about two dozen phone calls that I had to make today. Everybody was angry and surprised and just saying the nastiest things to me’ and I said, ‘Shame on them, Julie. You’re just a messenger. You’re not the decision maker on this.’ I said, ‘Shame on them for doing that,’ and she goes, ‘Oh my God, I am so glad that you’re the last person I had to call today because your positivity and the way you’re handling this just completely erases all the negativity that has been drenched in me throughout the entire day,’ and she goes, ‘Let me go over your severance package before I email it to you’ and I say, ‘Before you email that to me, you know I have a contract, do you not?’ And she goes, ‘You have a contract with TNA?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She goes, ‘I didn’t know that. Does Anthony know that?’ And I said, ‘Well, apparently not because he fired me in only 15 seconds,’ and she goes, ‘What’s your contract saying?’ I said, ‘Basically, it says that if I do get fired, through no fault of my own, like I’m not working for another company, then I get six months of pay, plus my $25,000 bonus which was due back in April for not getting fired up until then.’ So, it’s like, they owed me a lot of money, and she says, ‘You have a copy of the contract?’ And I said, ‘No. But I signed it. I gave it to Scott D’Amore in person. Scott D’Amore has it, but you guys also fired Scott D’Amore a few months ago too’ and I’m not being snarky. I’m just being very light-hearted here so, ‘Either Scott has a copy of that or it’s in Scott’s files if they still exist there but no, I do not have a physical copy of that. I can tell you the parameters. They’re exactly what Eric Tompkins’ contract is or was in 2019, when Scott got us both to join and both took care of us because everybody had left to go to AEW. Kevin Sullivan and his entire team went to go work for AEW for post-production. So it’s that contract. It’s Eric’s. Just changed the names on it. It’s that’ and she said, ‘You’ve been so nice. I’m not gonna send you a severance package. Let me try to find that contract,’ and to her credit, she spent three weeks trying to find that contract and it got pushed up to somebody higher than her and they called Scott D’Amore to ask and Scott said, ‘It’s true.’ So we worked out a very friendly package but, again, Anthony Cicione, I don’t wanna say anything bad about him, but, to give me just 15 seconds of his time after I gave that company 20 years… that was extremely disrespectful. That’s all.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Saturday’s Tokyo Princess 2025 Finals event for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling featured Miu Watanabe defeating Arisu Endo in the Finals to become the winner of this year’s Tokyo Princess tournament. As a result of her victory, Watanabe will be facing off against Mizuki for the TJPW Princess of Princess Champion at TJPW’s Wrestle Princess VI event on September 20th in Ota City, Japan.

TJPW recently announced that Priscilla Kelly, former Gigi Dolin in WWE, will be making an appearance for the company at their Wrestle Princess VI event on September 20th in Ota City, Japan.

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced that Kurtis ‘Mad Kurt’ Chapman and James Castle are the newest inductees for their Hall of Fame. It was announced that Chapman and Castle inductions will be taking place during their 13th Anniversary Night 2 show tonight in London, England.

Netflix recently began production for season two of their “The Wrestlers” docuseries.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Jeff Jarrett will be wrestling for the first time on his wrestling career in his hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee this October. Jarrett will be producing an event called “Jeff Jarrett’s All Star Superslam” that will take place on October 23rd at the Veterans Park in the city.

In a recent episode of the Beyond The Lens podcast, co-host David Sahadi stated that WWE had produced a tribute video for the late Hulk Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, that will be airing during Real American Free Style Wrestling’s debut event on August 30th in Cleveland, Ohio. Hogan was a co-owner of Real American Freestyle Wrestling prior to his passing this past July.

WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page recently released a new video on his DDP Yoga channel featuring an update on WWE Hall of Famer Lex Luger’s physical fitness rehab from a spinal stroke that has left him wheelchair bound since 2007. In the video, it was revealed that Luger was presented with a LifeGlider upright walker and is able to take unassisted steps.

Friday’s Someone’s Knocking At The Door event for Riot Cabaret Pro Wrestling in London, England featured Pete Dunne making a surprise appearance. Following Nico Angelo defeating Mark Andrews to become the new Riot Cabaret Champion, Andrews attacked Angelo leading to Dunne coming out to save Angelo and confronted Andrews.

House of Glory recently announced that Killer Kross, former Karrion Kross in WWE, will be making his official debut appearance for the company at their With Glory Comes Pride event on October 10th in Queens, New York.

TNA Wrestling reportedly drew an attendance of 1,912 for their Aug. 15th Emergence 2025 event in Baltimore and 1,292 for their Aug. 16th Impact! tapings in Baltimore, MD, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

NJPW recently announced three new matches for the card of the Shinnichi Champion produced Shinnichi x NJPW event on September 12th in Tokyo, Japan:

Ranbo match – SHO vs. YOH vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo vs. Masatora Yasuda vs. TBA(s)
Masked wrestler Battle Royal match – TBAs
Tenzan Clinic match – Hiroyshi Tenzan, YOH, Tsumugi Mitani, TBA(s)