Gear selector suddenly hard to Move

Parked the car at night, no issues. Next morning, could hardly get the gear shift to move. Gear shift handle is hard to go from park to reverse, to neutral, to drive. Also hard to go from drive to neutral, to reverse to park. Disconnected the shift cable at the transmission and it moves easy with no load on it. Can grab the transmission selector and rotate it by hand. But it does seem to be tight, though I don't have any reference point. Found there is a technical bulletin, 00-07-03-008, which references new part numbers, for the shifter. I cannot find the new part numbers any where. I also don't understand the VIN Breakpoints. Is there anything inside the transmission that might be causing the sudden friction in moving the gear selector? Are there any additives that might be useful to try? Transmission fuel appears to be at right level. Is it possible that while the cable moves free when not attached to the transmission, the problem still lies with within the selector mechanism on the steering column? Are there any other items that should be looked at? Additional info, the car drives fine once I can get the selector and the transmission into a gear. It is just real hard to get it there