Lee Moriarty Was Supposed To Go To ROH Earlier This Year
Lee Moriarty has some of the biggest buzz in indie wrestling, but companies have their eye on him.
Moriarty made a huge impression on the wrestling world during the GCW Collective with a half-dozen matches over the course of that weekend. Well before that, he was already catching the attention of Ring of Honor
“So, it was back in, I wanna say, March or April,” Moriarty told Fightful. “Alex Shelley was talking to me, Ben (Carter) and Tre (Lamar) about doing Future of Honor, which was supposed to be in May. That ended up getting cancelled because of the pandemic. Shelley’s always been a big supporter of os, so when he went to IMPACT! he was pushing us to the people in charge there. We got the opportunity because of Alex Shelley recommending us.”
That didn’t end up happening, but an appearance for IMPACT Wrestling did. Again, it was Alex Shelley going to bat for him that helped make that happen. Everything came together so quickly, and even more buzz emerged from Shelley touting the debuts
Alex Shelley Says Ben Carter, Tre Lamar & Lee Moriarty Will Debut For IMPACT Via Xplosion Episodes https://t.co/BFyYzUMCu2
— Fightful Wrestling (@FightfulWrestle) August 17, 2020
“We drove down there and I think we got the invite on a week’s notice,” Moriarty recalled. “We went down there to Tennessee and we got to the tapings and we just had an opportunity to do singles matches on Xplosion!. It was really cool .It was a good learning experience. It was my first time wrestling on a television setting, even though Xplosion! isn’t nationally televised here in the States, it is internationally televised. So, wrestling on TV with those cameras and everything was very different. It was a good learning experience.They have cameras and things on independent wrestling and there’s certain companies that try to run like TV, but it’s very different when you have these very professional, high quality cameras, lighting and all that stuff.”
Working in IMPACT Wrestling didn’t just help him learn more about working on television. The roster is full of traveled veterans willing to help out someone like Moriarty. And so, they did in abundance.
“The first person I got to talk to when I came back through the curtains was Chris Bey and he gave me a lot of advice on camera work and stuff. ‘Cause he, to me, is one of the best people out doing it—finding the camera and all that stuff. So, I got a lot of advice from him that helped me a lot. I got to talk to Tommy Dreamer. Matt Striker was backstage and I talked to him for a little bit. There was a lot of good feedback and a lot of helpful things that I wouldn’t have gotten if I didn’t go there because I’ve never been around those guys,” said Moriarty.
With his profile on the rise, Moriarty willing to making appearances for almost any company by the sounds of it. Not only that, the ROH run was supposed to happen, but got put on hold yet again.
“I’m completely open to doing pretty much anything. I’m 100% a freelancer. So, I can do whatever I want whenever I want, which is my favorite part of it. I still haven’t found where I fit in yet, so I need to just experiment and expand. A lot of people don’t know, but I was scheduled to do Ring of Honor’s tapings recently, but because of the pandemic they got cancelled and I couldn’t do it,” Moriarty revealed.
The pandemic has caused a lot of issues for independent wrestlers, but Moriarty has managed to maintain most of his bookings. It’s created platforms like NJPW Strong, and a bit more co-promotion and crossover than we’ve seen in the months prior. Moriarty is all about that.
“I really like the way wrestling is right now. Seeing guys like Chris Bey or other Ring of Honor guys doing stuff with New Japan or seeing MLW and AEW guys working together. It’s really cool seeing all these brands work together to help each other out. Especially during a pandemic when things are so limited. You’re getting eyes on each other. Everybody has a different product to offer. Ring of Honor’s product is completely different than IMPACT!’s. IMPACT! is completely different to AEW. Everyone’s different and they’re helping each other grow. That’s really cool.”
You can see our full interview with Lee Moriarty at the top of the page. Follow him on Twitter at this link, and check out his online store at this link. He’ll be in action Saturday, December 19 for Limitless Wrestling as a part of the Vacationland Cup.
