AEW star Lee Moriarty recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast to discuss a wide range of pro-wrestling-related topics, including his thoughts on getting to work with CM Punk on Dynamite, and how he adopted Punk’s straight-edge lifestyle. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On when he found out he’d be working CM Pun on Dynamite:
“I think maybe that Monday night leading into that week, I got a message from one of the trainees at the same wrestling school as me. He was like, ‘Congratulations on the match with Punk.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Because I didn’t see any graphics, it wasn’t in the advertisement yet. I think it got leaked earlier someone found out because apparently, somebody posted it on Facebook I didn’t see it. I don’t use Facebook anymore. Then I think it was that Tuesday morning, I woke up, and then like all my mentions are blowing up because Lee Moriarty is facing CM Punk on Dynamite, live Wednesday. I had to take a step back that time last year, even this time last year, CM Punk was not wrestling, he was gone. So the idea that I wrestled his eighth match back professional wrestling is very surreal. It was very cool.”
Says he adopted the straight edge lifestyle from CM Punk:
“It’s important for me because not just for my lifestyle personally, but it’s also for peace of mind for my family. So, my mom and dad were wrestling fans. They knew about wrestling and when I told them I wanted to be a professional wrestler, they were very against it because around the time I made the decision, it was almost kind of my teenage years, the wrestlers from back in their day, unfortunately, passed away because of the drugs and alcohol and all that stuff catching up to. So that was a big concern for them. Originally, I knew I didn’t want to do drugs and alcohol and stuff just because, Bruce Lee’s ‘remove the non-essentials from your life.’ Stuff like that. I didn’t know it was called ‘straight edge.’ I didn’t know that there was this thing until I found CM Punk when I was watching TV one day, and I looked more into it for, why the Xs are there, from lots of the concerts and stuff, people underage not being able to drink. I just thought it was really cool what that lifestyle meant. So, I took that pledge, and then from then on, I’ve just always been straightedge and I feel like that’s made my family a little more comfortable with me living the lifestyle I live.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)