While he has been competing for well over a decade, Lee Moriarty is still young in his pro wrestling career and has accomplished so much already.

Moriarty is in the midst of making history as the longest reigning Ring of Honor Pure Champion in the title's history. With an over 800 day run, Moriarty has faced a who's who of competitors in ROH and All Elite Wrestling.

Still traveling all over the world and competing on the indies for promotions like PRODUCE Wrestling, Moriarty is perfecting his craft in every way, becoming a practitioner of the art of Pure Wrestling.

Reflecting on this reign as ROH Pure Champion, "Taiga Style" Lee Moriarty expressed how much this run has meant to him and his career because of how much inspiration he got from past titleholders like Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson.

"It means a lot to me, because those guys influenced me and my style, and then you look at the lineage of the guys who held that championship like Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, Katsuyori Shibata," Moriarty told The Takedown On SI. "Now, these are guys that I’ve been able to have been in the ring with and learn from, but also it’s my opportunity to push Pure Wrestling forward to the new generation of fans."

"I’ve had people tell me like they didn’t know about, I don’t want to say know about, but they didn’t understand Pure Wrestling or weren’t familiar with it until myself and Nigel McGuinness wrestled for that title because now you have two different eras of Ring of Honor and two different styles of technical wrestling wrestling for it and they became fans of Pure Wrestling."

Leading the 'Pure Renaissance'

This historic run started with Moriarty defeating Wheeler Yuta to become the ROH Pure Champion at Death Before Dishonor 2024 in Arlington, Texas.

Remembering the night he captured the gold, the Shane Taylor Promotions member believes it kickstarted a "Pure Renaissance" that has led to several accomplishments for him as champion and taken Ring of Honor by storm ever since.

"The night I won that title, I said I wanted to create a ‘Pure Renaissance,’ which is like a renaissance period is just like a big boom or evolution of a style or an influence of professional wrestling," Moriarty said. "You know, I’ve held the title for 800 days. Since then, I’ve been the first person to defend in Australia, I’ve been the first person to defend in Mexico, now I have the record amount of days."

"I have the record number of defenses, I’ve defended it on independent shows. Even on the side of just pushing Pure Wrestling forward and people being interested in it, now because of the hard work on the women’s division side, there’s a Ring of Honor Women’s Pure Champion. There’s just so many amazing things that’s happened and that’s credit to everybody just being involved and interested in Pure Wrestling."

Most recently, Moriarty had another memorable defense when he faced Mance Warner on the October 22 episode of ROH on HonorClub. The bout stood out because of the bloody battle that ensued with Warner spilling his blood all over the canvas and on the champion himself along the way.

BLOOD. PAIN. PURE WRESTLING.@ManceWarner pushed Lee Moriarty through a brutal #ROH Pure Championship battle, but the champion survived and walked out #ANDSTILL!

Watch #ROH TV on #HonorClub pic.twitter.com/KQXGxPZMJK

— ROH - Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) October 26, 2026

"Oh, it was a very different experience because for one, I’ve never had anyone bleed on me to that much," Lee Moriarty explained. "To be in the ring with someone who’s bleeding like that, it does bring out a more violent side of yourself and I felt that intensity that he’s giving off from the blood and it’s bringing out intensity in me, but also it’s showing how much Mance has grown from the first time we had that Proving Grounds Match."

"He’s had other Pure Rules matches and he’s learned and that’s a credit to him and his passion for professional wrestling and also his intelligence how he was able to force me to use the rope breaks in the way he did and I respect him for that, but that’s also the thing with having the championship for so long is that people are going to improve and they’re going to get smarter and figure out how to come at you in different ways because the longer I hold this title the harder it is for me to be more creative and that’s what you saw."

"That was the first time I had to reverse a hold in the ropes to get a win, I believe. It’s not easy holding a championship for this long with these kinds of stipulations at hand, but I’m figuring out ways to adapt like my style, Taiga Style is all about.”

Looking back on his historic reign, Moriarty really took things to the next level when he held an open challenge at ROH Final Battle 2024 that was answered by what many fans call the greatest Ring of Honor Pure Champion in company history, Nigel McGuinness.

This has led to career-defining rivalry with McGuinness that has spanned the past two years with both men taking part in some of the most brilliant technical wrestling clinics that ROH has seen under Tony Khan.

Moriarty describes that first match and the subsequent rematch at ROH Final Battle 2025 as "career changing."

"Definitely career changing because not only did I defend the championship that I feel like he pushed forward being the former longest reigning champion," Moriarty stated.

"He defended that title in Europe against (Bryan) Danielson when they merged them together, but stuff like that, like how much that meant to him to compete for that title to now compete again in this generation against me in a venue as historic as Hammerstein Ballroom. So that brought something else out of me and having to fight this guy whose meant so much to this title, whose meant so much to this venue, for this company of Ring of Honor and for me to figure out how to overcome that in honestly a last minute situation because it was a mystery opponent."

Their second meeting took place one year later at ROH Final Battle 2025 where Moriarty and McGuinness clashed in a grueling 30-minute Iron Man Match that saw Lee pick up a second straight victory against the legend.

"Then going into a year later at Final Battle doing the Iron Man Match, I don’t think I’ve ever done an Iron Man Match in my career, so now that’s a first time thing for me and I have to figure out how to pace myself and compete and you saw the battle of me getting hit and him catching up," Moriarty explained. "It’s like a seven-game series in the NBA Playoffs. It’s just a lot of pressure, a lot of situations, a lot of energy going on from the crowd, the drama and everything."

"So, Nigel has brought the best out of me in the past few years we’ve been in the ring together and I appreciate him for that because I wouldn’t be the same wrestler I am today without those matches.”

Moriarty and McGuinness were scheduled for a third encounter at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2026 this past August, but the match was pulled from the card after Nigel suffered an ankle injury in the midst of the AEW Continental Cup tournament.

This led to McGuinness making it all the way to the Finals of the Continental Cup and facing Jon Moxley for the AEW Continental Championship at All In London 2026 from Wembley Stadium.

Moriarty admitted that he witnessed what Nigel was willing to do to win that bout and still believes they will have that scheduled third meeting when McGuinness is 100% and ready to step back in the squared circle.

.@JonMoxley has the ankle lock in TIGHT!

Watch #AEWAllIn London LIVE on HBO Max PPV pic.twitter.com/A8tUdQW7PW

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 30, 2026

"I think yes it is up to him because of what we just saw him go through," Lee admitted. "He had to pull out because of a serious injury, but he also had to push himself through another situation in that Continental Cup match to have that match at Wembley with Moxley, which was, I got to watch up in the stands and see the passion, the energy and how amazing it was, but Nigel has earned this title opportunity, so whenever he’s ready, I’m sure we’ll have it."

"I do not think like I don’t have anything else to prove against him because like we just saw how far he went with that injury. Nigel has so much more to give to professional wrestling. It’s just a time of when he’s ready and when he’s fully 100% because I want Nigel at his best just like he wants me at my best. We’re not gonna hold anything back like we’ve done in the past two matches.”

Another first time meeting with Kofi

In another important matchup in his career, Moriarty recently stepped in the ring with Kofi of The New Level in his first singles match since signing with All Elite Wrestling on the October 3 edition of AEW Collision.

Looking back on this matchup, Lee admitted that this contest meant to the world to him because of how important Kofi is as representation of a black man in the world of professional wrestling.

“I mean honestly it means more than I can express in words in the moment because of what Kofi has meant to so many people, especially, you know, as a black man in professional wrestling," Moriarty reflected.

.@truekofi is victorious in his AEW singles debut!

Watch #AEWCollision LIVE COAST-TO-COAST on TNT & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/9JzrHKpiJd

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 4, 2026

"To see someone to reach the pinnacle at the big show and to sustain that for such a long period of time and also him being himself with his friends like Austin Creed and Big E like these guys did something for professional wrestling and they did it by being themselves."

Learning that he can be himself and still achieve greatness in pro wrestling has been a constant motivating factor for Moriarty and helps him to define how he will be portrayed in the pro wrestling space.

While it has continued to be a factor, Moriarty admits that it isn't always easy and has to continue to battle the doubt that creeps into his head.

"It’s the same thing I’ve been trying to do as a black man being myself. I come out with the tiger mask, sometimes I have the puffer coat on and these references to MF Doom, Wu Tang, Bruce Lee and you know, just being unique, while also staying true to myself is not always an easy thing because sometimes you doubt yourself and you wonder, ‘should I just do the thing that's common that gets people success or should I stay true to myself?’ Because I saw success with Kofi Kingston, or Kofi excuse me, it made it easy for me, you know what I mean."

*ORLANDO UPDATE*

Signed for PRODUCE FRESH:

LEE MORIARTY

vs

KARL GRECO-MALENKO

Tickets are on sale NOW!

SOFIVE | Orlando, FL
Saturday, November 28 @ 8 PM

🎟: https://t.co/1CUaPQKRXU

PLUS

-ALEAH JAMES
-ROBERT MARTYR
-JAVI
-LJ CLEARY
-Jonathan Gresham
-EFFY
-Darian Bengston… pic.twitter.com/FvfsThTpuA

— PRODUCE WRESTLING (@PRODUCENYC) October 8, 2026

Lee Moriarty will look to continue to prove himself outside of the world of AEW and ROH when he steps in the ring for PRODUCE Wrestling with Karl Greco-Malenko on November 28 from Orlando, Florida. You can purchase tickets for the event at EventBrite or watch live on MyAEW.com PPV.