Lee Moriarty Took The Straight Edge "Pledge" Because Of CM Punk

Lee Moriarty was a recent guest on AEW Unrestricted where he spoke about getting to wrestle CM Punk.

Moriarty recalled finding out about the match before it was even advertised. This is because it got leaked, which led to a trainee wrestler giving him the heads up.

"I think maybe that Monday night leading into that week," Lee says is when he first heard of it. "I got a message from one of the trainees from the same wrestling school as me. He was like, 'congratulations on the match with Punk.' I was 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 early, or someone found it somehow.

"Because apparently somebody posted it on Facebook, I didn't see it yet. Because I don't use Facebook anymore. I think it was that Tuesday morning, I woke up and all my mentions are blowing up because Lee Moriarty is facing CM Punk on Dynamite, live Wednesday. I had to take a step back.

Lee Moriarty then admitted that having the match itself was a surreal moment for him. The young wrestler reflected on how CM Punk wasn't even wrestling at that point one year ago.

"That time last year, even this time this year, CM Punk was not wrestling, he was gone. So the idea that I wrestled his eighth match back is very surreal," Moriarty said. "It was a very cool moment."

Much like CM Punk, Lee Moriarty chooses to live a straight-edge lifestyle. He revealed that this helps provide his family with some peace of mind while he's in the business, speaking about how the former WWE Superstar played an impact on him learning about this way of life.

"It's important for me, not just for my lifestyle personally, but it's peace of mind for my family. So, my mom and dad weren't wrestling fans, but they knew about wrestling. When I told them I wanted to be a professional wrestler, they were very against it," he said. "Because around the time I made the decision, the time I was in my teenage years. Around that time one of the indie wrestlers from back in the day, unfortunately, passed away because of drugs and alcohol, and all that stuff catching up to him. So, that was a big concern for them.

"Originally I knew I didn't want to do drugs and alcohol and stuff just because of 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 it was this detailed thing until I found CM Punk when I was watching TV one day. I looked more into it. Found out why the X's are there, from lots of concerts and people underage not being able to drink.

"I just thought that was really cool what that lifestyle meant, I took that pledge. From then on I've always been straight edge. I feel like that's made my family a little more comfortable with me living the lifestyle I live. And thankfully, wrestling is not as much that way anymore."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.