Lee Moriarty discusses the secrecy surrounding The Firm's debut and its association with MJF.
Moriarty made his AEW debut in 2021, and he subsequently signed with the promotion. He occasionally competed on AEW TV over the next few months, but he stepped into the spotlight in July 2022, when he aligned with Stokely Hathaway. A few weeks later, Moriarty, The Gunns (Austin and Colten Gunn), W. Morrissey, and Ethan Page debuted as The Firm. The group helped The Joker win the Casino Ladder Match at AEW All Out, and the mystery man turned out to be MJF.
During an appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Moriarty described how he found out he'd be a part of the group and explained that he didn't get many details in the early stages. He emphasized that he trusted Tony Khan and the people who discussed it with him.
"It was a very well-kept secret. I didn’t know it was MJF until that night. The way it started was, I was with Matt Sydal and Dante Martin in kind of a group. Tony Khan pulled me aside in the locker room, he asked me a question. He said, ‘Would you be comfortable dying your hair?’ Didn’t explain why or anything like that. He just said it would be coming with a big push and things like that, more opportunities. I said yeah, I’m cool with it. My trainers taught me to take something if they give it to you and just make the most of it. It’s hair, it’ll grow back in the future. That happened, they didn’t really tell me exactly what. They just said it was gonna be a group. Stokely told me it’s gonna be a big thing, and I trusted everyone who told me about it. I trusted Tony, I trusted QT, I trusted Stokely. After I took that business card when I defeated Matt Sydal back in July, disappeared for a month. Came back and then get the poker chip. I didn’t know it was MJF until afterwards. So after he got the poker chip and walked off, back to his trailer, I found out. It was a really well-kept secret," Moriarty said.
When asked, Moriarty stated that he didn' know who else was in the group until he saw it coming together while he was watching on TV. He stated that seeing Morrissey made him think that MJF could be the one behind the stable. but he wasn't sure.
“I didn’t find out until I was watching at home. The only person I knew was Ethan Page because I heard them talking about the promo that they had, when Stokely was gonna offer the card. But before that, I didn’t know the Gunns were gonna be in. I didn’t know Morrissey was gonna be in it, but whenever I saw Morrissey, that’s kind of when I leaned towards, I think it’s MJF. But I never had concrete evidence," he said.
Before the pay-per-view, Moriarty talked to Morrissey, who knew that MJF was involved, but he didn't think he could say anything. He detailed how MJF seemingly communicated through Hathaway ahead of the big reveal.
"I get in, I meet Morrissey did the first time. He’s hard to miss in the middle of the ring. I talked to him. I just told him like, ‘Hey, do you know who this guy in the group is?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, but I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say because pretty much everyone was sworn to secrecy about it. See The Gunns, we’re all meeting in the corner of the ring. MJF doesn’t tell us, but he kind of gives the pointers to Stokely to tell us what is going on. Stokely is there, communication between MJF and us, and also Pat Buck, one of the agents," Moriarty said.
Regarding the secrecy, Moriarty shared his belief that everyone involved wanted to protect the genuine surprise and avoid any leaks. He then recalled the moment that The Firm attacked the competitors during the Casino Ladder Match. He noted that the competitors didn't know who The Joker was, though they were aware that someone was coming to the ring and winning the bout/
“The moment came, the first match on [All Out], the ladder match. Everyone’s going crazy hard, Claudio, the Lucha Bros, Yuta, Dante. People were working in that match. Even them, as far as I know, they didn’t know too much. They didn’t know it was MJF. They just knew, hey, someone’s coming down and getting that poker chip. But they were kind of surprised too. I remember Alex Abrahantes was out there, and I remember hitting him. He’s just like, what is going on? I think he may have been smartened you, but not exactly. So he didn’t know how many people were coming," Moriarty said.
When Jericho asked whether the competitors in the match knew the finish, Moriarty said, "Not completely, no."
In the end, Moriarty noted that he and his stablemates fully found out it was MJF after the match, and he apologized for the secrecy, but he couldn't say anything ahead of time.
MJF firmed The Firm on the October 26 episode of AEW Dynamite, and Morrissey slammed him through a table. MJF then saved Jon Moxley from the stable on the November 16 episode of AEW Dynamite.
Moriarty will challenge HOOK for the FTW Championship on the November 18 episode of AEW Rampage. Check out the card here.
The Gunns recently discussed their alliance with The Firm. Check out their comments here.
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