Lee Moriarty has made his impression felt in AEW and Ring of Honor, and now is doing it in the art world.
We're happy to host Uncrowned's Cam Hawkins as he spoke to Lee Moriarty ahead of his art showing debut during Miami Art Week. In addition, Orange Crush's founder Adam Adballa will be a part of Miami Art Week. You can find Moriarty in Booth D-204, the NADA Miami booth from December 3-6
Cam
Ring of Honor Pure Champion, Lee Moriarty. I don't know if you remember this. We were in LA in 2022. We're at WaleMania. The way that the building is set up, it's like, wait, no, this was in Dallas. This wasn't the LA one when this was in Dallas. We're at the House of Blues in Dallas, and it's that weird set up where you got to walk around behind the stage to get people up to VIP. Everybody's off being terrible people. They're drinking or doing whatever. You are sitting off to the side and you're by yourself, but not sitting off to the side by yourself, like everyone's annoying you. You seem to be perfectly comfortable and just relaxed and chill and just sitting there taking in the sights and taking in the moment. You're a very reflective young man. I've noticed that about you. So now when I look at you doing this art and the style you go about it, I'm like, "Yep, that fits his personality to a T." When did this become an outlet for you
Lee
I've been drawing since I was a kid. Even before I discovered what pro wrestling was, I was an artist for as long as I can remember. I grew up drawing off the Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Dragon Ball Z VHS covers, Game Informer magazines. I did all that. That's how I learned to draw. I taught myself. I discovered wrestling when I was about 12 years old, and I knew that's what I wanted to pursue, but I never left art. It was maybe 2, 3 years ago, I got back into painting because I never liked painting growing up because I was immature then, and I didn't understand the idea of letting go of control of something. And with painting, you have to learn to let go of control and see where the process takes you. But as I got older and more mature, I learned about just letting go, and I got more into painting. As I did that, Adam reached out and said, Hey, would you be interested in doing a gallery at some point? I was like, "Yeah, for sure." He encouraged me to do bigger canvases. I did that, and we just kept going. And this opportunity came up to do an ADA in Miami.
Cam
The relationship you had with Adam is that... You ever compete with GCW? Or in like... I know they do what... What's the other promotion they typically work with right there in the area?
Lee
JCW, Jersey Championship.
Cam
Yeah, I did that. Okay. Is that where you guys started to develop a relationship?
Lee
We talked a little bit before. So he had Andreas Hale interview me for one of his Orange Crush magazines, and that's really where the relationship started going from there. He knew me as an artist and a pro wrestler because he did GCW stuff and I did GCW. But I think the relationship really started with Orange Crush. And then from there, I think over the past couple of years, I've done a few JCW shows because AEW allows us to do independents if they can approve. So we talk more and more at those shows and things like that. The connection grew stronger because we have a lot of the same interests when it's art and pro-wrestling.
Cam
I wanted to ask you that, too. As the art has become more a part of what you do, do you find yourself taking less independent bookings to focus on that? Has that adjusted your work schedule outside of mainline AEW?
Lee
Not really. So the way I do independent bookings, I might do one or two a month if I can, but that also just depends on the relationships I built on the Indies before I came to AEW. Not to say I'm against it, but I haven't really taken new independent bookings, and it's when it works best to bring me in for them because obviously, they're still trying to grow their own talent. So to bring a guy from TV in there all the time I think there's a value in it, but they still need to grow their own growth talent because there's time that I'm not going to be available because I'm at Collision or a Ring of Honor. But yeah, I didn't slow down with the rest of it at all. I was still on the road multiple days a week. The past month I was home one full day a week and I was still painting. The most recent painting I finished, I stayed up 24 hours to get it completed so they could have it set in for the potential buyers. So there's no slowing down. I do both because I enjoy both. So it makes it easy.
Cam
I remember that 2019, 2020 time when you and a couple of other guys, all of us people on the internet were like, You got to sign Lee Moriarty. You got to sign Lee Moriarty. He's great. I think that even though it took some time, it still happened fairly quickly. Thinking about how fast that was, this process of the art, how different is that? Because clearly, the talent's there, the interest is there. How different is that from "this guy's a great wrestler. We gotta get him in here, have him do matches, get him signed, have him do X, Y, and Z." How different is the art from that? Because, of course, I feel like there are way more people who do art, but also maybe not as many who are really good at it or have connections. How different is it getting your art out into the world and in front of new eyes?
Lee
It's very different, but similar at the same time. There's so many similarities with art, pro wrestling, and music, all those things. You come up all the same way. You don't make much money. You go and do what you can to get your name out there. With art, I was doing it for years, but I wasn't doing it to the extent I had now. I was doing graphic design and things like that. So T-shirts, wrestling communities knew where I was. But because of pro wrestling, because of my platform with AEW and the relationships that were built with professional wrestling in the Indies, it made art go that much faster. I started to take it to that next level full-time, the paintings and things like that. But yeah, I think it's just putting in the work and the time, the name value and things like that, that helped me get to where I am with art and pro wrestling.
Cam
As someone who has never, ever been in a wrestling ring, and probably shouldn't, I always thought one thing me and you had in common was that thing where I want to do all the different things that I can do to show my value. Because like you said, you were doing graphic design, you were making T-shirts. When I was with the Torch, I taught myself Photoshop and Premiere because I wanted to express value. Again, knowing where you are in wrestling, do you ever see, saying all in front of your bosses and coworkers, do you ever see art becoming the priority?
Lee
No, not for me. And not for any reason negative to art, but because I love pro wrestling so much. Art allows me to express a side of me through visuals. Professional wrestling allows me to express myself through visuals and physical competition. The reason I chose professional wrestling over MMA, because I grew up an MMA fan, too, is because there was more freedom of expression. I get to wear a mask that I designed and I commissioned to get created by Omega Mask during my entrances. I paint my jackets that I come out as Taigastyle on the arm. That was my idea. The Tron that plays during my entrances, I designed that Tiger, sent it in the AEW when I first came in, they animated it. Even the current, if you watch the screen on top, it has a very kung fu intro like 'Man with the Iron Fist'. I made a mockup video of that to send to them, and they made a much cooler version. But all those things I have my hand in because professional wrestling allows me. So I'll always be able to express myself and their balances. When I was going to college, I had a professor, and she told me, "When you put so much into one thing and it becomes dependent on how you make your living, it changes the joy of it", because now there's this pressure of paying your bills and things like that. So there was a period where art, it was like, I need to do this so I can make this money to help me for my wrestling career. But now I have both. It's a balance. Art balances my wrestling, wrestling balances my art. So I need them both. But wrestling is the thing that allows me to express myself the most.
Cam
I know how important the mask is to you and how much work you put into it, how detailed it is. Why do you draw your characters in masks?
Lee
So one of my favorite aesthetics in professional wrestling art, the entire world, is luchadores and suits. I think that is one of the coolest style visuals ever. And that's how I started getting to paint it. I painted Jushin Liger with the suit, El Santo, Blue Demon. And then I expanded more in a painting. And I chose to stay with luchadores because that is the most universal visual to someone who doesn't watch professional wrestling, but they see that and they know that's pro wrestling. So I kept that, and I just changed the backgrounds to present different stories, things like that. So that's why the masks were important in that. And the masks were important for me personally as a wrestler, because in African culture, they wear masks to represent the connection with the natural world. I chose the Tiger, and the Tiger chose me because of what the Tiger is. The Tiger is unique, it's creative, it's stripes. There's never a Tiger with the exact same stripes. I'm not like anybody else in pro wrestling. The way I move, the way I think, I'm completely different. And I'm proud that I can be this Black man with a mask that's unique and different because there's kids that love Miles Morales, there's kids that love Static Shop, all these heroes. And now they get to see a real-life version of that on TV as this guy that comes out with a Tiger mask, the Wu Tang inspired puffer jacket, MF Doom mask, all these things.
Cam
At one point, you really, really, really pushed back on the idea that you were a technical wrestler. You did not want to be labeled as such. But you did mention that, hey, as you got more into the wrestling and... Semantics, right? I think you would agree with the idea that your wrestling is more focused and precise just as you've gotten better. So the painting, like you said, do you feel like as you got better at wrestling, the painting became easier because there was... I don't even know if it's a physical thing, but the hand-eye coordination is tighter. You know what it is you want to present. Do you feel like the aesthetic and the precision has increased as you've gotten better in the ring?
Lee
I would say so, yeah. I would push back on being a technical wrestler when I was younger because I didn't want the limitation of, "Oh, I'm only a technical wrestler". Because Tiger Style It's about everything. Bruce Lee style, Jeet Kune Do martial arts is not limiting to Chinese boxing because there were flaws in that. That's what Taigastyle was created from. It's removing limitations on one specific style. As I got older, I realized that Taigastyle, it's not that it's not technical wrestling, it's that it is technical wrestling. I can do high flying. I can do striking. I can do all this stuff if I want to, and it's adapting based on my situation. And that's the same with painting. I have a loose idea when I get in the painting, but the same mindset I go into, pure rules matches with being able to change my game plan. I change my game plan during these paintings. Sometimes the colors when they dry are not the same as when I mix them. Sometimes layering, I see a different vision than when I start I was like, this will look better instead of how it was at first.
Cam
Let's say that you're still pursuing both these crafts super actively, I don't know, five years from now. Is there a design, a painting, an idea that's been in your head that you're like, "I can't quite put my finger on how to make this happen." But is there a large piece, a large idea that's floating around in your head that you feel like it's going to come with time? And are you comfortable sharing it? Is it a secret?
Lee
Absolutely. So we talk about Adam encouraging me to do larger paintings. I want to do something maybe this size of an entire wall, whether it's an outdoor portrait on the side of a building or something that's a piece that would be too big to fit in a regular house. You have to be in a museum or something like that. And the idea is, Luchadores in a park. It's not just one subject. It's all of them playing chess on a swing, playing racquetball, what all these other things are that they be doing on the grill, cooking out. It's everything. And it's because I feel like that represents community, the wrestling community and our community. And that's what that is my vision. But I need to work up to that. That's not something I can just jump in right now because it's going to take a lot of time.
Cam
You go out and perform in front of thousands of people every week in trunks. And clearly, you're adjusted to it. It's not something that you shy away from or makes you nervous. What are the emotions going into this huge art event and installation that you were invited to? And there's going to be, I don't know, people with funny-colored pants walking around in monocles, that stuff. What is the level of nerves or apprehension going into something that, again, even though you've worked in the craft, this is a very new space?
Lee
Yeah. I still have the same butterflies as I do before I go through the curtain in professional wrestling. But these butterflies are a little bit harder to get rid of, and I think they're going to stay longer. Because in professional wrestling, I go through the curtain. You can tell what people are feeling because they can yell, they can scream, they can jump, they can chant, do all these things. And also in professional wrestling, you know if someone's good because you know based on footwork, you know based on technique, timing, things like that. In art, everything is subjective. You can't say something's not good just because maybe it's not as realistic. Because what I'm doing is contemporary art. That's such a broad stroke of things. You don't know what someone's thinking. And then also these people are seeing this in an exhibit indoors. Artists, people who view art, are not going to start chanting, looking at a painting. So you don't really know what they're feeling. They hide their expressions. They're like, "I enjoy this", or something like that, but it's not the same as pro wrestling. So I won't know what people are feeling. I don't know what they want to express. I don't know how they're reacting to things because it's very different than pro-wrestling. And that makes me a little nervous, but also excited.
Cam
I feel like you don't have to worry about them doing you like that Wayans Brothers episode where Marlon was just making just the most random thing, and they swore it was just the best art ever. And then a kid was doing graffiti on the subway and took his shine. I don't think that's going to happen to you. So one time, because I think this can very much be an audio thing, let the people know Exactly what's going on here. I guess it's late next week, next weekend. I'll let the people know exactly what's going on with the event, just in case they are out in the area.
Lee
Yeah, the event is going to be NADA, Miami New Art Dealers Alliance. It's a nonprofit organization that is focused on bringing new artists to the forefront when it comes to contemporary art. It'll be at the Ice Palace Studios from December 3rd through 7th, Miami. I will be there from December 2nd for installation all the way through Thursday, and then I have to fly out for Collision, Ring of Honor in Columbus. So for GalaxyCon, I believe. But yeah, busy week, but a very exciting week for a lot of opportunities. And it's the first time I've ever had my art displayed outside of my own living room. So it's very cool that people will be able to see the texture of the art as opposed to just a photo online. It's beautiful.
Cam
Lee Moriarty, the Ring of Honor Pure Champion and burgeoning young artist. Best of luck to you, my brother. I appreciate your time, all right?
Lee
All right. Thank you. I appreciate you.
