Indie Watch is our regular series that looks at all of the amazing talents working the independent circuits around the world. Some are veterans revitalizing their careers, some are indie prospects hitting their peaks, while others are names to be on the watch for! This edition looks at a rising star from the Pittsburgh indie scene, “The Apex of Combat” Lee Moriarty.
He’s been wrestling for just over five years, but in the past two years, the US indie scene has become increasingly aware of a young man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who has emerged beyond the regional indie circuits and making waves with his athletic prowess in the ring. Called “The Apex of Combat”, the 26-year old Lee Moriarty is now breaking out into one of the Can’t-miss prospects in the US indie scene, following his huge debut with Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) this past weekend.
.@apexofcombat with a devil walk DDT!#GCW #WRLDonGCW @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/ZFfwa3jlHs pic.twitter.com/0ZOZGfVrZP— Rob (@HeyImRob) June 20, 2020
Lee Moriarty began his training in 2015 under Brandon K and Dean Radford at the Pro Wrestling eXpress (PWX) Wrestling Academy in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, within the metro Pittsburgh area. He made his PWX in-ring debut that December as part of the tag team The Order with Ganon Jones Jr., defeating The Enforcers (Crusher Hansen & Maxx Daniels) for the PWX Tag Team Championships, going on to hold them for 189-days. PWX would remain Moriarty’s home-town promotion, and he would continue to polish his craft with the company, winning the PWX Heavyweight Championship briefly in April of 2016, and becoming a 2x PWX Three Rivers Champion (in 2017, PWX rebranded as Fight Society, where Moriarty continues to wrestle).
In 2016, he also began working with RYSE Wrestling in Lemont Furnace, about 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, and he continued to expand into other regional promotions throughout Pennsylvania, as well as working into the Midwest, particularly in Ohio, with Cleveland’s Premier Championship Wrestling (PCW) and the Professional Ohio Sports Entertainment Review (POSER).
He got his big break in the Midwest when he made his debut with Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW), one of Ohio’s premier indie promotions, in February of 2019, and has since gone on to become one of AIW’s most exciting new stars, facing the likes of Wheeler YUTA, Dominic Garrini, Mance Warner, Eric Ryan, and Erick Stevens. In March of 2019, he made his CHIKARA debut as part of the 2019 CHIKARA Young Lions Cup Tournament but was knocked out in the first round when he was defeated by Boomer Hatfield in a four-way elimination that also included Lady Frost and Jay Sorbet. To close out the year in AIW, he had a stellar run of matches against indie legend Alex Shelley in AIW, that saw Moriarty defeat the Motor City Machine Gun at AIW Baby It’s Cold Outside 2 in December.
Lee Moriarty also expanded into the exploding Indiana indie scene, first with Paradigm Pro Wrestling in 2019 and in early 2020 made his debut with Bizarro Lucha and Black Label Pro. But arguably his biggest debut to date has been his recent debut with GCW at The Wrld on GCW, Part 2 this past weekend, also in Indiana. Originally scheduled to make his GCW debut over WrestleMania Week in Tampa, Florida at the GCW event For The Culture, it was sadly delayed following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown of live events. But GCW instead brought Lee Moriarty in for their first live event back in Indianapolis, where he faced another top prospect in Tre Lemar for one of the events standout matches. GCW has had a phenomenal track record the past few years with finding regional talents and exposing them to the world, including such since-signed talents as Jake Atlas (NXT), Marko Stunt (AEW), Jungle Boy (AEW), and Chris Bey (IMPACT), as well as new indie darlings like Alex Zayne, Blake Christian, and AJ Gray. With an explosive showing on Saturday, June 20 in Indianapolis, “The Apex of Combat” could very well be the next name to rise to the national level.
https://twitter.com/gorelandodeath/status/1274462298141347842
Check out our full list of previous Indie Watches, showcasing emerging talent from around the world!
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world.
