Lee Moriarty felt ‘weird’ about breaking Nigel McGuinness ROH record
Despite being the longest-reigning champion in the title’s history, Lee Moriarty doesn’t consider himself the greatest ROH Pure Champion of all time.
Moriarty has now been ROH Pure Champion for more than 580 days. He blew past the previous record in 2025 when he surpassed Nigel McGuinness’ 350-day reign with the belt. Breaking that record was a “weird” feeling for Moriarty, who holds McGuinness in very high esteem.
“It’s one of those things where it means a lot, but I also kind of feel weird about it because of the respect I have for the people that came before me with the title,” Moriarty said on AEW Unrestricted. “So I always feel weird about breaking other records because I hold them in such high reverence.
“Yeah, I’ve held the title for so long and I’ve defended it, I think, 12 times now. And that’s really cool. Personally, I still consider Nigel to be the greatest Pure Champion of all time because while he’s held it in 350 days, he defended it 17 times. He was the first person to defend it internationally. There’s all these other great things that I’m trying to live up to that and still elevate it, even though I’ve already been breaking records myself where I’ve defended it in Australia and Mexico for the first time and breaking the record with the time.”
Moriarty and McGuiness faced off for the title at ROH Final Battle 2025 with Moriarty getting the victory. That was a special moment for Moriarty, and he considers it one of the top 5-10 highlights of his career so far.
“Hella thank yous,” Moriarty responded when asked what their conversation was like after the match. “Just like… in disbelief and shock.”
The ROH Pure Championship was established in 2004 with a ruleset geared toward technical wrestling. A women’s version of the belt was introduced recently with Deonna Purrazzo becoming the inaugural champion.
Moriarty told AEW Unrestricted that Samoa Joe and Kosei Fujita are two dream opponents he’d love to defend the Pure title against. His biggest ambition in wrestling is to leave the industry better than he found it, and Moriarty’s goal for his title reign is to help advance the cause of pure wrestling.
ROH television is entering a new era with standalone tapings held at WJCT Studios in Jacksonville, Florida. Moriarty had a title defense on the first taping. Spoilers can be found here.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.