The word disbelief is sometimes used as a figurative term, but I can honestly say that I’m literally stunned and can’t believe the news that All Elite Wrestling star, Pac passed away at the age of just 40 yesterday, less than 24 hours after he worked the opening match of the All Out pay-per-view in Chicago against Andrade.
As of this writing in the early hours of Monday morning, no cause of death for the real-life Benjamin Satterley has been announced. Although, All Elite Wrestling officially confirmed his passing on social media around 9:30 PM Sunday night.
Obviously, more news on the circumstances of this sudden and unexpected passing will come to light in the next few days, but if I had to guess I’d say that there had to be something specifically health-related rather than an accident. For example, when Jay Briscoe tragically died at the age of just 38 a few years ago in a car accident, the initial reports noted the wreck as the reason for his death.
Anyone that dies at a young age without any diagnosed illness is shocking, but for a top-tier athlete, one of the most graceful performers of the current generation, to pass away a day after a match on live pay-per-view is truly unbelievable. How can someone of that statue, in that type of physical condition, and able to soar through the air on television be gone the following day?
I write a few thousand words about professional wrestling a week between the few different articles to cover the happenings of the industry. As a commentator for the independent scene in Pittsburgh, I usually call about a dozen hours of live wrestling a month with events usually three of the four weekends a month. But, I sincerely don’t know what to say at this point.
As we know, Andy “The Butcher” Williams died suddenly at an Enjoy Wrestling event in Pittsburgh earlier this month at the age of 48, a death that the professional wrestling world is still reeling from so for another active wrestler to pass away less than a day after a bout just a few weeks later is almost unfathomable. I don’t mean to sound repetitive, but the notion that Pac, who didn’t appear to suffer any major injuries during the bout against Andrade on Saturday, died in the prime of his life just doesn’t make any sense. In a form of ironic sadness, Pac posted a picture of himself and The Butcher shaking hands backstage in recognition of Williams’ passing just a few weeks ago.
Sure, I could write extensively about his in-ring career, breaking into the sport during his teenage years as a standout of the ill-fated 1PW project in his native country of England before he made a name for himself in Dragon Gate in Japan, but all of that seems so hollow in the big picture. I could list the titles that he won in NXT, WWE, and AEW, but again that all seems superficial when you take into account that his life was cut short when he clearly had much more to contribute to his craft, especially because he was already working for the second biggest group in the United States.
Maybe it was because of his background as a native of the UK or his smaller statue, but Pac carried some of that Dynamite Kid in-ring explosiveness with him. The main difference was that Tom Billington worked as a kamikaze, whereas Pac was graceful through the air.
His footprint on the modern era is important in a few different ways. We saw how impactful the talent that went through the NXT system has been over the past several years. Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, and a handful of others learned the WWE playbook through their tenures on the developmental brand before they became stars on the main roster.. As a former NXT champion during the brand’s early days, Adrian Neville was one of the key pieces of the puzzle for how the concept got off the ground. Keep in mind, outside of Ohio Valley Wrestling, and a brief period of time with Les Thatcher’s Heartland Wrestling Association, the developmental programs for the WWE were a mixed bag over the past three decades. It was difficult to miss the mark on developing talent when guys like Neville, Rollins, and Claudio were among the early cornerstones of the project.
After he debuted on the main roster in 2015, despite the progress made in NXT, Pac was a victim of circumstances in some ways since Vince McMahon wasn’t going to invest too much stock into someone of his size, especially when Vince had gotten rather lackadaisical in his philosophy to default to Brock Lesnar as a booking crutch for a major portion of the mid-2010s. That’s basically the same reason that the cruiser weight division was doomed, the WWE at least at that time, wasn’t going to spotlight a smaller weight class. That’s why it wasn’t surprising that Neville was underutilized as the Cruiser weight champion. By the end of 2017, frustrated with his assignment to work with Enzo Amore, who was more or less the complete opposite of him in terms of in-ring ability, the real-life Satterley walked out of a Raw taping, opting to stay home instead of working with Enzo on television. Satterley’s WWE contract was frozen in early-2018 and he wasn’t granted a release until that August.
After a return to Dragon Gate, Pac signed a deal with All Elite Wrestling and had worked with the company more or less since its inception. For whatever reason, there were stretches of time when Pac randomly disappeared from television without explanation. Similar to what I wrote about The Butcher’s passing earlier this month, who was or wasn’t underutilized for a scripted show seems so secondary within the scope of the current circumstances. As far as Pac’s All Elite career, when he was there, he was such a solid pro that you simply aren’t going to find a subpar Pac match. Yes, there were some stints that should’ve been given more importance or spotlighted in a better fashion, but from strictly a performance standpoint, Pac was always a dependable worker. Maybe that will be one of the major pieces of his legacy, aside from the amazing aerial skills, he was always a guy that you could count on for a solid match. Names like Brad Armstrong and Bobby Eaton are in that category as well.
Of course, tributes from peers and fans have rightfully flooded social media. During an era when everyone is trying to get clicks online for websites or videos on Youtube, nobody had anything negative to say about Pac during his more than twenty years as a pro wrestler. The notion from those that knew him seems to be that Pac was a superb pro wrestler, but Ben Satterley was an even better person. The legendary Bill Dundee passed away on the same day as The Butcher earlier this month, and as I wrote about the Memphis star, since he was 82, he lived a long and accomplished life so it was more of a celebration of life rather than mourning a death. Unfortunately, for Pac to pass away in the prime of his life, there’s only a tremendous level of grief around the news of his death. Hopefully, as time goes on, that grief can slowly be replaced with fondness for the performer and the person that Ben Satterley was.
I’m not religious, but if it’s possible, it would be wonderful if Pac gets a chance to shake hands with Andy Williams again today. My sincere condolences to Satterley’s friends and family at this difficult time.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
