All Elite Wrestling star PAC, whose real name was Benjamin Satterley, died Sunday at age 40, one day after competing at AEW All Out near Chicago.
The Cook County Medical Examiner said Satterley died shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday in Des Plaines, Illinois. A cause of death has not been determined, and autopsy results could take several weeks.
AEW announced his death Sunday night.
PAC wrestled Andrade El Idolo for the AEW National Championship on Saturday at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The match was his final appearance in the ring.
News of Satterley’s death brought tributes from people who had worked with him throughout his career.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who worked closely with Satterley during the early years of WWE NXT, called him an “extraordinary talent and even kinder human being.” Levesque said Satterley was an important part of the period when NXT grew into its own touring and television brand.
WWE’s Nick Aldis had known Satterley for more than 20 years and shared one of the more personal remembrances.
Aldis said he unexpectedly ran into Satterley at a restaurant near Nashville International Airport just a few weeks before his death. The two talked about first connecting through MSN Messenger more than two decades earlier and where their careers had taken them since.
Aldis said he told Satterley that he was “still the best.”
“That will be how I remember him,” Aldis wrote. He described Satterley as humble despite what he could do in the ring and closed his tribute by calling him “the best of us.”
Sheamus said he first saw Satterley wrestle in 2005 and had never seen anything like him. He described Satterley as “salt of the earth, humble” and someone loved by the people who worked with him.
Big E also focused on the person behind the wrestler.
“He was a gentleman,” Big E wrote, saying Satterley was loved by many of the people who shared a locker room with him.
Natalya recalled Satterley from their years together in WWE and NXT. She said he was always respectful and kind to her and remembered his friendship and work with her husband, TJ Wilson, who wrestled as Tyson Kidd.
Natalya said Satterley’s passion for wrestling was matched by “how much respect he showed everyone around him.”
Taz had seen PAC backstage at All Out the night before his death. He called PAC an “amazing performer” and an equally good person.
Will Ospreay credited PAC with helping create a path for the British wrestlers who followed him. Ospreay said he watched videos of Satterley when he was young and followed his rise from the British independent scene to Dragon Gate and eventually major promotions around the world.
AEW President Tony Khan said Satterley “defined excellence,” pointing to his wrestling knowledge, athleticism, professionalism, and dedication to professional wrestling.
Satterley, a native of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, began wrestling in 2004. He competed around the world before signing with WWE in 2012.
He wrestled in WWE as Adrian Neville and later Neville, winning the NXT Championship and twice holding the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
After leaving WWE in 2018, Satterley returned to the PAC name and signed with AEW in 2019.
During his AEW run, PAC became the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion, with the title later renamed the AEW International Championship. He also won the AEW World Trios Championship twice.
Satterley wrestled professionally for more than 20 years, with stops in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and elsewhere.
He was 40.