Pac (wrestler)
Benjamin Satterley, better known by his ring name Pac, is an English professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling, where he performs under the epithet "The Bastard" Pac and is a member of the Death Riders. He is a former one-time and inaugural AEW International Champion and former two-time AEW World Trios Champion, at one point holding both the International and Trios titles simultaneously to become the first double champion in AEW history.
Satterley is noted for his high-flying style and aerial attacks, which has earned him the nicknames "The Super Superman" and later "The Man That Gravity Forgot". He began his wrestling career under the ring name Pac in his native north east England with the Independent Wrestling Federation. After establishing himself throughout the country with promotions such as Real Quality Wrestling and One Pro Wrestling, he began to perform overseas, most notably for American promotions such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Ring of Honor, and Chikara, as well as the Japanese promotion Dragongate, where he won the Open the Brave, Triangle, and Twin Gate Championship. He is a former PWG World Tag Team Champion and winner of PWG's inaugural Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament.
From 2012 to 2015, Satterley wrestled under the ring name Adrian Neville in NXT, the developmental territory of WWE. He won the NXT Tag Team Championship twice, with his first reign coming as one half of the inaugural champions with Oliver Grey and his second reign being with Corey Graves. He is also a one-time NXT Champion, making him the first man to have held both the NXT Championship and the NXT Tag Team Championship. He was promoted to the main roster under the shortened ring name Neville in 2015, and began competing in the cruiserweight division in 2016, becoming a record two-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion.
After leaving WWE in 2018, Satterley reverted to his previous ring name of Pac and returned to Dragongate, holding the Open the Dream Gate Championship for much of his time there and joining the villainous R.E.D. stable. He assumed the moniker of "The Bastard", which he continues to use. In 2019, he left Dragon Gate and signed with AEW, where he became a member of the Death Triangle alongside Penta El Zero M and Rey Fénix.
Early life
Benjamin Satterley was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 22 August 1986, the son of Jill and Stephen Satterley. He was extremely active as a child and participated in sports such as basketball, football, hockey, roller hockey, and swimming. His interest in wrestling was sparked by one of his aunts, who was a fan of the WWF; his parents had banned him from watching wrestling at their house, so he would go to his aunt's house to watch it. His favourite wrestlers were The Undertaker and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.Professional wrestling career
European competition (2004–2012)
By the age of 16, Satterley had wrestled with backyard wrestling promotions TWXW in Gateshead and FXW in Middlesbrough, as well as the promotions Scarborough Wrestling Alliance in Scarborough and Essex Championship Wrestling in Essex. Even as one of the younger wrestlers in the group, his technical ability and athleticism ensured he was always in the most entertaining matches. Many of the FXW roster went on to form 3Count Wrestling, to which he would later return. He started training as a wrestler on a more permanent basis at the age of 18 at St Joseph's Hall in Gateshead, which he later described as "pretty much the only wrestling school in the area". He was trained by Mark Sloan.Satterley made his debut under the ring name Pac at Independent Wrestling Federation on 27 March 2004, losing to Assassin. For the first two years of his career, he wrestled mainly for IWF and 3 Count Wrestling. He won his first championship on 26 August 2005 when he teamed up with Harry Pain to defeat Chris Prime. In 2006, he began to wrestle all across Britain and Europe. He later performed in 3 Count Wrestling, where he debuted on 14 October 2005 and defeated EdEn and Falcon in the opening match. Pac went on to capture the 3CW North East Championship on 24 February 2006. He then captured the 3CW Triple Crown Championship at an ICW event, which he held for 110 days. Pac was defeated in his last 3CW match by Liam Thomson on 30 April 2010.
Pac made his debut for International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom in April 2006, wrestling for the IPW:UK Title on his debut, losing in a triple threat against Leroy Kincaide and champion and match winner Martin Stone. He later had two more opportunities at the top title in IPW:UK, against Stone and then against Andy Boy Simmonz, but would lose both. After a September 2006 triple threat against Kevin Steen and El Generico, the two Canadian wrestlers recommended Satterley to PWG head-booker Super Dragon. He made his PWG debut two months later as a result.
After joining One Pro Wrestling in May 2006, Pac became the first-ever Openweight Champion on 26 November after winning a battle royal. He successfully retained the title on several occasions before losing it to James Wallace on 30 June 2007 in a match that started immediately after Pac retained the title in a four-way match. On 29 December, Pac failed to reclaim the title after losing to then-champion Darren Burridge.
In late April, Pac represented International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom in the prestigious King of Europe Cup. He defeated Trent Acid in the first round before falling to Nigel McGuinness in the quarter finals.
On 29 September 2006, Pac teamed with Sheamus O'Shaunessy to defeat Micky L and Tony Spitfire for British Championship Wrestling's Retribution event. He returned for BCW No Blood, No Sympathy VI in 2008 to score a singles victory over CJ Hunter. Pac made his as yet final appearance for BCW at BCW Pac Is Back on 12 April 2019 where he unsuccessfully challenged BT Gunn for the BCW Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat with Jody Fleisch.
In 2007, Satterley began wrestling in the Italy-based Nu-Wrestling Evolution under the ring name Jungle Pac. As Jungle Pac, Satterley's character was that of a jungle native, emphasised by his attire consisting of a loincloth or a lava-lava over his trunks, as well as being billed from "The Jungle". On 19 April 2008, Jungle Pac competed in a four-way ladder match for the vacant Cruiserweight Championship against Juventud Guerrera, Matt Cross and Super Nova, which was won by Guerrera. On 26 October, Jungle Pac wrestled against Guerrera and Super Nova in a three-way match for the Cruiserweight Title, but was unable to win the title. He wrestled against Guerrera and Nova in two more three-way matches for the title on 1 and 2 November, but was again unable to win the title. Pac wrestled in Premier British Wrestling on two occasions before signing with WWE.
On 17 November 2009, Pac debuted in American Wrestling Rampage during its European Invasion tour, and lost to Dunkan Disorderly in a three-way match also involving Shawn Maxer for the promotion's No Limits Championship. Two days later, he wrestled against Disorderly in a singles match for the title, but was defeated. After defeating Disorderly in tag-team matches over the next two days, Pac and Maxer wrestled against Disorderly for the No Limits Title in another three-way match on 22 November, but were again defeated. After trading wins with El Generico over the next few days, Pac finally won the title after defeating Generico and new champion Michael Knight on 29 November. After successfully retaining the title against Generico on 4 and 6 December, Pac lost the title to Dunkan Disorderly on 8 December. The next day, Pac and Generico defeated Disorderly and Shawn Maxer in a tag-team match.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2006–2008)
On 17 November 2006, Pac made his debut in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He competed against A.J. Styles in a losing effort of the first night of All Star Weekend IV. The next night, he faced El Generico in a match that was considered by those in attendance a serious Match of the Year contender. Pac returned to PWG on 24 February 2007, defeating Kevin Steen to pick up his first win in the promotion. He faced Generico again on 7 April, this time in the main event of the first night of All Star Weekend V with the PWG World Championship on the line. Generico once again came out on top. The next night, Pac faced All Japan Pro Wrestling star Kaz Hayashi in a losing effort.Pac was originally scheduled to compete in singles matches during the first PWG Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on 20 and 21 May. However, Roderick Strong's original partner, Jack Evans, had been called back to Dragon Gate at the last moment and decided to have Pac fill the vacant spot. After defeating Super Dragon and Davey Richards in the first round, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino in the second round and then The Briscoe Brothers in the finals, Pac and Strong won the tournament and as a result, became the new World Tag Team Champions. In their first title defence, Pac and Strong defeated The Havana Pitbulls at PWG's event Roger Dorn Night on 10 June. From 15 to 22 July, Pac took part and competed for Dragon Gate's biggest tour of the year, Wrestle Jam, where he and El Generico represented PWG alongside Ring of Honor representatives Austin Aries, Delirious, Jack Evans, Matt Sydal and Jimmy Rave.
On 29 July, Pac and Strong were scheduled to defend their World Tag Team Championship against the Briscoe Brothers in a 2 out of 3 falls match. However, they were replaced by Kevin Steen and El Generico, who ended up winning World Tag Team Championship in a one fall match. Pac was among the 24 participants in the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament in Burbank, California, that ran from 31 August to 2 September. He defeated Jack Evans in a first round match then Claudio Castagnoli in a second round match before losing to eventual tournament winner Cima in a semi-final round match. After almost a year-long absence from the company, Pac made his return to PWG at All Star Weekend VII on 30 August 2008, where he picked up the win for the team of himself and The Young Bucks by pinning Kevin Steen, who teamed with El Generico and Susumu Yokosuka. The next night, Pac was unsuccessful in his attempt to win the World Championship from then-champion Chris Hero. Pac returned to PWG on 23 July 2011, facing Kevin Steen in a losing effort. On 29 January 2012, at Kurt Russellreunion 3, Pac teamed with El Generico and Masato Yoshino to defeat Akira Tozawa, Kevin Steen and Super Dragon in a six-man tag team main event.