Wednesday night’s Dynamite will be a tribute to the late Ben “PAC” Satterley.
Known as “The Bastard,” the beloved performer from Newcastle, England died on Sunday at the age of 40.
You can catch AEW Dynamite: A Tribute to PAC at 8pm ET/5pm PT on TSN2, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
A member of the AEW roster since the promotion’s nascent days, Satterley was AEW’s first-ever double champion, holding the All-Atlantic (now International) Championship and the AEW World Trios Championships at the same time in 2022. Satterley had a number of memorable matches in AEW against the likes of Kenny Omega, Orange Cassidy and Kyle Fletcher among others.
Wednesday’s show will honour Satterley and his wrestling legacy. Speaking during Monday’s Ring of Honor tapings in Jacksonville, AEW president and booker Tony Khan praised Satterley and outlined the plans for the tribute episode.
“You’ll hear a lot about what a wonderful person Ben was this week,” a visibly emotional Khan said, “because frankly I’ve never met a person who was more beloved by his peers and his friends. It was such a pleasure to spend time with Ben outside of wrestling, as well, whether it was having dinner, watching a football match, or traveling. Ben is a very first-class person. He left behind a lovely wife and a lot of great friends and a legacy that will last forever.”
One of the matches scheduled for Wednesday night’s broadcast will be between two of Satterley’s great rivals in Ricochet and AEW World Champion Will Ospreay.
Meeting for the first time nearly 20 years ago, Satterley and Ricochet would help define a stylistic shift in wrestling with their legendary bouts in Dragon Gate in the early 2010s.
“After giving it some time, I still don’t quite know what to say,” Ricochet wrote on social media this week. “What can I say that hasn’t already been said about Ben? I start to get angry at myself for not being able to help the situation at all. Then I get sad all over again knowing my friend is gone. My heart is truly hurting. I send my condolences to his family and to our locker room. He was a class act through and through. Gravity may have forgotten him. But I know we will never forget him. I love you, Ben.”
For Ospreay, Satterley helped pave the way for British wrestlers in the modern game.
“Seeing videos like this as a young kid and hearing the legend of the Backyarder from Newcastle that could do any trick and seeing him take that to 1PW, Dragon Gate and all over the world,” Ospreay wrote with an accompanying video of a young Satterley performing. “I was chasing you from the backyard to AEW. Thank you for laying down the structure for us Brits to be able to walk on and dream to achieve the things you did.”
The outpouring of grief from throughout the industry at Satterley’s passing speaks to the high regard he was held in across the world. Wednesday night’s show hopes to give “The Bastard” his due.
