PITTSBURGH – Emotion. It’s a word you’ll read a lot in this piece, because the Petersen Events Center had an immeasurable amount of words for a very sad episode. AEW Dynamite.
It was expected to be AEW’s first show after an incredible event All Out The pay-per-view was an event that mourned, mourned and celebrated the life of Benjamin Satterly, aka “The Bastard” Pac.
Satterlee died on Sunday at the age of 40, less than 24 hours after his speech All Out Andrade in a great one-on-one match with el Idolo for the National Championship in Chicago. So he wrestled for the first time in Pittsburgh Dynamite main event, the promotion honored their fallen friends – something they get to do all too often.
Since its inception in 2019, AEW has seen four wrestlers lose their lives. In December 2020, Jon Huber, known to AEW fans as Mr. Brody Lee, passed away after a battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. “Celebrating the Life of Brody Lee” series Dynamite One of the best shows AEW has ever done, with Huber’s son Brody participating in a six-man tag team match to help John Silver, Executioner Page and Alex Reynolds defeat MJF and The Inner Circle. At the end of the show, AEW Chairman Tony Khan officially retired the red belt design of the TNT Championship, with Huber’s title design becoming popular in the company. Huber’s widow Amanda and Brody put their boots in the middle of the ring as Cody Rhodes, Preston Vance and Khan consoled them.
In January 2023, Jay Briscoe (real name Jamin Pugh) died in a car accident. January 25, 2023 series Dynamite featured Jay’s brother Mark in the main event against their longtime friend and rival Jay Lethal. Mark Briscoe won the match against the Jay Driller as the locker room poured out to greet Mark on the entrance ramp and celebrate the victory, as well as his brother’s life.
And just two weeks ago, Andy Williams, aka The Butcher, died after an independent show. Williams was a fixture of AEW’s tag team division as one half of The Butcher and the Blade. His death occurred the week he was scheduled for a special episode of AEW Dynamite In honor of AEW star Rebel who is battling ALS. That Saturday CollisionAEW paid tribute to Williams.
And then Wednesday came. The entire dressing room once again poured onto the entrance stage, bowing their heads and paying their respects to Satterley with a 10-bell salute. When they looked up, one thing became hearteningly clear: This locker room isn’t just sad; this tired I’m tired of mourning. I’m tired of 10 ring greetings. You’re just tired of sobbing over the loss of a loved one. I’m tired of posting tributes to friends who have passed away on social media about how much they will be missed.
Despite all the sadness, the greatest episode of wrestling television that any company has ever produced has arrived (and that’s not entirely an exaggeration). While the wrestling was secondary to the weight the performers carried, the brilliance in the ring was the most poetic way to honor Pac.
The show kicked off with a visibly and audibly shaken Excalibur introducing the show and also introducing us to Ben, not Pac. Once behind the curtain, the man became a cute, charming and lovable friend who calls himself “Little”, who loves his work, his family, his “sausage dogs” and the hedgehogs who visit his garden.
We were then dropped to Tony Schiavone, who was standing in the ring with a framed picture of Satterley along with a wreath of flowers. Schiavone went on to praise the man behind the character and how everyone should live the way Ben lives: With kindness and as a nice person.
Next, a promo from Pac’s Death Rider stablemate Jon Moxley. After losing to Will Osprea All OutMoxley said that every day of life is worth living, and when we leave, we will be given one of two eulogies: One for what we did and one for who we were – and then, in the most terrible, terrible, but beautiful and perfect way, the last person to leave the frame after these words was Pac, what would be his last appearance on the screen.
AEW’s locker room took the stage to honor Pac with a 10-ring salute led by AEW Chairman Tony Khan. We won’t go through each match step-by-step, but there are a few spots on the card that remind us of the best moments of Pac’s career.
In the opening match, Moxley faced Orange Cassidy, one of Pac’s greatest rivals of all time. Both were clearly emotional, Cassidy needing a moment to compose herself after the bell rang. They’re a nice callback to Cassidy’s comedic scene, where he’s repeatedly walked away from Pac — a place that defines their rivalry. Pac’s intensity going against Cassidy’s indolence made for great humor as well as great matches. Moxley won the match, but it wasn’t the end. Bryan Danielson’s music hits the crowd and he makes his way to the ring. In the storyline, Moxley and the Death Riders ended the career of Danielson, who retired in real life after the Death Riders beat him nearly two years earlier. The two men exchanged glances, then hugged as Danielson began to sob.
The Elite of The Young Bucks, “The Hangman” Adam Page and Kenny Omega reunited in their first match with Omega Wrestling after losing the world championship to Will Osprey All In in late August. They faced the Don Callis Family of Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta. This match wasn’t necessarily a respect match in terms of callbacks to spots, but it was a match that featured the company’s signature team. It’s all called ELITE Wrestling. They put on a show honoring their friends with a special style of wrestling. Page delivered a sit-down tribute to Pac before the match, reminiscing about their first day of the company when Pac appeared in full gear at the opening press conference – so AEW called it one of the big four pay-per-views. Full Gear. The two would later face off in an unofficial first match in the company’s history at an independent show in Nottingham, England. The Elite would win the match after a V-Trigger and Buckshot combination, as well as a BTE trigger from the Bucks to get the pin.
Will Ospreay and Ricochet practically wrote a love letter to Pac, with several callbacks from their matches with him to the spots and offensive maneuvers he made famous from Dragongate, Ring of Honor, NXT, WWE, AEW. The match was won by Ospreay hitting Pac’s patented Black Arrow. maybe a handful of wrestlers could be drawn. — and in a nice piece of cinematography, Pac appeared on the jumbo tron over Osprey’s shoulder, as if Pac himself was standing next to Osprey as he prepared to make a move. Ospreay hitting a perfect Black Arrow to get the pin before embracing Ricochet and their respective factions was like something out of a movie. Ospreay goes to X and says he’s been practicing this move all day.
“I got to the arena at 2:00 p.m. and I was in the ring until the doors trained,” Ospreay said. “I haven’t played Black Arrow in 8 years. Something told me tonight that I could make the leap. I threw my heart out and Ben caught it. Thanks Pac.”
Persephone, Dr. A women’s trio match pitting the team of Britt Baker and Mercedes Mone against Thunder Rosa, Hyan and Pac’s fellow Death Rider Marina Shafir. Shafir got the win by brutally presenting Baker with Pac’s autograph and forcing him to beat him. Shafir wrestled an independent show the day Pac died and spoke to the crowd at that show about how grateful he was to tell Pac that he loved him.
Then came the main event as the other members of The Don Callis Family: Mark Davis, Lance Archer, Jake Doyle, Josh Alexander and Wardlow faced the Horsemen of Death: Wheeler Utah, Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia and Gabe Kidd. When Moxley came out with the group, he had already wrestled his own match and joined the commentary table to help call the main event. There was confusion in the air as the two groups faced off. Would there be a handicap game with Death Riders fighting Pac in spirit as the fifth man? Or will a mystery member enter the ring? In the end it was the last.
In a rare bit of wrestling excellence on such an eventful night, Bryan Danielson’s music hits, only this time he’s come out of retirement to help out the riders of death, stepping into the ring in gear. There was so much going on throughout the match that usually involves 10 people, but Danielson looked like the American Dragon we all remember. And he wasn’t just playing the hits, he was taking hits on his surgically repaired neck – the reason he stayed away from the ring. The Death Riders won, then they stood in the ring with their hands clasped as a tribute to Ben’s life as he performed on the jumbotron. final shot of Dynamite As chants of “He’s Our Bastard” rang through the crowd, it was Pac’s empty chair to begin the Death Riders’ entrance.
There are not enough words in the English language to praise everyone involved in making this show possible, especially Jon Moxley. Despite losing a close friend, he not only participated in a match, but was a line throughout the show. While AEW has many all-time greats on its roster, whether it’s their EVPs The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) and Kenny Omega, or their world champion Ospreay, Moxley is the undisputed Ace the promotion calls upon when the going gets tough. In the words of Adam Blampied, if you were to send an AEW representative to a foreign country, it would be Mox.
The video memories of Cash Wheeler, Jay White, Page, Darby Allin, Swerve Strickland, Bryce Remsburg and many others who wanted everyone to know how cute their friends were were as beautiful as they were tragic. AEW has proven to be on their level when it comes to tribute shows. While these shows are always done with grace, love, and always seem to hit all the right notes, we hope they never have to do it again.
For those of us who only knew him as Pac and not Ben Satterley, those in AEW made it clear with every tear they cried and every word they spoke that he was more of a damn than perfect professional wrestler. By all accounts, he might have been a damn perfect person. So, in the words of the man himself, “Don’t you dare forget about the Bastard.”