Before Ricochet, Will Ospreay, and Ninja Mack enraptured wrestling fans far and wide, a spectacular high-flyer named Benjamin Satterley blew everyone’s minds. His flashy moves regularly made headlines – the man’s Shooting Star Press will forever be the stuff of legend.
It doesn’t matter how you pronounce his ring name – you’ll instantly recognize him and quickly take note of his unflinching brutality and eye-popping aerial display. The man we’re about to detail here is All Elite Wrestling’s resident “Bastard,†Pac. Before he made his way over to Tony Khan’s wrestling upstart, Pac grew his legend on the independent wrestling scene. And soon after, he began appearing for companies such as ROH, PWG, Dragon Gate, and eventually made his way to WWE.
Let’s go into further detail about the always smug Pac and why he’s garnered so much recognition during his career.
A 16-year-old Satterley turned his love for professional wrestling into something serious once he began competing for backyard wrestling organizations. Later on, Pac’s wrestling career officially got its start in North East England with a promotion by the name of the Independent Wrestling Federation. Afterward, Pac began turning even more heads as “The Man That Gravity Forgot†during his tenure with assorted wrestling feds in the United Kingdom. The companies he competed for during his early tenure include 3 Count Wrestling, International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, and One Pro Wrestling.
Pac’s awe-inspiring high-flying feats and astounding athleticism came into play as he faced off with fellow UK indie wrestling greats, such as Nigel McGuiness, Darren Burridge, and Dunkan Disorderly. Pac even did some work with the Italy-based wrestling company Nu-Wrestling Evolution, which saw him adopt a gimmick that was quite similar to that of the one currently in play for AEW’s Jungle Boy. During his stay there, the man rechristened as “Jungle Pac†locked horns with the likes of Juventud Guerrera, Super Nova, and Matt Cross. Pac eventually ran into one of his most storied rivals in El Generico (WWE’s Sami Zayn) while he competed for American Wrestling Rampage during the company’s UK tour. Both men showed immense chemistry with each other that would play out in the States for a well-known wrestling indie located in Southern California…
Pac’s notoriety truly began taking shape once he started appearing in more prominent wrestling feds within the States and in Japan. His time spent within the noted Southern Californian indie fed Pro Wrestling Guerrilla earned him a larger following and more critical acclaim. Pac’s competition within PWG consists of a who’s who of the very best in the business – his wars with AJ Styles, El Generico, Kevin Steen, and Chris Hero are the stuff of legend. Pac even claimed the promotion’s World Tag Team Championship alongside Roderick Strong during the first-ever PWG Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. Pac also spent some time wrestling for a slew of other companies as his legend grew – he wrestled for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling while in Portugal, debuted for Ring of Honor during one of the company’s UK tours & US shows, and also did some work for New Japan Pro Wrestling as a member of the 2012 Best of the Super Juniors Tournament.
The company that truly put Pac at the forefront of wrestling fans’ minds is Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling. The incredibly fast-paced theatrics and high-flying wizardry from the promotion’s roster proved to be the perfect fit for Pac’s repertoire. In Dragon Gate’s home base within Japan and with the promotion’s USA arm, Pac aligned himself with the World-1 stable. Eventually, Pac and Masato Yoshino became the inaugural Open the United Gate tag team champions for Dragon Gate USA. Pac’s time spent with Dragon Gate also saw him join forces with World-1 International and lock horns with the likes of Ricochet, Cima, K-ness, and Dragon Kid.
Pac’s move up to the biggest wrestling company in the world saw him compete for WWE from 2012 up until 2018. Under the new ring name of Adrian Neville, he started working under the developmental banner of NXT. Neville defeated Sakamoto during his NXT television debut. Afterward, he went on a tear via some impressive accomplishments – he and Oliver Grey (better known as British Ambition) captured the NXT Tag Team Championship as its inaugural titleholders, won the same belts alongside Corey Graves, and won the NXT Championship after defeating Bo Dallas in a ladder match at NXT ArRIVAL. After dropping the NXT Championship to Sami Zayn at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution, Neville competed in a few more noteworthy NXT bouts before he got called up to the main roster.
Neville made his main roster debut during the March 30, 2015, episode of Raw by defeating Curtis Axel. At first, Neville played the role of a sort of superhero-type character that clashed with the likes of Stardust (Cody Rhodes’ previous Goldust-like gimmick) and Wade Barrett. Neville was forced to go on the shelf for a few months after sustaining an injury to his ankle during a match with Chris Jericho on Raw in 2016. Upon making his return, Neville continued wrestling as a babyface. But after a successful Cruiserweight Championship defense from Rich Swann at the 2018 Roadblock: End of the Line PPV, Neville turned into the heel fans know him as today by attacking the champ and TJ Perkins.
Soon after, the newly turned Neville began taking down several members of the Cruiserweight Division. He finally captured main roster singles gold once he defeated Swann for the Cruiserweight Championship at the 2017 Royal Rumble. Neville reigned strong as he beat several worthy opponents, such as Austin Aries, Perkins, and Akira Tozawa. Neville eventually dropped the belt to Enzo Amore at No Mercy 2017. And soon after, trouble in paradise began between Pac and WWE.
On October 9, 2017, it was reported that Neville had walked out during an episode of Raw after he was scheduled to lose another match to Enzo. Multiple wrestling news sites reported that Nevile had done this due to his unhappy state within the company. By November 2017, rumors began circulating that Neville and WWE were preparing to mend their relationship. But it turns out those seemingly positive talks never truly went anywhere – in January 2018, WWE chose to freeze Neville’s contract and keep him there until he was officially let go. And then on August 24, 2018, it was reported that Neville had finally gotten his full WWE release.
Neville ditched his WWE moniker and returned to the name that made him so famous in the first place upon his return to Dragon Gate on October 2, 2018. Pac was now back in fine form as he aligned himself with the company’s R.E.D. stable and defeated Shingo Takagi in his return bout. Throughout the remainder of 2018 and 2019, Pac competed for several indie wrestling companies against an array of equally talented opponents – he engaged in some intriguing bouts with the likes of Rampage (Defiant Wrestling), Amazing Red (Revolution Pro Wrestling), and Penta El Zero M (TNT Extreme Wrestling). On December 4, 2018, Pac went on to defeat Masato Yoshino for the Open the Dream Gate Championship. This title reign lasted until July 21, 2019, where he dropped the strap to Ben-K.
Pac’s current home promotion is now All Elite Wrestling. His signing with the company was announced on January 8, 2019. His most notable feuds within AEW thus far include “Hangman†Adam Page, Kenny Omega, and Orange Cassidy. Later on, he chose to create a new stable alongside The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix) called The Death Triangle. Since then, Pac has fought alongside his Lucha Libre stablemates against Eddie Kingston, The Butcher & The Blade, and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). Pac’s resurgence within AEW has done wonders for “The Bastard†thus far and pushed him to an even higher level that he was never able to attain during his WWE main roster run.