AEW Dynamite Honors PAC: Wrestling Says Goodbye to Benjamin Satterley
There are nights when professional wrestling is about championships, rivalries, wins and losses. And then there are nights when none of those things seem quite as important. Tonight showed you both sides of the coin. The dark and the light. A life gone too soon. The sacrifice to achieve such a legacy. Pro Wrestling comes at a cost that we often take for granted until it comes to collect too close to home. But tonight, on AEW Dynamite, we're seeing when the dark and light converge and show us the beauty of what we do and how what we do touches the lives of others...
Wednesday's AEW Dynamite from Pittsburgh was dedicated to the life and legacy of Benjamin Satterley — PAC — and from the opening moments of the broadcast, it was obvious this wasn't going to be an ordinary episode of television.
It couldn't be.
For two hours, wrestling became the language a locker room used to say goodbye. And as someone who spent years inside wrestling rings myself, that's what struck me most about this show. Wrestlers don't always communicate grief with words. Sometimes we do it through the thing we've devoted our lives to.
We wrestle.
"Your Favorite Wrestler's Favorite Wrestler:" Dynamite opened with Excalibur speaking about PAC before Tony Schiavone stood inside the ring beside a photograph and floral memorial for him. AEW then aired footage filmed following All Out featuring PAC alongside Jon Moxley and the Death Riders — footage that suddenly carried an entirely different weight. The roster gathered on the stage. A ten-bell salute followed. Some wrestlers were visibly emotional. Others simply stood there.
And throughout the night, one description of PAC felt particularly appropriate: Your favorite wrestler's favorite wrestler. I've always thought there is a different kind of respect wrestlers have for certain performers. Fans see the matches. Wrestlers see everything underneath them...
The timing. The footwork. The conditioning. The positioning. The instincts. The ability to protect somebody while making something look devastating. The hundreds of tiny decisions happening between the things everyone remembers.
PAC was one of those wrestlers.
Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy:
The Continental Championship opened the wrestling portion of the show, with Jon Moxley defending against Orange Cassidy. Both men's histories with PAC made the pairing especially appropriate. They didn't abandon their characters because it was a tribute show, either — something I appreciated. There was still humor. There was still competition. There was still Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy.
But PAC was there in the details.
Both men attempted the Brutalizer during the match, weaving one of PAC's signature submissions into their own story. Moxley ultimately retained the championship.
Then the music hit.
Bryan Danielson.
Danielson walked into the ring wearing a PAC shirt and stood across from Moxley. Considering everything those two men have been through on AEW television, watching them embrace was powerful without needing another word. Sometimes wrestling doesn't need a promo.
The Elite Reunite: Kenny Omega, "Hangman" Adam Page and The Young Bucks reunited to face Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta of the Don Callis Family. Beforehand, Page struggled through an emotional remembrance of PAC.
Their history stretches back to AEW's earliest days, and Page's reaction was one of those moments that stripped away television characters and reminded you there are actual people underneath all of this.
Once the bell rang, though, they wrestled.
And they wrestled like PAC would have wanted them to.
Fast. Chaotic. Physical.
Omega ultimately put Beretta away with the One-Winged Angel, giving The Elite the victory. There is something beautifully appropriate about having wrestlers honor a wrestler by going out there and tearing the house down.
Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet: If there was one match on paper that felt almost tailor-made for a PAC tribute, it was this.
Will Ospreay and Ricochet.
Two wrestlers whose careers intersect with PAC's influence, style and history in different ways. They embraced before the bell. Then they went to work. That's another thing wrestlers understand: honoring somebody doesn't necessarily mean slowing down and being solemn. Sometimes the greatest compliment you can give another wrestler is to wrestle your ass off for them.
Ospreay and Ricochet did exactly that. There were deliberate pieces of PAC throughout the match, including Ricochet utilizing offense associated with him. But the finish was perfect...
Ospreay climbed to the top rope.
Black Arrow.
One.
Two.
Three.
Will Ospreay defeated Ricochet with PAC's move.
And afterward, the emotion came pouring out. That wasn't simply somebody borrowing another wrestler's finisher for a pop. In wrestling, moves can become signatures. They become pieces of our identities. Fans can see a silhouette begin to position itself for a move and know exactly what's coming.
For one night, the Black Arrow belonged to everyone who missed him.
Marina Shafir Carries PAC With Her: Mercedes Moné, Persephone and Britt Baker faced Marina Shafir, Thunder Rosa and Hyan in six-woman competition.
Shafir's connection to PAC made this particularly emotional. She came to the ring wearing a football jersey PAC had given her. Again, the tribute didn't require the match to stop being a wrestling match. Everyone still played their roles and competed.
But when the finish came, there was no mistaking its meaning. Marina Shafir applied the Brutalizer.
Submission.
Victory.
Another piece of PAC lived inside the wrestling. And maybe that's what I'll remember most about this episode. AEW didn't simply put together tribute videos and ask people to tell stories about Benjamin Satterley.
They allowed PAC's wrestling to become part of the show.
His moves.
His rivals.
His partners.
His influence.
His fingerprints were everywhere.
Bryan Danielson Wrestles Again: Then AEW had one more surprise. The scheduled ten-man main event featured the Death Riders against the Don Callis Family. Jon Moxley joined commentary. Only four members of the Death Riders initially stood in the ring.
Then Bryan Danielson's music hit again. This time, he wasn't wearing street clothes. He was dressed to wrestle. Danielson joined Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia, Gabe Kidd and Wheeler Yuta against Josh Alexander, Mark Davis, Lance Archer, Jake Doyle and the returning Wardlow.
It marked Danielson's first televised match since 2024.
And of all nights for him to step back through those ropes, it was this one.
Daniel Garcia eventually pinned Doyle to give the Death Riders the victory. The match itself was exactly what a ten-man tag should be — controlled chaos, bodies moving everywhere, personalities colliding and everyone getting an opportunity to contribute.
But the result almost felt secondary.
Bryan Danielson wrestled again because this night was for PAC.
More Than A Results Show: Throughout Dynamite, wrestlers including Cash Wheeler, Jay White, Hangman Page, Ricochet and others shared memories. Renee Paquette read a statement from PAC's family. Championships were placed inside the ring beside PAC's towel. PAC armbands appeared throughout matches.
And finally, AEW closed the night with a tribute video celebrating his life and career. I've covered plenty of wrestling shows where the story afterward is who won, who lost, what angle happened and what comes next.
This wasn't one of them.
The results mattered because wrestling mattered to PAC. But Wednesday night wasn't really about advancing stories. It was about telling one final one. Professional wrestling is strange that way.
You can spend years fighting someone, tagging with them, traveling with them, bleeding with them, trusting them with your body and occasionally trusting them with pieces of yourself you don't show many other people.
Then the bell rings.
Eventually, for all of us, it rings for the last time.
Benjamin Satterley left behind something most wrestlers spend their entire careers chasing: a body of work respected by fans and wrestlers alike. But watching Dynamite, it became obvious he left behind something more important than that.
He left people who loved him.
On Wednesday night, they didn't just tell us.
They showed us in the language they knew best.
They wrestled.
Rest easy, PAC.
Forever our Bastard.