Ben Satterley. Image via: Getty Images
He was 40. Satterley died on September 27, less than 24 hours after losing to Andrade El Idolo in the AEW National Championship match at All Out in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. He had been with AEW since 2019. Emergency crews responded, and Satterley was pronounced dead at 4:08 p.m. local time. Satterley’s last match was the September 26 loss to Andrade. It was the closing night of a ring career that began in 2004 and ran for more than two decades. The wrestler first built a name with Dragon Gate, where he won multiple titles and set a record 447-day reign as Open the Brave Gate Champion. WWE signed him in 2012. After going back to Dragon Gate and winning the Open the Dream Gate Championship, the former NXT champion signed with AEW in 2019.
He worked as Adrian Neville, then simply Neville, and won the NXT Championship, two NXT Tag Team Championship reigns and two WWE Cruiserweight Championship runs.
Authorities said soon after that nothing pointed to trauma or foul play and his death did not look suspicious. Benjamin Satterley, known to wrestling fans as PAC, died of bronchial asthma, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled. The office classified the death of the AEW star as natural. For nearly three weeks the cause stayed pending while testing continued. Friday’s finding closes that question, though the office has shared little else. An autopsy was done, but the cause and manner stayed pending until additional testing was finished. The Newcastle upon Tyne native also appeared later that night during the AEW World Championship main event between Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley. Satterley became the first All-Atlantic Champion, a belt later renamed the International Championship. He also held the AEW World Trios Championship as part of Death Triangle.