PAC (fka Neville) left WWE in 2018 amid creative disputes and a frozen contract

Benjamin Satterley, known in AEW as PAC and formerly as Neville in WWE, was found unresponsive inside a vehicle in the parking lot of a CAVA restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, at around 4 PM Sunday and was later pronounced dead at age 40. First responders were alerted to a person who appeared unconscious inside the car and were initially unable to confirm whether he was breathing.

Satterley signed with WWE in July 2012 and debuted as Adrian Neville in January 2013, winning the NXT Championship and the NXT Tag Team Championship during his NXT run. He moved to WWE’s main roster in March 2015 on Raw and captured the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on two occasions, earning the billing “King of the Cruiserweights.” WWE executive Triple H, in a tweet honoring Satterley’s legacy, credited him as a major force behind the new era in NXT.

Discontent with the booking of the Cruiserweight division and broader creative frustrations culminated in October 2017 when Neville walked out of Raw before a scheduled match against Enzo Amore. Reports at the time suggested he had quit WWE, a claim the company denied, and by November there were accounts of positive discussions about his status. In January 2018 WWE reportedly froze Neville’s contract, keeping him under contract indefinitely until an agreement on his release could be reached; multiple reports later described his departure as rooted in creative frustration and a contract dispute that was sorted in mid-2018.

By August 2018 it was reported Neville was no longer under contract with WWE and he returned to Dragon Gate, where he captured the Open the Dream Gate Championship. In January 2019 Satterley was among the early signees to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). In AEW he became the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion (AEW International Championship) and was a two-time AEW Trios Champion.

In AEW he was a member of the Death Riders faction led by Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose). His final in-ring appearance was a match against Andrade for the AEW National Championship at AEW All Out in Chicago on Saturday, and his last television appearance came in the All Out main event when he aided Moxley in the World title match against Will Ospreay. The wrestling community has reacted to his death, mourning “The Man That Gravity Forgot” and sharing tributes.

An autopsy was performed on Monday and a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office said there were no apparent signs of trauma or foul play and that the death did not appear to be suspicious. The cause and manner of Satterley’s death remain pending additional testing, which could take several weeks.