Wrestling / Pac

Bow down to your King!

"1... 2... 1, 2, 3, 4..."

*BOOM!*

Need a heavy track to hold my mind down
Break Orbit, Break Orbit
The little rich kids because I′m twisted

Benjamin Satterly (born 22 August 1986) is an English professional wrestler best known for his work in various promotions under the ring name PAC and for his time in WWE as Adrian Neville and later Neville. Before WWE he previously wrestled in many indie notable promotions such as Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Ring of Honor, and Dragon Gate. He signed with WWE in 2012 and worked under the promotion's developmental brand NXT up until the RAW right after WrestleMania 31 where he made his official roster debut in a Squash Match against Curtis Axel. He walked out on his WWE contract in October 2017, and after finally negotiating his release, returned to Dragon Gate in October 2018, and won the Open The Dragon Gate Championship in December of that year, joining the faction Real Extreme Diffusion. In January 2019, he signed on with AEW.

Back in his home country of Britain, PAC is one of only three FWA Flyweight Champions as well as the first-ever 1PW Openweight Champion. However, his most decorated title history comes with Japan's Dragon Gate, having held its Open the Dream Gate, Open the Brave Gate, Open the Triangle Gate^note three times, each as part of a different trio, and Open the Twin Gate^note with Dragon Kid championships, as well as its USA territory's Open the United Gate Championship^note with Masato Yoshino. Speaking of the States, in addition to all those titles he is also a one-time PWG^note with Roderick Strong and two-time NXT^note first with Oliver Gray, then Corey Graves tag team champion, the longest reigning former NXT Champion in history prior to the reign of Finn Bálor, a two-time Cruiserweight Champion, the inaugural AEW International Champion^note Formerly the AEW All-Atlantic Championship and a one-time AEW World Trios Champion^note With the Lucha Brothers as "Death Triangle".

---

The Bastard Tropes:

• Always Someone Better: He was this to Sami Zayn, until Takeover 3.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • In WWE: Austin Aries, Akira Tozawa & Enzo Amore.
  • In AEW: Orange Cassidy.
• Anti-Hero: After his and Enzo's Face/Heel Double-Turn. He's clearly still not a very friendly chap, but he's become the de facto leader of the 205 Live locker room in their fight against Enzo.
• Bastard Bastard: He's quite a mean fellow when he's a heel, and in his own words, his parents hadn't yet been married when he was born, making him a bastard in the literal sense.
• Beard of Evil: Returned after an extended absence, with a very full beard, and quickly re-established himself as a heel.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He and Zayn seemed to be good friends, but Neville had no problem with dicking Zayn over to retain his title at Takeover 2. Their friendship went downhill from there, although Neville seems to have been genuine in maintaining it, even doing so after losing the championship to Zayn and watching him celebrate with everyone.
• Bash Brothers: In Japan, he has been usual partners with Masato Yoshino.
• Big Damn Heroes: He rescued an unconscious Zayn from Titus O'Neil when after beating Zayn, O'Neil was about to severely injure him.
• Combat Pragmatist: One of the most important parts of his character is how determined he is to win, using any means necessary to do so.
• Crossover: Back in Dragon Gate, he once teamed up for a special occasion with El Blazer, better known as Takuya Sugi. The reason of their teaming was that Adrian was the best high-flyer in DG while Blazer was it in rival promotion El Dorado Wrestling.
• Dark Reprise: His usual theme, "Break Orbit", was remixed to have a more sinister feeling as a part of Neville's heel turn.
• Evil Brit: After his heel turn, he went full tilt into this.
• Evil Costume Switch: After his heel turn, he ditched the cape and started wearing a darker version of his usual ring gear...until SummerSlam 2017 when he wore an all-white version of said ring gear, still as a heel.
• The Face: Of IPW:UK during the 2007 King Of Europe Cup.
• Face–Heel Turn: Turned at Roadblock 2016 by attacking WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann and TJ Perkins, who both are popular babyfaces.
• Fingore: A 2019 match with WALTER saw him roll over his hand awkwardly executing a move and YIKES.
• Finishing Move:
  • Through his career, he has used a number of 450 splash and shooting star press variations.
  • In WWE, he has settled on the Red Arrow, a corkscrew shooting star press.
  • After his 2016 Face–Heel Turn, he started using the "Rings of Saturn" (but it is actually a Nagata Lock III due to having a crossface part).
  • Upon leaving WWE, he renamed his Red Arrow and Rings of Saturn, now calling them "Black Arrow" and "Brutalizer" respectively.
• Friendly Enemy/Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Sami Zayn feuded for the NXT Championship as this.
• Graceful Loser: He took Zayn's win at Takeover 3 quite well.
  • Sore Loser: However, every time he lost his Cruiserweight championship, he would come out disheveled and angry at his opponent.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Once said that while he'd pulled some dirty tricks to win on various occasions, he wasn't proud of it and wished things had gone differently... but it won't stop him from doing similar things again, if it's to win.
• Jack of All Stats: He adopted some non-aerial moves upon his 2016 Face–Heel Turn, shifting his style from being a high-flyer into an all-rounder. His arsenal of finishers also reflects this change: Red/Black Arrow (aerial move), Rings of Saturn/Brutalizer (submission hold) and a Superplex (power move), though the finisher status of the Superplex is very brief.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Subverted with his slightly deeper and much more morally ambiguous persona in NXT, but on the main roster, hits all the bullet points as far as this trope for pro wrestling goes: smaller, heroic, aerial wrestling style, and references within his gimmick to comic book superheroes (although that's not exclusively a kid thing, especially nowadays). Unlike a lot of WWE's Kid Appeal Characters, though, he's pretty well liked by the older demographic for his actual wrestling skill and his foreign roots. And, let's be honest, because a corkscrew shooting star press is freaking awesome.
• Meaningful Name: The Red Arrow is named after the RAF aerobatic display team.
  • 'Neville' refers to Neville Staple, the singer for The Specials.
• North East England: Born in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
• Older Hero Versus Younger Villain: His feud with Austin Aries, Akira Tozawa. Averted with Enzo Amore until their Face/Heel Double-Turn.
• Only One Name: He debuted in the WWE main roster drop Adrian name only known as Neville and PAC in Dragon Gate, Defiant Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling.
• Pet the Dog: When Sami declared that he'd quit if he couldn't beat Neville at Takeover 3, Neville seemed genuinely disturbed, insisting that Sami didn't need to prove anything and that he didn't need to end his career over not becoming the champion. It didn't work.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Neville, though rightfully known for his skill as a high flyer, has also flashed some deceptve strength. A recent match saw him basically deadlifting Kevin Owens, who goes about 270 or so, into a German suplex.
  • Lightning Bruiser: As far as the 205 Live roster goes. He's as agile, if not more so, than anyone in that division, yet is also very powerful and has a tremendously bulked upper body. Speaking of a tremendously bulked upper body, apparently after his WWE walkout, he took up residence in a gym somewhere and didn't emerge from it until WWE finally released him from his contract, because he went from 'tremendously bulked' to terrifying.
• Power Stable: In Dragon Gate with R.E.D,
  • Death Triangle with the Lucha Brothers In AEW
• Real Men Wear Pink: At Takeover 2.
• Red Baron: "The Man That Gravity Forgot". Also "The New Sensation" and "The King of the Cruiserweights", "The Bastard".
  • Stealth Pun: He has no announced weight. Think about it. As for the Bastard, his parents weren't married when he was born.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Real Life, Neville purportedly walked out of WWE before an October 2017 episode of RAW, citing many personal frustrations with the company, among them low pay^note Austin Aries had previously taken a shot at WWE in a post-departure interview over the fact that he made more in a six-week stretch since leaving WWE than he had in 4 months with the company, being screwed out of DVD royalties when his WM 33 match with Aries was bumped to the pre-show (excluding it from the DVD), and being used more as an enhancement talent than a legitimate star on either RAW or Smackdown.
• Spectacular Spinning: He spins a lot. This combined with his high-flying style means that rather uniquely, he wrestles with a mouthguard.
• Superhero: His gimmick seems to be an homage to comic book superheroes, with his abilities being compared to one. Stardust, at one point, takes this to its logical (illogical?) extreme and actually starts thinking that Neville (and Stephen Amell) are actual superheroes, decides to be a supervillain (as if he hadn't been acting like one already) and starts screwing with Amell in the crowd, resulting in a Summerslam match.
• Tag Team: With Oliver Grey, then Corey Graves.
• Take That!: Told Zayn to his face that everyone knows that despite his good in-ring skills, he's incapable of actually winning important matches.
• Two First Names: In NXT, averted when he was called up to the main roster where he was billed as Neville.
• Ur-Example: In AEW, he became the company's first-ever International Champion at Forbidden Door in June 2022.
• We Used to Be Friends: Approaching there with Zayn, starting when Neville won at Takeover 2. Averted following Zayn's win over him for the NXT title at Takeover 3, as he would embrace Zayn and raise his hand despite feeling bitter from losing.
  • After Neville turned heel in late 2016, Rich Swann called him out on his new attitude, referencing their days working together in Dragon Gate.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Infamously screwed Zayn over to retain his title at Takeover 2, a move that turned a lot of fans against him.
• Wild Card: Has revealed himself as being a bit too pragmatic to be a pure babyface (although some would argue he's better off for it)... but still manages to come off as a decent guy next to the extreme vanity of Tyler Breeze and the dickery of Tyson Kidd, who's a blatant Jerkass even to his own wife. Slipped into this role again after Enzo Amore won the Cruiserweight Title and became public enemy number one in the Cruiserweight Division.
• Worth It: The night after losing the Cruiserweight championship to Enzo Amore at No Mercy, Neville found himself being goaded into the ring by Enzo, who had gotten General Manager Kurt Angle to stipulate anyone who attacked Enzo during his celebration would forfeit any Cruiserweight championship matches. After listening to Enzo resoundingly mock the entire division & declare he was the only reason anyone cared, this trope came into play when Neville utterly destroyed the new champion.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Pulled one in a match with Zayn when he did a Red Arrow onto Zayn, who moved just in time. Neville injured his knee, and used said injury to take Zayn by surprise, rolling him up for the win. May also double as Determinator; the injury was real at least within the kayfabe, he was just able to tough it out better than he'd led Sami to believe at the time.
• Wrestling Monster: After his arrival to the cruiserweight division, Neville has been built up as a merciless man looking for the respect he's owed after being denied his glory on the main roster. As such, he demolishes almost every other competitor he faces. In Defiant Wrestling he never been defeated and demanding for the real competition.
• Your Mom: Hilariously invoked this trope while trading insults with Breeze, claiming that isn't the only member of his family who likes sending selfies. Breeze predictably flipped his shit, and Neville beat the hell out of him.

---