Corey Graves remembers the first time he saw Benjamin Satterley as a young wrestler, and nothing about the visual screamed future world-class performer. Then the bell rang, PAC started moving, and everything changed.
Graves shared his memories during WWE’s tribute video honoring PAC, recalling an early encounter with Satterley in England around 2007 or 2008. At first glance, Graves said PAC looked pretty ordinary.
“He was just a young kid with his baby blue biker shorts and black kick pads, kind of unremarkable.”
Then people actually saw him wrestle. Graves watched Satterley improve at an absurd rate until there was little argument about where he belonged among the best wrestlers in the business.
“Until you saw what Ben could do inside the ring and almost overnight, it seemed like he was everywhere.”
“He was getting better every time he got in the ring and surpassing his peers to the point where by this point Ben was one of, if not the best in ring performer in the business.”
The two eventually crossed paths again in Spain under circumstances Graves still finds hilarious. A promoter thought PAC resembled Disney’s Tarzan and decided to lean all the way into it. Getting destroyed by PAC worked out surprisingly well for Graves.
“The booker was enamored with the fact that Ben sort of bore a resemblance to Disney’s Tarzan. So they decided to put him in a leopard print loincloth and have him beat me up.”
“I did such a great job of being beaten up by Ben that I got a full time gig over there.”
Years later, they were reunited in NXT and became tag-team partners despite having completely different personalities. PAC went on to become one of the defining wrestlers of early NXT before eventually joining AEW.
Graves admitted he simply assumed there would always be another time to see his old friend. He also echoed something that has been repeated over and over since Satterley’s death at 40.
“I was certain that I was going to get to see him again. And when I got the phone call on Sunday, my world kind of shattered.”
“There are very few people in this business who you can’t find anybody willing to say a negative word about, but Ben was that guy.”
PAC’s talent was obvious once he started wrestling, but Graves’ story shows how quickly that talent went from something seen in small buildings to something wrestlers everywhere were talking about.
What do you make of Corey Graves saying PAC became one of wrestling’s best almost overnight, and what part of Neville’s rise through WWE stands out most to you? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
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