Cody Rhodes Emotional Tribute To PAC: Reveals Special Gesture

Cody Rhodes has opened up about the passing of Benjamin Satterley, better known to wrestling fans as PAC, while revealing a special gesture organized by Kevin Owens to honor the late wrestler.

Nearly a month after Satterley’s passing, tributes continue to pour in from throughout the professional wrestling industry. Rhodes became the latest to reflect on his experiences with PAC during an interview with WrestleTalk while promoting the upcoming Street Fighter movie.

During the conversation, Rhodes revealed that Owens recently arranged for a camera to be set up backstage at a WWE television event, giving those who knew Satterley an opportunity to record personal messages about him.

“I wanna share something that was really nice, and I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing but Kevin Owens, at the most recent TV, decided that — and I hope you get to see these. Maybe they’ll just be for the family — but he had a camera set up for all of us to go speak to, if we wanted to speak about Ben, and I thought long and hard about what’s my relationship there because we weren’t incredibly great friends but, if you look at your career and you look over across the ring at these milestones: SummerSlam in Barclays Center. To have the Arrow crossover match, and there he is, there’s Ben, and then you look at my time away and being one of the OGs when AEW started and there’s Ben, and I’m looking through our texts and you start to think, wow, we were married to each other at one point through live events when it was Stardust versus Neville. I was riding with Brodie (Lee) and you, and they were going over what has better exports: Newcastle or Rochester, New York, and both of them to not be here anymore…”

Rhodes went on to explain that although he and Satterley were never particularly close friends, their careers crossed paths repeatedly over the years. From their time together in WWE to the early days of AEW, Rhodes recalled being struck by how comfortable PAC always seemed with his identity as a performer.

That confidence, according to Rhodes, was something he admired and ultimately learned from throughout his own career.

“What I’ll say about Ben is never did I meet a wrestler of my generation or even younger, whatever it be, that knew himself more, that knew who he was more, and when you’re like me, you’re someone who’s trying to find out who I am. Who I am on screen, who I am behind the scenes, how do I look, how do I talk. That’s almost intimidating, and I’m better off as a human, as a wrestler, as a storyteller for having met him to learn that lesson.”

Rhodes also praised Satterley’s ability to recognize authenticity in professional wrestling, describing him as someone who could immediately distinguish between genuine personalities and those simply putting on an act.

He concluded his tribute by discussing PAC’s influence on future generations of wrestlers, particularly those hoping to replicate his high-risk in-ring style.

“I mean, a better way to put it is the ultimate bullsh\*t meter. The ultimate person to know what’s performative, what’s not, and when you could go at the level he went in the ring, you have that right and that ability and he will be beyond missed. It will echo and it will echo throughout wrestling schools all across the country, who wanna emulate the style that he had, and I would say to those who are doing that, nobody looked like they were taking more risks but was more sufficient, efficient, and safe. A pro’s pro, a man’s man, an incredible human being.”