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The news of the death of Pac, which came late last night, was a gut punch to wrestling fans. How are we, how are his friends and colleagues, supposed to process the death of someone we just saw compete at the highest level of the industry just one night before, looking hale and hearty while doing so?
Pac’s contributions to professional wrestling can’t be overstated. He was a pioneer of his style, a star in PWG and Dragon Gate when those two were the pillars of independent wrestling, producing the kinds of matches you couldn’t get anywhere else. In WWE, he was destined to fail: To small, too indy, too British, whatever shortcomings you want to attach that have been excuses for wrestlers in the past not making it in the company. He was able to rise above all of it, becoming NXT Champion, finding himself again at the center of a promotion that seemed to some as ahead of its time. Because that’s what Pac was: Ahead of his time at seemingly each stop.
Nicknamed “The Man that Gravity Forgot,” Pac had a way of seemingly suspending himself in mid-air on his aerial maneuvers. Everything he did was just so crisp, so smooth, so consistent. In some ways, that’s a lost art.
On WWE’s main roster, he helped prop up the Cruiserweight Division, a division that was never going to be taken seriously in WWE. His presence there and his work forced fans to pay attention. Perhaps most importantly, Pac knew his worth: He walked out of WWE when he had reached his limit of what he was willing to put up with. It’s something a lot of wrestlers talk about doing, but few actually follow through on.
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In AEW, Pac got the best of both worlds: He had a role in a nationally-televised company and got to unleash the style that put him on the map in the first place. Pac was a constant presence on TV, becoming an enforcer of sorts for the Death Riders group. Despite being 40, he showed little sign of slowing down.
The last few months have been tough on the AEW locker room. An emotional tribute show to Rebel, battling ALS, was compounded by the unexpected death of a beloved member of the roster in Andy “The Butcher” Williams. On Saturday, a serious and scary injury to Steven Borden during All Out was followed by Pac’s death on Sunday night. The grief and emotions being felt by the men and women in AEW… I simply can’t imagine.
Pac’s legacy in the business is as a pioneer and inspiration to a generation of flyers, finding success of different levels at every stop. Like so many in wrestling we’ve lost too soon, he was also a great guy as evidenced by the outpouring of support from his colleagues. And that is the biggest loss: A friend, a family member, a co-worker. Pac’s death reverberates throughout the wrestling industry through so many that his work has touched both directly and indirectly.
