The wrestling world suffered yet another tragedy when AEW revealed that Benjamin Sutherley, known in the company as Puck, has died at the age of 40his next day National Championship match at AEW All Out. The WWE locker room was also hit with the loss, as the star spent six years as Neville in the company.
WWE: He published a video dedicated to SatterlyWith the participation of WWE stars, many of whom worked with him in “WWE NXT”. Talent has been open about his feelings, including Kevin Owens, who spoke about working with Satterlee for the first time during a 2006 UK match.
“I remember him being really nervous before the match and pretty uncomfortable,” Owens said. “Then we went out and had that meeting, and when we got back, I said to him, “Hey, you look like the best wrestler I’ve ever seen and ever worked with.” And he was pretty much my favorite wrestler ever since. I told everyone about him. But beyond that, he became such a great friend.”
Owens described Satterlee as the best wrestler in the world, but someone was too humble to ever imply for a second that he was. He said Satterlee would hate for everyone to talk about him so well, but Owens said he found it healing for himself and others. She said she was very glad they were able to travel together and that Satterley was the silver lining of being away from her family.
“If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s to make sure you tell the people you love how much they mean to you when you can,” Owens said. “Ben brought a lot of people together this week because everyone feels the loss so hard and it’s a testament to the kind of person he was.”
Bayley, the Lucha Bros. are talking
Bayley shared her memories of Satterlee from the Black and Gold era of NXT, calling it a “special, rare time.” He said that was when they all saw the real Satterley, who he called “a total bum.” She said she was lucky to be able to experience his humor, but explained that it took a while. Bayley said that she and former WWE star Carmella have always tried to get to know her, in their own annoying ways.
“We’d see her joking around with the guys, so we knew there was a real person out there that we could have fun with,” Bailey said. “We were constantly annoying him and trying to be there for him. He always played funny and didn’t pay much attention to us. Until one night we went out to Orlando and he brought his wife Natalie with him and he liked that we were teasing him and I feel like that’s when he was like, let me in because his wife liked us and he loved his wife so much.”
Penta and Ray Phoenix also spoke about Satterlee being who they are worked as Death Triangle in AEW. Penta said it was an emotional time for both of them and that Satterley will always be in their hearts. He said Pak helped them a lot in their careers and gave them the best advice.
“Pac, the only thing I can say right now is that I thank God and life for meeting you and having a friend like you,” Penta said. “For being able to share the ring with you alongside my brother and for all that we’ve accomplished. I have nothing but words of gratitude for a great man, a great friend and a great wrestler.”
“Our big brother, thank you for everything, brother,” said Phoenix. “We love you, we love you so much.”
An emotional Sami Zayn pays tribute
Sami Zayn, who knew Satterlee since childhood, was confused and spoke directly to the late star. He said he felt pressured to share the right words and stories to honor his friend, who grew into a man by his side over the years.
“I saw all these posts come up and all these tribute videos and tributes, and then here I am, embarrassed and feeling guilty, like, ‘God, I have to say something,'” Zayn said. “I have to do something. I just need to find the perfect words. Perfect pictures that show how close we really are.” It just doesn’t exist, man. I have hundreds of pictures of us.”
She said there are no perfect words to express her grief. Zane said he knew Satterlee would also contend for his position.
“You knew and I knew and that’s all that matters,” Zane said. “That’s what I take, man. We were so lucky. We had the best life, man. We had the best life together and we got to share so many incredible things that people wouldn’t dream of, man.”
Zayn collected his thoughts throughout the video and later gave his love to Satterly’s wife, mother and dog. She said that even though they grew up together, she always saw her boyfriend as a young, mischievous kid.
“You were in such crazy shape and you were still just this 5-year-old kid to me, you know?” Zane laughed. “I am so blessed to have known you. I’m so lucky that I got to live the life that I have, and I’m so lucky that you were such a big part of it for so long, and we’ve had 20 incredible years (so close), man, and that’s more than most people get, so I’ll take it.
