Tony Khan revealed that AEW had plans to celebrate seven years of Dynamite on the Sept. 30 episode, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, the death of Benjamin Satterley, known as PAC, on Sept. 27 led the company to abandon the celebration and dedicate the entire episode to his memory.
During the press conference after AEW WrestleDream, held on Saturday, Khan explained that the decision also involved giving up promoting the company’s upcoming events. Dave Meltzer added, on Wrestling Observer Radio, that the special would originally have highlighted Dynamite’s history as the longest-running prime-time wrestling show in the history of the Turner networks.
When explaining why the celebration was dropped, Khan said.
“It was far more important to celebrate the life of PAC.”
Khan said that the priority was to produce a tribute that represented PAC’s life and accomplishments, without turning the episode into an opportunity to promote WrestleDream or Grand Slam: France. He also praised everyone involved in the production, saying that they did their best to honor the wrestler.
The decision has a direct connection to Dynamite’s own history. PAC took part in the show’s first episode, on Oct. 2, 2019, when he defeated “Hangman” Adam Page. Seven years later, Page once again shared the ring with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks during the episode dedicated to PAC’s memory.