Remembering PAC: The Night He Passed The Torch
We’ve had another FAR too early death in wrestling, as AEW’s Pac (formerly Adrian Neville, or just Neville, in WWE) has passed away at the age of 40. Please note that this is being written less than an hour after the news broke and there are currently no details available, so bear with me if we get some really bad twist in the whole thing.
I’m not going to go into some big history of Pac’s career, but rather look at one match and story that I absolutely loved and considered the best match I saw that year. The date was December 11, 2014 with NXT Takeover: R-Evolution being held at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. The show’s main event saw NXT Champion Adrian Neville defending against Sami Zayn.
Sami Zayn's Road To Redemption In NXT
Sami Zayn Debuted On NXT TV In May 2013
The match was the culmination of Zayn’s Road To Redemption, as he defeated pretty much every name that had given him problems during his time in NXT, all leading up to him FINALLY claiming the top prize and becoming NXT Champion. The problem is the rather tough Englishman standing in his way, as Neville had been champion for a few months and wasn’t about to go away quickly.
Leading up to the match, the question was whether or not Zayn was willing to go far enough to win the title. He had a history of not going after someone when he had the chance, including his first title match against Neville, where the champion suffered an injury and Zayn backed off, allowing Neville to get a quick win and retain the title.
That’s one of those stories that has been built up for a long time and it served well as a basis for whether or not Zayn could finally make it all come together. To make it even bigger, Zayn put his NXT career on the line, which didn’t guarantee anything as a promotion to the main roster wasn’t out of the question either. In other words, there was legitimate doubt about who was going to be winning, which adds a lot to the drama.
Adrian Neville Was The Face Of NXT TakeOver In 2014
Neville Main Evented The First Four NXT Specials
The match would be taking place at the third Takeover special, naturally in the main event slot, as had always been the case for title matches. While Takeover is now considered one of the best things WWE has done in a VERY long time (if not ever), it didn’t have its reputation at this point. The series had only debuted about five and a half months earlier with the first un-subtitled version, followed by Fatal Four Way a few months later. This was going to be a major step up for the series, but it still had one major constant from the other two shows.
While the series was still new, it had basically been the Neville Show thus far. Neville had successfully defended the title at the first two editions and would be trying to do so again at R-Evolution. There hadn’t been many NXT Champions at that point (Neville was the fourth, and at the time longest reigning) and Neville was basically the company’s superhero. He even looked the part with the rather muscular physique on the smaller frame, which made his high flying all the more impressive.
Adrian Neville Vs. Sami Zayn - NXT TakeOver: R Evolution 2014
Adrian Neville's NXT Championship Reign Ended After 286 Days
The entrances were rather telling as well, with Zayn being all over the place and even more energetic than usual. You could tell that it was a big night for him, but Neville was a bit more stoic. He had been here before and knew what the pressure was going to be like, which was exactly the case. Neville was the veteran champion and Zayn was desperate to finally get his hands on the gold, which made the match make that much more sense all around.
That brings us to the match itself, which was by far the longest match of the night at just over twenty three minutes. It was the kind of hard hitting back and forth match that you would expect from these two, with both of them mixing in the surprisingly powerful offense and high flying that they both regularly used. That can make for a rather exciting match, even in a smaller venue like Full Sail.
In the end, Zayn teased using the title belt as a weapon but ultimately stayed on the good side, catching Neville with a Helluva Kick and getting the pin to win the title. As is often the case in wrestling, the torch was passed as Neville put Zayn over to make him the new top star of NXT.
Neville lost the title in a heck of a match and more than looked good in defeat, which shouldn’t be a big shock. The two hugged after the match, keeping them both nice and heroic after the tensions had gotten more than a bit high in the build to the match. Neville would be gone from NXT the following February after one more Takeover and then head on up to the main roster, debuting on Monday Night Raw in March.
This Match Still Stands Out Today
Sami Zayn Is The Current WWE Undisputed Champion
So what was it about this match that makes it stand out? There were a lot of great NXT matches over the years. This wasn’t the first one and it wasn’t the greatest that NXT ever presented. Heck it wasn’t even Zayn’s best match in NXT. What it was though was a match that needed to take place, as Neville was moving on from NXT shortly thereafter and someone had to take his spot. That someone was Zayn, and he had to beat the top star in NXT to get there.
While the match would be surpassed, what mattered was what it did at the time. The match was the undisputed biggest story in NXT at the time and both Zayn and Neville more than lived up to their ends of it. That’s why this match stood out so well. Both men gave it their all and turned it into a great match, with Neville being someone who lived up to the hype that he had created for himself.
What Made PAC So Special
He Was One Of The Best High-Fliers In Wrestling
That’s one of the things that made Neville shine throughout his entire career: no matter what he was doing, it always felt like he was giving it everything he had. He could fly with the best wrestlers in the world but also looked like how as ready to fight anyone who got in his way.
There was an aura to him that worked very well and more than made up for his smaller stature. You don’t find that many wrestlers anywhere and it made him into a star in multiple promotions.
RIP, PAC
Benjamin Satterley Passed Away On September 27, 2026
This news hit the wrestling world out of nowhere (as Pac was literally wrestling for a title at the AEW show the previous night) and we still don’t know much of anything about it. That’s going to change in the coming days and while it’s likely to change some opinions, what he did in the ring isn’t going to change.
Pac had quite the run of success in his career, but the thing that stands out to me the most is the night he lost the NXT Title in Winter Park, Florida, handing the reins of NXT over to Zayn in an amazing match. Just like a wrestler is supposed to do.
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