00:00I do want to get to the tough news from the wrestling world over the last 24 hours.
00:05I mean, it's been a tough go with The Butcher, Andy Williams, passing away,
00:09and then people at his memorial finding out that Pac has passed away as well.
00:16This was one that really seemed to catch the entire internet wrestling community.
00:20He had just wrestled at All Out 24 hours before and then passing away at the age of 40
00:27and just so devastating and so heartbreaking.
00:31And it feels weird in times like this to talk about the level of performer that he was.
00:36But he was just an incredibly talented performer and I think a pretty important one.
00:44Like, for me, anyway, as a wrestling fan, I tended to be, and still do,
00:51more on the mainstream side of things, right?
00:53Like, from the wrestling aspect of it and all of that.
01:02Like, it was the WWE and, you know, TNA, a little bit of New Japan thrown in
01:07because, you know, that's how spicy I would get.
01:10But that was basically it.
01:11But then, as, you know, I started to wake up to things on the internet more.
01:15He was one of the first ones I saw.
01:17I shared the link on Twitter today.
01:22I think also on the Couch Potato Facebook channel, which we do have one of those.
01:25But I saw this match with him and Ricochet in Dragon Gate.
01:32And, like, a lot of times, like, Ricochet and Will Ospreay gets talked about.
01:34But that Dragon Gate crew with Pac and Ricochet and Shima and UHA Nation,
01:41who goes on to be Apollo Crews, and a number of other phenomenal talents
01:46that went through Dragon Gate and everything that was going on there.
01:50A lot of those guys were, I think, pretty formative for a lot of what you see today
01:56in the high-flying wrestling aspect of things.
01:59And then, I don't think you can overstate how important Neville, at the time, was to NXT.
02:06Like, he came in and you had Seth Rollins, Tyler Black, who gets the NXT title
02:11and, like, he feels like a star.
02:13Like, Big E feels like something different.
02:16Bo Dallas, I don't think, ever really clicked.
02:18But Neville was one of those ones where he didn't feel like a WWE guy,
02:24but he was able to do his Dragon Gate stuff in NXT.
02:28And I think that was one of the ones that showed, like, oh, this style can work.
02:32And the match with him and Sami Zayn is tremendous, what those guys were able to do
02:36in the early days of NXT being on the network.
02:40And it being this thing for some of the hardcore wrestling fans
02:43who weren't getting what we wanted at the time from the main roster
02:45with John Cena against John Laurinaitis and stuff like that, right?
02:50Like, you had this guy who was doing this.
02:52And so, he was really important, I think, in the early days of NXT
02:56to show that this was going to be different
02:58and that there was going to be at least somewhat of a chance given to these guys.
03:02And he went to the main roster and it didn't really click in the same way.
03:05He breaks his foot in the match with Jericho and all of that.
03:08But then, still, like, the king of the cruiserweights stuff was perfect.
03:12Like, that's an amazing character.
03:14And even at a time where that wasn't necessarily being taken seriously,
03:18that division, and they make the pivot to Enzo,
03:21and that's the end of the division, basically.
03:23But he made sure that you took those guys seriously.
03:26And even though, like, he was, he was undersized
03:29and didn't have the traditional look aside from being chiseled out of stone.
03:33He still, he was someone that you took really, really seriously
03:36and just kind of believed in the character.
03:39And then turning into, back into PAC, getting into AEW.
03:42And he shows up in his full gear, getting the full gear name for the pay-per-view.
03:48Um, and just being able to continue showing that style.
03:51Even to his last match, 24 hours before his passing,
03:54against Andrade.
03:55A phenomenal performance from both of those guys.
03:58Like, he just, he was really important at kind of setting a tone
04:02along the way of, like, yes, I understand.
04:05I am a shorter person than these guys.
04:07But you still have to take me seriously.
04:08And thus, you have to take these guys seriously, too.
04:11And, like, he was one of those guys.
04:13Like, you know, we know what wrestling is in 2026.
04:16But he plays his character so perfectly
04:19that the occasional time where he breaks it to be a little funny is hilarious.
04:23But also, like, you see pictures of him, like, out in the, out in the wild.
04:28Um, it was, it's like, oh, weird.
04:31Like, this guy, he could be a nice guy.
04:32Like, he just, there was a seriousness to him and a legitimacy to him
04:35that was really unique, I think, for, for his time.
04:40And so, an incredible performer.
04:41It seems like all the reactions, seems like he was a really good dude.
04:45And it's tough to get the entire wrestling community to buy in that you're a good dude.
04:48So, probably a good dude there, too.
04:51But, yeah, he was a really big part of my fandom.
04:54Um, and it's guys like him that I'm happy that AEW exists.
04:58And I hate that there is the tribalism in wrestling right now.
05:02But it's like, I, obviously, like, WWE is too big to fail at this point.
05:06And making mucho, mucho dinero off of it.
05:09And the wrestlers there, too, are getting paid.
05:10But I like that, like, AEW, I want it to be strong.
05:13I want them to be able to do shows like Wembley Stadium and 45,000 people.
05:17I want them to be able to sell out all out in Chicago.
05:20And put up big ticket numbers that way.
05:22I want TNA to be able to be successful.
05:25And all of that.
05:26Because I want guys like PAC to be able to have this national platform.
05:29And to be able to have this area where they can really thrive
05:33in this industry that we all love.
05:35And this form of entertainment that we all really, really love.
05:38And so I'm happy that there are companies like this.
05:41So he can go out and have matches with Andrade like that.
05:44And have them be on big stages.
05:46And not just in, like, random bingo halls or anything like that.
05:49Like, I am, I, I'm just happy we got to see this guy do what he did.
05:54For as long as he did.
05:55And I wish, obviously, we'd get to see it longer.
05:57Just a terribly, terribly sad news to see on social media yesterday.
06:02So, obviously, condolences and everything to his family
06:05in what has been a really difficult time in the wrestling world.
