Josh Alexander has spoken about his final conversation with Benjamin Satterley, the catharsis of AEW’s tribute to PAC, and the unexpected opportunity to share the ring with Bryan Danielson.
Alexander spoke with POST Wrestling’s John Pollock on Friday ahead of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling’s Northern Rising pay-per-view in Toronto, where he will face interim champion Stu Grayson to determine the undisputed MLP Canadian Champion.
The interview came two days after AEW presented A Tribute to PAC on Dynamite following the death of Satterley at 40.
Alexander competed in the show-closing 10-man tag, teaming with Jake Doyle, Lance Archer, Mark Davis & Wardlow against Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia, Gabe Kidd, Wheeler Yuta & Danielson.
He said he did not know Danielson was part of the match until Wednesday afternoon, when Danielson approached him backstage.
Bryan actually approached me. He said hi, and he’s like, “Did you hear about the match?” I go, “No.” And he goes, “It’s Death Riders against DCF.” And I was like, “Okay.”
And in my head, I was like, I knew Mox was wrestling already. And I was just like, “Who’s the other guy?” And he was like, “Oh, it’s me.”
And I was just like, “Okay.” And I just moved away and I went, “Whoa, what? Did you say you’re in the match?”
For Alexander, the chance to work with Danielson carried particular weight because he had assumed it would never happen.
I’m going to be honest with everybody in the room right now. I never thought this was going to happen. So please, do whatever you want to me. Hit me as hard as you want. I don’t care.
I was like on cloud nine.
That excitement existed alongside a much heavier emotional atmosphere backstage.
Alexander said wrestlers had been crying, embracing one another and sharing memories of both Satterley and Andy Williams, the former AEW wrestler known as The Butcher who died in September.
After the match, Alexander told Danielson that wrestling him had provided what he called the “weirdest silver lining moment” during an otherwise devastating period.
I turned to Bryan afterwards and I was just like, “This was the weirdest silver lining moment of my life. I never thought this was going to happen. Thank you. Can we get a picture?”
Alexander said the deaths of Williams and Satterley in such close succession had changed his attitude toward those small interactions.
He recalled speaking with Satterley shortly before leaving All Out last Saturday, not knowing it would be their final conversation.
I was very fortunate that I spoke to Ben right before we left work at the pay-per-view. And I told him, when I left him, I was just like, “I’m going to bust your balls again on Wednesday. I’ll see you then.”
And I just left, you know? And it’s like the famous last words that I’ve like… You know what I mean? It’s heavy to think about.
But now I’m actively trying not to be that guy anymore. I’m going to take the pictures and I’m going to tell people I love them.
Alexander traced his admiration for PAC back to the mid-2000s, when he first saw him competing for PWG.
He credited Satterley with helping redefine what high-flying wrestling could look like before the emergence of performers such as Ricochet and Will Ospreay.
This is this guy really coming in and just flipping the script on what high-flying wrestling was. And I think he’s the one that inspired the people like the Ricochets and the Will Ospreays and this whole generation we have of incredible athletes that can do that stuff.
Alexander said he had studied Satterley’s work for roughly 15 years and came to appreciate that his ability extended far beyond spectacular aerial offense.
He compared PAC’s versatility to one of his own greatest influences, Eddie Guerrero.
I idolize Bret Hart, Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero. I think they are the greatest three in-ring wrestlers of all time.
PAC checked all the boxes that Eddie Guerrero checked. I think he’s the closest thing we’ve ever had to an Eddie Guerrero ever again, because every style of wrestling he excelled at and he did to perfection.
However, Alexander said he was almost uncomfortable concentrating solely on Satterley’s talent because those who only watched him wrestle did not get to experience the person behind the character.
I hate talking about how good of a wrestler PAC was, that Ben was, because everybody knows how good he was.
Not everybody got to know the human being. He was one in a million, one in a billion. I’ve never met anybody in the business like him. So kind, so nice, so humble at all times.
Alexander also described Wednesday’s Dynamite as cathartic for the AEW locker room.
He pointed to Ospreay and Ricochet incorporating sequences associated with PAC into their tribute match, including Ospreay using the Black Arrow, as an example of professional wrestling providing a unique means of remembering someone through their work.
It’s cathartic for us to go out and do what we love to do, and that we know that the person that passed away loved to do, and try to honor them.
Just to see Will and Ricochet after their match and how good they must have felt. Like a weight was lifted off their shoulders that they went out there and did all that.
They told the story of PAC during that whole match. They got to do that.
Northern Rising
Saturday’s Northern Rising also represents the target Alexander set himself throughout his recovery from a serious knee injury suffered during an AEW Collision taping in March.
Alexander underwent surgery after tearing his meniscus from the bone behind his kneecap. He told Pollock that his initial prognosis had him returning in November or December.
October 3 was nevertheless the date he immediately marked down because he knew Northern Rising was coming.
I had an X right on October 3rd for Northern Rising because we knew the show was going to happen.
And I was completely devastated. But I knew I just had to get to work.
Alexander ultimately returned to the ring well ahead of that original prognosis and now meets Grayson at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, on the former site of Maple Leaf Gardens.
Grayson became interim champion during Alexander’s absence, setting up a title unification match that MLP President Scott D’Amore recently described to POST as the ideal conclusion to the promotion’s first season of Mayhem. POST’s Jack Wannan examined that build and the company’s wider plans in a recent feature.
Northern Rising begins with a free pre-show at 7 pm ET on Saturday, followed by the pay-per-view at 8 pm ET. The event is available through MyAEW and PPV.com.
John Pollock and Jack Wannan will present a review of Northern Rising on Sunday for POST Wrestling Café patrons.
