Make New York Post a Preferred Source AEW wrestler Pac’s death has shocked the wrestling world, leaving former colleagues and others struggling to battle the emotions while continuing forward in the sports entertainment sphere.
Veteran wrestler Lance Archer defeated Joey Jet Avalon at Warrior Wrestling’s “Brawl in the Beer Hall III: Royal Stumble” on Sunday and revealed the details of Pac’s death to the live crowd.
“This is legit. This ain’t fake. This ain’t laughing. This ain’t hooting and hollering. Pac has passed away,” Archer began saying to a packed house at Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee. “So, there’s only really one reason I even performed tonight, because I talked to Jon Moxley, who is obviously in [Pac’s] group with Marina [Shafir] and him, and I asked him, I said, ‘Should we do this tonight? Should we perform?
“Because first and foremost, he was checking on us, because that’s what kind of man he is. That’s what kind of family the business of professional wrestling is. Because when something like this happens, when a tragedy happens, we check on each other and he checked on us.”
Archer added that “no one truly knows what happened” to Pac, whose shocking death came after he performed Saturday night for AEW, and his cause of death has not been publicly stated.
The longtime wrestler did say that Pac was “found tonight.”
“AEW, unfortunately, has lost its fair share, from Brodie Lee to the Butcher recently, and tonight Pac,” Archer said before eventually recalling his conversation with Moxley on Sunday. “So he said, ‘You go out there, and you perform. You put on your boots and you perform. You go out there because that’s what PAC wants you to do. He wants you to go out there and perform. So, leave it all alone. Put your boots on. Get in the ring. Kick each other in the face and enjoy life.’”
Lee died in December 2020 from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, while The Butcher [Andy Williams] died after collapsing following a tag team match in September 2026.
AEW star Pac mourns fellow wrestler Andy Williams in a tribute. AEW/Instagram “Storylines to be damned, feuds be damned,” Archer added. “Brother to brother, brother to sister. He [Moxley] checked on us, and I asked him, ‘Do we go out there and perform?’And he said, ‘You only get one lifetime. One, that’s it. And go out there and do what you do. Do it to the best of your ability. Entertain the people who came and paid hard money, and you do it in honor and remembrance of our fallen brothers.’”
Pac was an AEW All-Atlantic Champion and a two-time AEW World Trios Champion, while also being an NXT Champion with the WWE where he played the character Adrian Neville.
“So right here, right now, me, Marina, every one of the guys, we’re doing this because we all have one life to live. So, you go and enjoy and do what you do to the best of your ability,” Archer concluded.
