PAC Loses Dragon Gate Title, Opening the Door to a Return to AEW

After holding the title for 229 days, PAC lost the Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Championship today to Ben-K at the Dragon Gate Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival in Kobe, Japan.

This means that we’ll very likely see him return to AEW, since PAC holding the Dragon Gate title was the main reason why AEW hasn’t been able to book him on any shows thus far.

PAC was originally scheduled to face Hangman Page at Double or Nothing in May, but would not agree to take any losses while holding the title due to “taking his status as world champion with Dragon Gate seriously,” according to Dave Meltzer. That led to obvious booking difficulties for AEW, so they chose to not use him until he dropped the title.

Nothing is official yet, but talks between AEW and PAC are reportedly back on, according to Dave Meltzer.

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet a couple of weeks ago, The Young Bucks said that “he’s coming, eventually.”

Matt: He’s coming. I mean, eventually.

Nick: It’s a work in progress. It’s obvious that Matt and I are big fans of his. We met him like 10 years ago over in Japan so we’ll always have ties with him and we wanna work things out with him.

Matt: It’s a priority for us and I think we’re gonna make this thing work.

Nick: I think it’s just a matter of trying to fit his schedule with ours and hopefully, things will work out.

Check out highlights of PAC’s match against Ben-K below.

The champ is here! @BASTARDPAC #KobeProWrestlingFestival2019 #DragonGate https://t.co/or9p58bwH3 pic.twitter.com/WCTnhmzzCW

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) July 21, 2019

Shooting Star Press off the apron from @BASTARDPAC!! #KobeProWrestlingFestival2019 #DragonGate https://t.co/or9p58bwH3 pic.twitter.com/fV3CBY10Z5

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) July 21, 2019

.@BASTARDPAC puts Ben-K to sleep. #KobeProWrestlingFestival2019 #DragonGate https://t.co/or9p58bwH3 pic.twitter.com/L97ocmQmap

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) July 21, 2019

Goddamn lariat!! @BASTARDPAC #DragonGate https://t.co/4b74B1qcqb pic.twitter.com/UD4WpLQveI

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) July 21, 2019

Ben-K Bomb!! #DragonGate https://t.co/4b74B1qcqb pic.twitter.com/3oBkdinlQZ

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) July 21, 2019

228 days are over!!! @ben_k_1019 defeats PAC to become the new Open The Dream Gate Champion! #KobeProWrestlingFestival2019 #DragonGate https://t.co/or9p58bwH3 pic.twitter.com/EsWiKUnZMC

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) July 21, 2019

#DragonGate https://t.co/4b74B1qcqb pic.twitter.com/Q9cF2kG2Z8

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) July 21, 2019