The wrestling and music worlds are still mourning Andrew “Andy” Williams, better known to wrestling fans as The Butcher, after news broke yesterday that he had died at only 48 years old following a medical emergency during an independent wrestling match Saturday night.
For wrestling fans, Williams was the massive, tattooed, mustachioed half of The Butcher and The Blade who became part of AEW during the company’s formative first months.
For music fans, he was something much bigger than a wrestler who happened to play guitar. Williams was a founding guitarist of Every Time I Die, spent more than two decades helping shape one of the most influential heavy bands of its generation and appeared on all nine of the band’s studio albums.
For the people who actually knew him, however, neither description appears to completely explain Andy Williams.
Since the news of his death broke Sunday, the overwhelming theme coming out of the wrestling world has not been championships, matches or television appearances.
It has been kindness.
People are remembering somebody who checked on them, encouraged them, talked music with them, exchanged recipes, loved animals, told stories, advocated for people when there was nothing in it for him and somehow remained a gentle human being underneath one of the most intimidating appearances in professional wrestling.
That may ultimately be the part of Andy Williams’ legacy that matters most.
What Happened to The Butcher Andy Williams
Williams was wrestling alongside his longtime tag-team partner Jesse Guilmette, The Blade, against TME at Enjoy Wrestling’s Five Years anniversary event at Mr. Small’s Theatre in Millvale, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, September 5.
Near the conclusion of the match, Williams suffered a medical emergency and collapsed.
Medical personnel at the venue immediately began treating him, administering CPR and using an AED before he was transported from the building by ambulance. Enjoy Wrestling canceled the remainder of the event.
News broke Sunday, September 6, that Williams had died at 48.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed his death.
As of publication, an official cause of death has not been announced.
There have already been reports attempting to reconstruct what happened immediately before Williams collapsed, but until medical authorities determine and release a cause of death, there is no value in turning somebody’s death into speculation.
The confirmed facts are devastating enough.
Williams was still wrestling.
He was still making music.
He was still creating.
He was still making plans.
Then suddenly he wasn’t here anymore.
Before The Butcher, There Was Andy Williams and Every Time I Die
Williams was born December 12, 1977, in the Buffalo, New York area.
Long before millions of wrestling viewers knew him as The Butcher, Williams had already accomplished something incredibly difficult in another industry.
He helped form Every Time I Die in Buffalo in 1998 alongside Keith and Jordan Buckley, Michael “Ratboy” Novak and the band’s early lineup.
Williams remained the band’s rhythm guitarist throughout its existence and appeared on all nine Every Time I Die studio albums:
- Last Night in Town — 2001
- Hot Damn! — 2003
- Gutter Phenomenon — 2005
- The Big Dirty — 2007
- New Junk Aesthetic — 2009
- Ex Lives — 2012
- From Parts Unknown — 2014
- Low Teens — 2016
- Radical — 2021
Every Time I Die lasted more than two decades before breaking up in January 2022.
The band wasn’t simply successful within metalcore. It became one of the groups that helped define what the genre could be.
Their music was chaotic without being shapeless, heavy without becoming one-dimensional and filled with riffs that could pull from hardcore, punk, metal, Southern rock and classic rock without losing the band’s identity.
Williams was central to that identity.
His playing was physical, groove-heavy and direct.
In hindsight, it isn’t difficult to see the same personality in The Butcher.
Williams did not need wrestling to validate his life.
He had already toured the world, recorded acclaimed albums and built a music career most aspiring musicians never come close to reaching.
He chased professional wrestling anyway.
That is what made his second career so remarkable.
Andy Williams Refused to Leave the Wrestling Dream Behind
Williams had wanted to wrestle long before becoming internationally known as a musician.
After years in music, he eventually began pursuing wrestling seriously and worked his first documented singles match in 2016.
By 2017, Williams began regularly teaming with Guilmette.
The partnership became The Butcher and The Blade.
On September 9, 2017, they defeated Colby Redd and PB Smooth to win the Pro Wrestling Rampage Tag Team Championship.
It became Williams’ only documented professional wrestling championship.
He never won a championship in AEW.
That fact does not diminish his run there.
Wrestling has a bad habit of measuring careers almost exclusively through championships. Williams is a perfect example of why that measurement can be incomplete.
The Butcher became memorable because he didn’t look, move or feel like anybody else.
You could see him once and remember him.
The Butcher and The Blade Helped Give Early AEW Its Identity
The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny arrived in AEW on the November 27, 2019 edition of Dynamite.
Cody Rhodes had called out MJF.
Instead, the ring canvas was opened from underneath and The Butcher and The Blade emerged alongside The Bunny before attacking Cody.
It was weird.
It was violent.
It was visually memorable.
Most importantly, it felt different.
The Butcher and The Blade made their AEW in-ring debut on December 11, defeating Cody and QT Marshall.
From there, Williams became part of the fabric of AEW’s early tag-team division.
He wrestled The Young Bucks in a Falls Count Anywhere match that began in the arena kitchen and spilled throughout the building.
He fought Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall in a bloody Bunkhouse Match.
He became associated with Eddie Kingston.
He later became part of the Hardy Family Office and Andrade Family Office.
Butcher and Blade challenged the Lucha Brothers for the AEW World Tag Team Championship in September 2021.
Williams worked the Tables Match against Matt and Jeff Hardy in 2022.
He shared rings with wrestlers from completely different generations and backgrounds, including Diamond Dallas Page, Cody, Dustin, Sting, Darby Allin, FTR, The Young Bucks, the Lucha Brothers and many more.
When serious back problems eventually sidelined The Blade for an extended period, Williams continued wrestling singles matches.
His final AEW match came against Gabe Kidd on the February 22, 2025 edition of Collision.
Williams and Guilmette’s AEW contracts expired in June 2026, formally ending a run that began in 2019.
Williams wasn’t done.
He simply went back to the independent wrestling world.
Last month, he wrestled Josh Barnett, one of the people who helped him develop professionally, at PRODUCE Volume 3 in Brooklyn.
Then came Saturday night.
Williams’ final match was beside The Blade.
After everything the two had experienced together—the independents, AEW, injuries, television and years on the road—they were still a team at the end.
His Music Career Wasn’t Finished Either
Every Time I Die ending did not mean Andy Williams was finished making music.
He eventually formed Atomic Rule, opening another chapter alongside James Henderson, Travis Bennington and Kevin Boutot.
Atomic Rule released With Skull Crushing Force in September 2025 before following it with The Golden Rose later that year.
Williams was still writing and recording new material.
As recently as Saturday, he had shared progress involving Atomic Rule’s new music.
That detail hurts in a completely different way.
There were still songs left to make.
There were still matches left to wrestle.
There were still places to go.
There were still people he expected to talk to again.
Life doesn’t always announce when you’re reaching the final chapter.
Sometimes it just stops in the middle of the sentence.
The Wrestling World Is Remembering Andy Williams the Human Being
As the news spread yesterday, AEW’s tribute captured the unusual duality of Williams’ life: a trailblazing musician who successfully crossed into professional wrestling and became deeply respected by the people around him.
The Young Bucks, who shared some of Butcher and Blade’s most memorable AEW matches, kept their message painfully simple.
Will Ospreay shared his own remembrance.
Swerve Strickland paid tribute.
Taz’s message gets to the heart of what so many people have been saying since yesterday. The enormous, tattooed man wrestling fans saw on television was, away from the performance, consistently described as a genuinely good person and gentle soul.
Matt Hardy remembered somebody who was not only extraordinarily talented but kind, funny and deep.
Kyle Fletcher shared one of the most revealing memories of all.
Williams once spoke with Fletcher backstage about separating personal self-worth from professional success. They talked about having a life outside wrestling, loving the people around you, being a good person and learning to value yourself beyond what happens in your career.
That conversation feels even heavier now.
Wrestling careers end.
Bands end.
Jobs end.
Championship reigns definitely end.
The person underneath all of it is what remains.
Willow Nightingale’s story may say more about Williams than any match ever could.
During AEW’s Jacksonville era, before Willow became a full-time member of the company, Williams and Eddie Kingston advocated for her. He encouraged her when the dream still felt far away and helped make her feel like she belonged before she officially did.
There was nothing for Andy Williams to gain from doing that.
He simply saw somebody he believed in and tried to help.
Josh Alexander remembered somebody whose conversations routinely left him feeling better afterward.
William Regal remembered talking with Williams about two things that consumed enormous pieces of his life: old wrestling and music.
Frankie Kazarian remembered a friendship that initially grew through music before wrestling brought them closer.
AEW’s Will Washington shared another example of just how perfectly Williams connected his two worlds.
Adam Pearce offered his condolences.
Corey Graves shared his grief.
Jade Cargill remembered Williams.
Lio Rush joined the outpouring of tributes.
Christopher Daniels paid tribute.
Athena remembered his kindness and something wonderfully ordinary: talking and exchanging food recipes with him.
Amazing Red mourned somebody he had been talking with only hours earlier.
RJ City remembered somebody whose intelligence and personality completely contradicted whatever assumptions people may have made based solely on his appearance.
Sammy Guevara remembered the same contradiction: somebody who looked capable of throwing you through a wall but treated the people around him with kindness.
Saraya called Williams one of the best human beings she had known.
Anthony Bowens shared his goodbye.
Matthew Rehwoldt offered his condolences.
Amanda Huber’s remembrance added another deeply personal perspective on the man behind The Butcher.
Bryce Remsburg remembered somebody who could somehow be surrounded by interesting people and still be the most interesting person in the room.
Bear Bronson’s message was raw and simple.
Brandon Cutler joined the wrestling world in mourning Williams.
Vincent remembered somebody whose warmth made him feel at home.
QT Marshall remembered Williams as one of the nicest people he had ever met.
You can read all of those messages and eventually stop thinking about The Butcher entirely.
You start thinking about Andy.
That is the point.
The Championship Record Was Small. The Human Legacy Clearly Wasn’t
Andy Williams leaves behind one documented professional wrestling championship: the PWR Tag Team Championship he won alongside The Blade in 2017.
He leaves behind no AEW championship reign.
He also leaves behind nine Every Time I Die studio albums, more than two decades of music, years of touring, another chapter with Atomic Rule, more than six years connected to AEW and a professional wrestling career that allowed him to finally live a childhood dream after already succeeding in another world.
That alone would constitute an extraordinary life.
But the tributes that began pouring in yesterday tell a different story.
His friends aren’t leading with any of it.
They’re talking about the phone conversations.
They’re talking about recipes.
They’re talking about dogs.
They’re talking about music.
They’re talking about hugs.
They’re talking about advice.
They’re talking about somebody putting their name into a conversation when they weren’t in the room.
They’re talking about somebody who made them feel better after speaking to him.
That is a different kind of legacy.
Maybe a more important one.
Life moves quickly enough that we convince ourselves there will always be another opportunity.
Another phone call.
Another dinner.
Another wrestling show.
Another tour.
Another conversation.
Another chance to tell somebody what they mean to us.
Sometimes there isn’t.
So reach out to the friend you’ve been meaning to check on.
Make the call you’ve been putting off.
Tell your family you love them.
Tell your friends you appreciate them.
Give people their flowers while they are still standing in front of you and can actually hear the words.
Andy Williams got to live two dreams that most people never get to live once.
The guitarist will survive through the records.
The Butcher will survive every time somebody goes back and watches those matches.
Andy Williams will survive through something harder to archive: the stories people keep telling about how he treated them when there wasn’t a camera around.
LNC Wrestling expresses its deepest condolences to Andy Williams’ family, friends, loved ones, bandmates, The Blade, everyone throughout the wrestling and music communities who knew and loved him and every person whose life was better because Andy Williams was part of it.
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I’m the quiet one until the bell rings then I’ve got takes. I live for WWE NXT and TNA, I want every promotion to succeed, and I will absolutely roast the bad decisions on sight (because someone has to). Anime taught me to respect long-term storytelling; wrestling taught me that sometimes the plan is “we panicked” and called it “unpredictable.” The Miz got me into all of this, so yeah I appreciate confidence, commitment, and the art of talking like you’re already the main event. Now I bring that same energy to the page as the main writer for Late Night Crew Wrestling because if you’re not here to be must-see and tell the truth, why are you here?!