Andy Williams, who wrestled as The Butcher on the indies and, for seven years, in AEW, and was also known as the rhythm guitarist for the metalcore band Every Time I Die, passed away at the age of 48 on Saturday night after suffering a medical episode during a pro wrestling match.
Williams was working a tag match with his longtime partner, Jesse Guilmette, who goes by The Blade in the ring – their tag team was The Butcher and The Blade – at an Enjoy Wrestling event in Millvale, Pa., which is in the Pittsburgh metro area.
According to witness accounts, Williams, during the match with a team that goes by TME – comprised of Duke Davis and Ganon Jones Jr. – “seemed to be in a bit of dire straits,” and looked to one observer to be “a little wobbly,” leading another fan to wonder if Williams had perhaps been concussed.
A statement from Enjoy Wrestling tells us that Williams collapsed at ringside and hit his head on the floor, leading to him getting checked out by two doctors who were on hand at ringside.
The doctors administered CPR and used an AED provided by police arriving at the scene before Williams was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
He was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.
Per Kurt Hackimer, the co-owner of Enjoy Wrestling, the on-site medics indicated that Williams’ symptoms seemed consistent with a “cardiac event.”
Williams was a late-in-life newcomer to wrestling when he started his career in 2015, at the age of 37.
Billed at 6’3”, 273, and looking every bit of both, Williams was already a larger-than-life presence on the metalcore scene through Every Time I Die, which launched in 1998, touring the world and releasing nine studio albums during their run, which ended with the band’s breakup in 2022.
In 2023, Williams and bassist Travis Bennington formed a new band, Atomic Rule, which released a demo EP in 2025, and on Saturday, hours before his passing, Williams said, in a video on the group’s Instagram page, that Atomic Rule would be appearing on tour with Gwar in November and December.
The AEW run of The Butcher and The Blade came to an end in June when the duo’s contracts with the company expired, but the team continued to be an active presence on the indy scene, losing to Alec Price and Jordan Oliver in a bid for the GCW tag titles at the June “Amerikaz Most Wanted” pay-per-view, and working several other events in the Northeast and Canada.
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