Andrew Williams, the longtime rhythm guitarist for metalcore band Every Time I Die, who went by \u201cThe Butcher\u201d in his other career as a professional wrestler, has died, All Elite Wrestling has confirmed. He was 48.<\/p>\n
Williams\u2019 death was announced hours after he collapsed during an independent wrestling show in Millvale, Pennsylvania, and was rushed to a hospital by ambulance Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndy collapsed at the end of his match this evening,\u201d Enjoy Wrestling, the promoter putting on Saturday\u2019s event, said on X<\/a>. \u201cOur doctors on staff tended to him immediately, administering CPR until the ambulance arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams grew up in the Buffalo, New York, area, thinking he was going to follow his father\u2019s and uncles\u2019 footsteps and work at a factory when he got older. \u201cI remember being like, \u2018Oh, my God, I got to get out of here,\u2019\u201d he told Renee Paquette in a 2022 interview.<\/a><\/p>\n Williams recalled living with learning disabilities, including dyslexia, which prevented him from learning how to read music. But, he told Paquette, \u201cI just picked up a guitar and it just made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams played with Every Time I Die from the group\u2019s inception in 1998 to it\u2019s disbandment in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cThe band became known for turning chaos into catharsis, pairing breakneck intensity with anthemic hooks and off-kilter grooves,\u201d according to Epitaph Records, which signed the group in 2008.<\/p>\n In 2025, Williams\u2019 new band, Atomic Rule, released a demo EP. On Saturday, just hours before his collapse, Williams spoke in a video<\/a> on the group\u2019s Instagram page, saying they\u2019d just wrapped up writing new music and would be appearing on tour with Gwar in November and December.<\/p>\n \u201cGet ready, because Atomic Rule is going to be coming and smashing it,\u201d Williams said in the video.<\/p>\n Between the ropes, Williams dispensed with his soft-spoken, easygoing demeanor and instead went by \u201cThe Butcher,\u201d putting his burly, heavily tattooed body to hard-hitting use as one half of the tag team \u201cThe Butcher and The Blade.\u201d<\/p>\n Though he\u2019d loved pro wrestling as a child, he told the \u201cHardLore\u201d podcast<\/a> in 2025 that it wasn\u2019t until he attended a show held by Southern California indie promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla around 2014 that the idea of becoming a wrestler himself finally crystalized in his mind.<\/p>\n In 2015, at age 37, he finally wrestled his first full match. Four years later, he\u2019d debut on All Elite Wrestling, performing on television until his contract expired in 2026.<\/p>\n Williams described the similarities between music and wrestling to \u201cHardLore.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who\u2019s written a song can wrestle a wrestling match,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very similar to like \u2014 putting a song together is just like putting a wrestling match together. There\u2019s ups and downs, there\u2019s peaks and valleys.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his talents in two different arenas, Williams told interviewer and wrestling personality Alicia Atout in a 2017 interview<\/a> that his \u201ctrue life calling is just to make my friends laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat makes me feel like a million bucks, if I can get dudes rolling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Former colleagues and fans began paying tribute to Williams on Sunday.<\/p>\n Josh Eppard, the drummer for rock band Coheed and Cambria, called Williams\u2019 death \u201cbeyond heartbreaking\u201d and recalled his kindness, saying he met Williams during a 2019 tour.<\/p>\n \u201cPeace to Andy, the kind giant who I thought was doing some backyard wrestling s— with his buddies until one day I saw his mug on the TV and was in stunned disbelief,\u201d Eppard said<\/a>. \u201cAndy was not only a pillar of one of the most true and influential bands in heavy music, he was also pulling double duty as a pro wrestler????\u201d<\/p>\n Wrestler Matt Hardy, who worked with Williams at AEW, called him<\/a> a \u201ckind, funny & deep individual who was an extremely talented musician & wrestler.\u201d<\/p>\n RJ City, an AEW interviewer and member of the company\u2019s creative team, highlighted Williams\u2019 intellect.<\/p>\n \u201cAndy Williams was so smart and cultured that it made both his chosen careers all the more insane,\u201d City said<\/a>. \u201cHe was the opposite of how he looked, we were lucky to know him.\u201d<\/p>\n Former AEW women\u2019s world champion Willow Nightingale recalled Williams encouraging her, raising her confidence and advocating for her before she\u2019d been signed to the company.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had every right to have an ego, but he didn\u2019t,\u201d Nightingale said. \u201cHe reached his hand out and did what he could to help others.\u201d <\/p>\n Wrestler Josh Alexander called Williams \u201cone of the best people I ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll remember Andy for what he was,\u201d Alexander wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cA dude with an enormous heart that could always put a smile on my face.\u201d<\/p>\n