The wrestling world has continued to mourn the loss of Andy Williams, a former AEW talent who suddenly passed away over the weekend.
Williams, known by some for his in-ring persona The Butcher, who was also an accomplished guitarist for the band Every Time I Die, collapsed while making an appearance at Enjoy Wrestling’s event in Philadelphia last weekend.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Williams’ death at 48 years old on Sunday morning. A cause of death hasn’t been revealed yet.
Countless names from Williams’ time in wrestling offered tributes on Sunday. Here are a few more who have provided their thoughts over the past couple of days.
TNA Wrestling’s Allie was notably the manager for The Butcher and The Blade during their AEW run. She commented on the devastating news via Instagram on Monday:
“I keep trying to string the perfect words together but I just can’t find them. I hate to say goodbye,” Allie wrote. “BBB forever.”
Cody Rhodes, who was involved in the segment where Butcher & The Blade made their AEW debut, recounted what that moment was like in a recent interview with Fox Sports.
We had recruited them to do this really fun debut. He came up under the ring and they beat me up. I definitely didn’t get to spend near enough time with him as a person, but all the things you’re hearing about him in terms of how warm and charismatic and interesting [he was]. Not a guy that needed the gig, he had another gig, and super cultured and intelligent. And again, The Butcher, you see this big, just the mustache and the tattoos and the muscles. Maybe if you had judged that book by its cover, you wouldn’t know how truly special, intelligent, artistic, and beautiful of a person that he was.
I didn’t get to be around him near enough, but I’m really glad I was part of bringing him into that moment and, I wish everyone around him thinking about them, and wish them the best, and they’re very much in my heart today. I told Brandi about that this morning and just such a shock, so young. Beautiful person, and he leaves behind multiple locker rooms of people that he touched, that all of them 100 percent have a good memory and a good story about him.
Dustin Rhodes reflected on his “Bunkhouse” tag match against Williams on a 2020 episode of Dynamite.
“After the match, Andy was crying to me with happy tears, and that started the water works as well,” he wrote. “Andy is one of the kindest people I have ever met, with a pure heart and soul. I will miss you my friend. Prayers to ur family and loved ones.”
Wardlow wrote that he had never “met anyone inside or outside of the business that was as positive, kind and more gentle than Andy.”
NXT’s Lexis King, who shared an AEW locker room with Williams at one point, said he was “an incredible person to be around” and complimented his “impeccable” music taste. “He always knew what song to play and when! … Rest in peace to an amazing human being.”
