Heartbreaking Update: Former AEW Wrestler The Butcher Passes Away After Collapsing in the Ring
The wrestling world is mourning Andy Williams, known in AEW as The Butcher, after he collapsed at the end of a match and later died. He was 48.
On Saturday night, September 5, 2026, Williams was teaming with The Blade at Enjoy Wrestling’s five-year anniversary show at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Witnesses said the match had been unfolding normally until his legs buckled and he went to the floor. Blade tried to get him up and called for help. Williams collapsed again and lost consciousness. Doctors on site began CPR. Paramedics used a defibrillator before he was taken away by ambulance. The rest of the event was canceled.
Sad morning within the wrestling world today.
Andy Williams, known in AEW as The Butcher, has passed away at 48. Memphis wrestling legend Bill Dundee has also passed away at 82.
Condolences to the families, friends, and fans of both men.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) September 6, 2026
Enjoy Wrestling said staff treated him immediately and that people from the promotion went to the hospital. Early reports of his death spread overnight, then briefly conflicted with a short denial from the promotion that was later deleted. By Sunday, outlets and wrestling accounts reported that the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office had confirmed he had passed. WrestleVotes summed up the day’s grief: Andy Williams, known in AEW as The Butcher, had died at 48, and Memphis legend Bill Dundee had also died at 82, with condolences to the families, friends, and fans of both men.
Williams was best known as one half of The Butcher and The Blade. The team signed with AEW in 2019 and stayed through the mid-2020s until their contracts expired in 2026. Outside the ring he was the guitarist for Every Time I Die. Cause of death has not been made public.
Bill Dundee
The same morning, Jamie Dundee announced that his father, “Superstar” Bill Dundee, had died at 3:30 a.m. at age 82. Dundee was a pillar of Memphis wrestling as Jerry Lawler’s great rival and partner. He had been living with dementia. A recent Memphis Wrestling appearance turned out to be among his last public moments in the business.
Two very different careers ended on the same weekend: one in the middle of a live match, one after a long life in a territory that still carries his name. Thoughts are with both families.