Andy Williams, Every Time I Die guitarist and AEW wrestler, dies at 48

Andy Williams, the founding rhythm guitarist of Buffalo metalcore band Every Time I Die who later wrestled for All Elite Wrestling as The Butcher, died Saturday night at age 48. Williams collapsed at the end of a tag-team match at an Enjoy Wrestling event in Millvale, Pennsylvania, according to TMZ and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.

Enjoy Wrestling, the event's promoter, said Williams collapsed as the match concluded. "Our doctors on staff tended to him immediately, administering CPR until the ambulance arrived," the company wrote on X. Williams was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. The remainder of the show, a five-year anniversary celebration for the promotion, was canceled.

Williams and his longtime tag-team partner Jesse "The Blade" Guilmette were facing TME at the time of the incident. According to wrestling news site Fightful, Williams' legs "buckled" before he fell to the floor, and a defibrillator was used at the venue before he was transported. No cause of death has been released.

Williams was a founding member of Every Time I Die in 1998 and remained with the band until its breakup in 2022, appearing on all nine of its studio albums, including the final LP Radical in 2021. He began wrestling professionally in the 2010s while still performing with the group, working independent circuits before making his AEW debut in November 2019. He remained under contract with AEW until June 2026.

After Every Time I Die split, Williams formed the band Atomic Rule and continued making music while pursuing wrestling. Hours before his collapse, he appeared in a video on Atomic Rule's Instagram account saying the band had just finished writing and demoing new music. He also said the group would tour with Gwar in November and December.

Tributes from wrestling and music

“A true 1 of 1 human being in every aspect of life. How lucky we and everyone he crossed paths with were to have known or shared any type moment/s with him, big or small. There will never be another Andy Williams.”

: Better Lovers, on Instagram

All Elite Wrestling issued a statement calling Williams "a trailblazing musician with ETID and Atomic Rule" who "made a successful transition into the world of professional wrestling and was incredibly respected by his peers both in and out of the ring." Fellow wrestler Josh Alexander wrote that Williams was "one of the best people I ever met," describing him as "a dude with an enormous heart that could always put a smile on my face."

Knotfest, the music festival created by Slipknot, remembered Williams as "a warm and beloved presence in every space he occupied." Coheed and Cambria drummer Josh Eppard called his death "beyond heartbreaking," recalling Williams as a "kind giant" he met during a 2019 tour.