Andy Williams, Every Time I Die Co-Founder and AEW Wrestler, Dead at 48

Andy Williams spent nearly twenty-five years at the intersection of two working-class subcultures. As a founding guitarist of Every Time I Die, he helped give Buffalo metalcore its sharp, erratic voice. As “The Butcher,” he turned a late-career interest in wrestling into a legitimate second act.

Williams died Saturday night at 48. He collapsed at the end of a tag team match at an Enjoy Wrestling event in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Staff performed CPR before he was transported, the promotion said. No cause of death has been released.

Williams co-founded Every Time I Die in 1998 and played on all nine of the band’s studio albums, through 2021’s Radical. The group disbanded in 2022. By then, Williams had already begun wrestling on the independent circuit, and in 2019 he debuted in All Elite Wrestling alongside Jesse “The Blade” Guilmette. His run with AEW and Ring of Honor ended in June 2026.

AEW called Williams “a trailblazing musician” who was “incredibly respected by his peers both in and out of the ring.” Hours before his final match, Williams posted that his post-ETID band Atomic Rule was working on new music.

The loss cuts across two audiences that rarely share a stage. Williams moved between them without treating either as a gimmick.