KEY POINT
Williams collapsed after competing at an Enjoy Wrestling event at Mr. Small’s Theater in Millvale, Pennsylvania.
He was a founding member of Every Time I Die and played with the metalcore band from 1998 until its 2022 breakup.
Williams spent seven years on the AEW roster as one half of The Butcher and The Blade.
Williams had just finished a tag-team match with Jesse “The Blade” Guilmette when he collapsed at the venue. Emergency responders performed CPR before he was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
His death was confirmed through the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to TMZ. The circumstances surrounding his collapse were not otherwise detailed in the supplied report.
The incident came after Williams had continued his wrestling career on the independent circuit. His AEW contract with Guilmette was not renewed in June, ending their seven-year run with the promotion.
Long before his wrestling career became widely known, Williams was part of Every Time I Die from the band’s beginning in 1998. He remained with the Buffalo-based metalcore group throughout its entire run, including its final years before the band broke up in 2022.
Williams appeared on all nine of Every Time I Die’s studio albums. That catalog included Radical, the band’s final album, released in 2021.
Radical also received recognition from Consequence, which included the record on its list of the 30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2021.
Williams brought his musical background into a second career as a professional wrestler, performing under the name The Butcher.
Alongside Jesse “The Blade” Guilmette, he formed the tag team The Butcher and The Blade. The duo spent seven years as part of All Elite Wrestling before their contracts were not renewed in June 2026.
Following their AEW departure, Williams and Guilmette continued performing independently, with the Pennsylvania event becoming the setting for Williams’ final match.
News of Williams being rushed to the hospital prompted a public message from former Every Time I Die guitarist Jordan Buckley. On X, Buckley asked people who pray to do so for Williams that night.
Buckley later became part of Better Lovers with three other former Every Time I Die members. Williams, meanwhile, had formed a new band called Atomic Rule.
Williams’ career connected two distinct entertainment worlds: heavy music and professional wrestling. His nearly two-decade run with Every Time I Die established him as a longtime member of the metalcore scene, while his work as The Butcher gave him a second professional identity in wrestling.
His final years therefore represented a continuation of both creative paths rather than a return to only one side of his career.
The supplied information does not provide further details about funeral arrangements, a cause of death, or additional statements from Williams’ family.
Williams is survived by a legacy spanning Every Time I Die’s nine-album studio catalog and his seven-year AEW run with The Butcher and The Blade.
