Overview
- Williams collapsed during a tag-team match at Mr. Smalls Theatre and on-site physicians, police and paramedics performed CPR and used an AED before he was taken to Allegheny General Hospital and pronounced dead.
- The incident occurred on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, and Millvale police reported that officers found no visible signs of trauma and no indications of foul play at the scene.
- An autopsy has been completed by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, but the official cause and manner of death remain pending while laboratory testing is finished.
- The wrestling community and AEW have held public remembrances including a 10-bell salute at an ROH taping, on-air memorial graphics on Dynamite, and a separate tribute planned for AEW Collision.
- Williams was known both for his independent and AEW/ROH wrestling career as The Butcher and for his work as a guitarist in bands including Every Time I Die and Atomic Rule, and his death has prompted calls to review medical protocols at independent shows.