Cody Rhodes Remembers The Butcher Destroying Him in His AEW Debut

The wrestling world is still reeling today from a shocker over the weekend. On September 5, during an Enjoy Wrestling show in Pennsylvania, Andy “The Butcher” Williams collapsed and died suddenly. Fans will remember his nearly seven years from All Elite Wrestling, where he was one half of The Butcher and The Blade tag team. Following Williams’ passing, wrestlers remembered him fondly on social media. Even Cody Rhodes, who helped create AEW before returning to WWE, had something to say about Williams in an interview. The Butcher and the American Nightmare will be forever linked because the former made his AEW debut at the latter’s expense.

The Butcher and The Blade Attacked Cody Rhodes on Their AEW Dynamite Debut

Before Andy Williams was in AEW, he was the guitarist for the band Every Time I Die, as well as a wrestler on the indies. In the smaller circuits, Williams, known as The Butcher, was already teaming with Jesse Guilmette, The Blade, and his wife, Laura Dennis, who went by Allie before becoming The Bunny.

During a November 2019 AEW Dynamite, Cody Rhodes had just won a match and was cutting a promo on MJF when a masked man came from below the ring. When the mask came off, there stood The Blade, who swiftly attacked the American Nightmare. Seconds later, The Butcher emerged as well. Commentator Jim Ross was confused about who they were, but as The Butcher demolished Rhodes and The Bunny came out of the ring, the new to AEW tag team had everyone’s attention.

Cody Rhodes Remembered Andy Williams During a Radio Interview

Cody Rhodes was in AEW until 2022, when he returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38. The Butcher was in AEW for a lot longer, leaving with The Blade in June 2026 after their contracts expired. With Rhodes a singles star, and The Butcher in the tag team scene, they didn’t cross paths much, but The Butcher had quite the All Elite Wrestling debut.

On September 7, two days after The Butcher’s death, Cody Rhodes remembered Andy Williams during an interview with Outkick Dropkick.

“When I was away from WWE, I actually — him and Blade [aka Pepper Parks] and Bunny [aka Allie] — we had recruited them to do this really fun debut.

“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. 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. 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, 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. I told Brandi about that this morning and just such a shock, so young. Beautiful person, and he leaves behind multiple locker rooms of people that he touched, that all of them 100 percent have a good memory and a good story about him.”

AEW Dynamite is sure to be an emotional scene as Andy Williams’ friends come together to remember him. As we think about him, let’s not stay on how he passed away, but let’s remember his amazing career as well, which included quite the shocking AEW debut.