Tony Khan says Andy Williams had been in talks about a backstage role for AEW in recent weeks – POST Wrestling
Tony Khan says Andy Williams had recently been in discussions about continuing with AEW in a backstage role once his in-ring career ended.
Khan revealed the talks in a video released shortly before Saturday’s special Collision tribute show, saying Williams had met with members of the company’s staff as recently as August.
Williams, who wrestled as The Butcher, died last weekend at the age of 48 after suffering a medical emergency at an Enjoy Wrestling event in Pennsylvania.
Khan said the prospective backstage role had not previously been made public.
A lot of people don’t know this. In fact, I don’t think anybody knows this. I haven’t really talked about it. In recent weeks, Andy had been in conversations with AEW about things outside of the ring.
According to Khan, Williams had begun thinking about life after wrestling and had ideas for how he could remain involved with AEW.
He had said, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to wrestle forever.” And Andy had ideas for AEW promotions. And Andy had ideas for how he could contribute backstage.
And Andy just had — a few weeks ago in August —Andy had meetings with my staff that I set up. And I was interested in Andy continuing here, out of the ring.
Khan described the loss as especially difficult because of Williams’ age and the future he believed remained ahead of him.
“He’s left us as a very young man with a very bright future in front of him,” Khan said. The AEW president also spoke at length about Williams personally, describing him as universally loved within the company and emphasizing the impact he had made beyond professional wrestling.
Khan called Williams “a wonderful person” and “one of the greatest guys we’ve ever had here in AEW,” while also noting his accomplishments as a founding guitarist of Every Time I Die.
He said numerous wrestlers had reached out wanting to participate in Saturday’s tribute, with some changing their plans to attend.
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