In Memory of Andy “The Butcher” Williams | Pollock & Thurston
A tribute episode dedicated to Andy Williams, the Butcher from AEW who passed away Saturday at an independent wrestling event in Pennsylvania at age 48. The show features discussions of his dual careers in professional wrestling and the band Every Time I Die, his impact on multiple communities, and details surrounding his sudden death.
Summary
The episode opens with tributes to Andy Williams (Billy Goat Williams), who collapsed during a tag match at an Enjoy Wrestling event at Mr. Smalls Theater in Millvale, Pennsylvania on Saturday, August 31st. According to police reports, Williams struck his head on a ring post during his match with The Blade against The Acclaimed. Paramedics and two physicians on-site administered CPR, and he was transported to Allegheny General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9:43 PM. The cause of death remained pending autopsy results at the time of broadcast.
Brandon Thurston and John Pollock discuss Williams' background from North Tonawanda, New York, where both grew up. Thurston recalls encountering Williams in the late 1990s at Extreme Gratwick Wrestling (EGW), a backyard wrestling federation in their hometown neighborhood where Williams was known as Billy Goat Williams. They operated a ring with poles and thin cables in a residential backyard, with young wrestlers taking dangerous bumps on hard ground. Thurston describes being power-bombed by Williams onto mattresses as a young teenager.
The show brings on Damien Abraham from Every Time I Die to discuss Williams' music career, which was equally significant to his wrestling career. Abraham recounts first encountering Williams in Toronto around 1996-1997 when Williams would mosh intensely during Buried Alive sets. Williams had a notable master killer tattoo and served as a roadie for bands before Every Time I Die formed. Every Time I Die became an important alternative/metalcore band that crossed over to mainstream audiences, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel around 2007, MTV2, and Warped Tour. Abraham emphasizes that Williams' musical career was not a minor side project but represented genuine artistic accomplishment and cultural impact in the punk and hardcore music scenes.
Williams began his professional wrestling career relatively late at age 38 in 2016, training at Grapplers Anonymous. Despite starting late, he progressed rapidly through independent wrestling, getting booked by Joey Janela on Joey's Spring Break card due to Janela's fandom of Every Time I Die. He wrestled for promotions including SMASH Wrestling, Beyond Wrestling, and eventually signed with AEW at age 42, which Thurston emphasizes was a remarkable achievement given his late start and success on the indie circuit. Williams formed a successful tag team with The Blade (Pepper Parks) called The Butcher and The Blade.
Thurston recalls working with Williams during his wrestling peak, including long car rides from Worcester, Massachusetts back to Buffalo where Williams would drive while listening to death metal and bobbing his head for hours. He describes Williams as tremendously outgoing and someone who knew everybody in both the wrestling and music worlds. Abraham confirms this characterization, noting that Williams was intimidating as a physical presence but exceptionally precious as a human being who made people feel cared for.
The show also covers WWE/TKO business matters. Nick Khan appeared on The Varsity podcast discussing fan criticism on social media, stating that companies cannot be reactive to online criticism and must rely on their creative teams. WWE attendance numbers are discussed, showing a decline from 2024 peaks but still substantially above pre-2022 levels. Raw and SmackDown ticket distributions via WrestleTix show current averages in the 8,000-10,000 range, down from 12,000+ in previous years.
Netflix's WWE Raw viewership is analyzed, with an unusual situation where the taped August 31st episode failed to rank in Netflix's global top 10—only the second time this has occurred since Raw's January 2025 Netflix launch. Brandon Thurston's data analysis suggests this episode had fewer than 1.8 million global views, the lowest since the Christmas Day episode. Year-over-year comparisons show 2025 viewership down approximately 10% from 2024 on average. Gabe Spitzer from Netflix discussed content restrictions, noting that Netflix and WWE have conversations about promotion timing and that Netflix tries to be looser with rating standards than traditional networks, though there's increased pixelation of blood and violence on current broadcasts compared to WWE's Netflix library.
The show addresses reporting on Williams' death, with John and Brandon discussing responsible journalism practices around celebrity deaths. Both express reluctance to break such stories without family confirmation, arguing that next-of-kin should learn of deaths from family first, not media reports. They criticize some outlets for running unconfirmed reports based on weak sources before official confirmation.
The episode concludes with discussion of criminal investigation into the LA Clippers salary cap circumvention scandal involving Kawhi Leonard. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into allegations that the Clippers arranged secret sponsorship contracts for Leonard that violated salary cap rules, according to New York Times reporting.
About this episode
<p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/iamjohnpollock.bsky.social" rel="nofollow"><strong>John Pollock</strong></a><span> and </span><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/brandonthurston.bsky.social" rel="nofollow"><strong>Brandon Thurston</strong></a><span> reflect on the life and career of Andy Williams, a.k.a. ‘The Butcher’, who tragically passed last weekend. </span></p><p><strong>VIDEO VERSION: </strong><a href="https://youtube.com/live/cvbLlvMK4Tw" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://youtube.com/live/cvbLlvMK4Tw</strong></a></p><p><span>Thurston shares his memories of working with Williams and transitioning to pro wrestling after a successful musical career. From there, we welcome </span><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/turned-out-a-punk/id940288964" rel="nofollow"><strong>Damian Abraham</strong></a><span> from the band Fucked Up to discuss Williams’ legacy as a member of Everytime I Die and Atomic Rule.</span></p><p><span>Topics this week include:</span></p><ul><li><span>The passing of Andy Williams, a.k.a. The Butcher </span></li><li><a href="https://www.postwrestling.com/2026/09/08/millvale-police-department-releases-statement-regarding-passing-of-andy-williams/" rel="nofollow">Details on what happened at the venue from the police report </a></li><li><span>Nick Khan’s interview on The Varsity with John Ourand </span></li><li><a href="https://www.postwrestling.com/2026/09/08/netflix-vp-of-global-live-sports-entertainment-on-wwe-theyve-been-great-partners-and-were-thrilled-with-the-results-so-far/" rel="nofollow">Netflix’s Gabe Spitzer on The Sports Media podcast </a></li><li><span>WWE Raw fails to rank in any regions on Netflix & more</span></li><li><span>Vince McMahon subpoenaed in Endeavor take-private lawsuit</span></li></ul><p><span><span></span></span></p><p><em>Music courtesy: </em><a href="https://soundcloud.com/IAmBenTramer" rel="nofollow"><em>“Panic Beat” by Ben Tramer</em></a></p><p><strong>POST Wrestling</strong></p><p><strong>Subscribe: </strong><a href="https://postwrestling.com/subscribe" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://postwrestling.com/subscribe</strong></a></p><p><strong>Patreon: </strong><a href="http://postwrestlingcafe.com" rel="nofollow"><strong>http://postwrestlingcafe.com</strong></a></p><p><strong>Forum: </strong><a href="https://forum.postwrestling.com/" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://forum.postwrestling.com</strong></a></p><p><strong>Discord: </strong><a href="https://discord.com/invite/Q795HhR" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://discord.com/invite/Q795HhR</strong></a></p><p><a href="http://www.twitter.com/POSTwrestling" rel="nofollow"><strong>Twitter</strong></a><span>/</span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/POSTwrestling" rel="nofollow"><strong>Facebook</strong></a><span>/</span><a href="http://www.instagram.com/POSTwrestling" rel="nofollow"><strong>Instagram</strong></a><span>/</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/POSTwrestling" rel="nofollow"><strong>YouTube</strong></a><strong>: @POSTwrestling</strong></p><p><strong>Bluesky: </strong><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/postwrestling.com" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://bsky.app/profile/postwrestling.com</strong></a></p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Wrestlenomics</strong></p><p><strong>Subscribe: </strong><a href="https://wrestlenomics.com/podcast/" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://wrestlenomics.com/podcast/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Patreon: </strong><a href="https://patreon.com/wrestlenomics" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://patreon.com/wrestlenomics</strong></a></p><p><strong>Substack: </strong><a href="https://wrestlenomics.substack.com/" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://wrestlenomics.substack.com/</strong></a></p><p><a href="http://www.twitter.com/wrestlenomics" rel="nofollow"><strong>Twitter</strong></a><span>/</span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/wrestlenomics" rel="nofollow"><strong>Facebook</strong></a><span>/</span><a href="http://www.instagram.com/wrestlenomics" rel="nofollow"><strong>Instagram</strong></a><span>/</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/wrestlenomics" rel="nofollow"><strong>YouTube</strong></a><strong>: @Wrestlenomics</strong></p><p><strong>Bluesky: </strong><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/wrestlenomics.com" rel="nofollow"><strong>https://bsky.app/profile/wrestlenomics.com</strong></a></p><p><br /></p><br /><br />Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a><br /><br />Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href="https://redcircle.com/privacy">https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>
Key Insights
- Andy Williams started professional wrestling at age 38 in 2016 and achieved an AEW contract by age 42, which was remarkable given the late start and his path through independent wrestling without developmental deals
- Williams maintained dual careers of significance—Every Time I Die was not a minor side project but a culturally important metalcore/alternative band that achieved mainstream crossover, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel and Warped Tour
- Brandon Thurston and Andy Williams both grew up in North Tonawanda, New York and encountered each other in the late 1990s at Extreme Gratwick Wrestling, a backyard promotion with dangerous conditions using poles and cables instead of proper ring infrastructure
- Damien Abraham witnessed Williams' physical intimidation in punk/hardcore scenes but found him to be exceptionally kind and caring as a person who made people feel valued through genuine personal interest
- WWE attendance via WrestleTix shows current averaging of 8,000-10,000 tickets distributed, down from 12,000+ in 2024 but still substantially above the 6,000-8,000 range during the end of Vince McMahon's tenure in early 2022
- Netflix Raw's August 31st taped episode failed to rank in the global top 10—only the second occurrence since WWE Raw's January 2025 Netflix launch—suggesting viewership below 1.8 million, the lowest reported since launch
- WWE's year-over-year Netflix viewership for 2025 is approximately 10% down from 2024 when averaged across episodes, with most 2025 episodes performing lower than their 2024 counterparts
- Netflix has increased pixelation and censoring of blood and violence on current WWE Raw broadcasts, a new level of content restriction that goes beyond muting certain words, according to discussion of recent Usos beatdown segment
- Nick Khan stated that WWE cannot be reactive to online fan criticism and must instead rely on established creative teams, noting that fan sentiment criticism appears coinciding with declining business metrics rather than consistently
- WWE's reported completion of creative planning for next year's WrestleMania two-night Saudi Arabia event indicates advanced strategic planning, pending any injuries that might alter storylines
- The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into LA Clippers' Kawhi Leonard salary cap circumvention scheme involving fake no-show sponsorship contracts, indicating potential criminal statutes beyond NBA rule violations
- Responsible journalism practices around celebrity deaths require confirmation from family or official sources before breaking such news, with editors expressing reluctance to be the outlet breaking death news without next-of-kin notification
Topics
Transcript
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