Tony Khan Discusses Talks With Andy Williams Before His Passing, How Williams Wanted To Bridge Music & Wrestling

As previously noted, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan spoke about conversations with late wrestler Andy Williams, aka The Butcher in AEW, about working behind the scenes in AEW before his tragic passing. Below are some highlights of Khan’s comments about Andy Williams (via Fightful):

Tony Khan on His Talks With Andy Williams

“Andy (Williams) was very interested in working in the office, and he had really good ideas, so I had set up a meeting with Andy and the AEW official last month to talk about his thoughts on ways he could contribute to promoting, and Andy had ideas that he could do music shows in collaboration with AEW, and build some events outside of the wrestling show that would get eyeballs on the wrestling show and maybe bring some people from the music community into wrestling. That is one of his ideas. He had a number of good ideas, including that, and I thought it was really compelling what Andy was saying, and I was interested in it.”

On How Williams Contributed to AEW

“So that is why we set up a meeting, and Andy came in last month to talk about it, and it was something we were still actively working on, and unfortunately, at the time of his passing, it was still something that was in progress, and Andy contributed in many different ways to AEW, and he really loved the company, loved the wrestling, and I wanted Andy to stay a part of it, and I also really loved the ideas he had. I thought they would add value, and also, he was the big contributor there. He was gonna be somebody that would bridge the world of music and wrestling, and to have him say he would play the shows and help bring in the fans and promote AEW that way, I thought it was really interesting and exciting. So, that was one of the main points of Andy’s ideas. He had several good ideas, and that one in particular really stood out to me.

“I thought it was a very strong concept, and when Andy passed… it’s very hard on a lot of the people in AEW. I think a lot of people really, really liked Andy here. He was a very, very well-liked guy backstage, for many, many reasons. He’s a very talented person, very humble, very, very kind, big heart. Just a really nice guy, and I wanted to make sure we did a show in his memory that was befitting stature and… the way that everybody felt about him, and I thought that a lot of that came across very accurately in the Andy Williams tribute show, and I was very, very proud of everyone in AEW who came together that day and everybody involved in putting that together for Andy, and we’ll miss him very much.”

Williams tragically passed away earlier this month after collapsing at an indie wrestling event. He was 48 years old. Williams wrestled in AEW from November 2019 through this year, teaming with The Blade as The Butcher and the Blade.