AEW dedicated the September 12 Collision to Andy “The Butcher” Williams, who died at 48 after suffering a medical emergency at an independent show the previous weekend.
The show at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, opened with a ten-bell salute as a photo of Williams, flowers and one of his guitars were displayed in the ring. Throughout the night, Brody King, Colt Cabana, Jeff Jarrett, Daniel Garcia, PAC, Chuck Taylor, Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly shared personal stories about Williams.
One of the most emotional moments, though, came when Tony Schiavone read a message from The Blade, Williams’ tag team partner for several years:
“Andy was the most talented person that I ever met. But I think we all can agree that he was an even better friend. Andy loved pro wrestling and he loved the fans. Thank you to everybody for the support. And thank you to everybody at AEW for tonight’s event honoring Andy Williams. We love you, Andy.”
The Butcher will never, ever be forgotten.
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 13, 2026
We love you, Andy. We miss you. We always will. And we will honor your life and legacy every single day.
"The dusk is so much clearer than the dawn had ever been."
We love you, Andy. pic.twitter.com/lxdQ8vxAwf
The Butcher and The Blade debuted together in AEW in November 2019 and remained a team for most of Williams’ time with the company. In all, The Butcher wrestled nearly 150 matches for AEW.
The tribute also carried into the main event. AEW held the Butcher Battle Royal, a reference to Williams’ record of 26 battle royal eliminations in company history. Daniel Garcia won the match after eliminating Josh Alexander and earned the right to choose a charity to receive a $100,000 donation in Williams’ name.