Speedball Mike Bailey Reflects On AEW's Tribute To The Butcher

On September 5, 2026, both the music and wrestling world lost Andy "The Butcher" Williams, who passed away at the age of 48 after suffering a medical emergency at an Enjoy Wrestling event in Pennsylvania. One week later, the September 12 episode of "AEW Collision" was dedicated to the man who had wrestled for the company for nearly seven years, with the show concluding with a music video celebrating Williams' life, and the AEW roster embracing each other on the entrance ramp.

Someone who wrestled on that show was "Speedball" Mike Bailey, who went one-on-one with Jon Moxley in the show's opening contest. Once the show finished, Bailey opened up about the moment the AEW roster made their way out to watch the music video during a recent edition of Bailey's YouTube Vlog.

"At the end of Collision, everyone went out on the stage as they played a tribute to Andy Williams, and it was such a great moment for all of us to be going through this together. It has been a very, very difficult week for all of us, and you know, I say this as someone who did not spend a lot of time with Andy. I only met him here and there, but I say this very often, the professional wrestling world is a community, right? So anytime there is any kind of tragedy that happens, we all feel it, and we all have to and want to be there for each other, and everyone being together on that stage felt really good. Even though we're all experiencing very, very big sadness because of this, this felt like a nice moment of togetherness."

While Williams' contract with AEW had technically expired in June 2026, AEW President Tony Khan revealed that Williams had a number of ideas on how to bring the worlds of wrestling and music together shortly before he passed away.

Please credit the original source when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.