AEW has filled in the card for tonight’s tribute edition of Collision, and the main event is a Butcher Battle Royal. The winner picks a charity, and AEW donates $100,000 to it in the name of Andy “The Butcher” Williams, who died September 5 at 48.
The match type isn’t incidental. Williams is the all-time leader in AEW battle royale eliminations with 26, a number AEW itself pointed to in its preview for tonight’s show. He also won a 15-man battle royale at The House Always Wins in April 2021, the company’s first non-televised event.
Two more matches round out the announced lineup. Jon Moxley (c) puts the AEW Continental Championship on the line against “Speedball” Mike Bailey in an Eliminator match, the format AEW uses to slot a challenger into a future title shot. Moxley has held the belt since beating Kazuchika Okada in the Continental Classic final at Worlds End in December.
Mina Shirakawa also meets Queen Aminata, with Mercedes Moné on commentary. Moné took the AEW Women’s World Championship from Willow Nightingale at All In on August 30 and hasn’t named a first challenger, which gives her a reason to be at the desk for this one.
How AEW Has Honored The Butcher This Week
Williams collapsed during Enjoy Wrestling’s Five Years event at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Promotion co-founder Kurt Hackimer said Williams struck his head and that his symptoms were consistent with a cardiac event, and Millvale police issued an official statement confirming he had stopped breathing before EMS arrived.
AEW held a ten-bell salute ahead of Wednesday’s Rebel Heart Dynamite, and the broadcast opened with a black-and-white memorial graphic. Wrestlers wore “AW” armbands and worked his signature spots into their matches, and Excalibur delivered a tearful tribute on commentary. Tuesday’s ROH tapings also opened with a ten-bell salute.
A public celebration of life is set for Sunday, September 27, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Buffalo Riverworks in Buffalo, New York. Tickets are free at AndyWilliamsForever.com, where shirt and hoodie sales go directly to the Williams family.
Collision airs live at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and HBO Max from the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, with MyAEW carrying it internationally.
