Williams died at a local hospital in Pennsylvania. Black, meanwhile, was thousands of miles away, preparing for a high-stakes title match against Cara Noir at PROGRESS Wrestling in England. It was there that Black also recalled first learning of his friend’s death.
Backstage at PROGRESS’ September 6 show, Black overheard an interview in which Donovan Dijak issued his condolences to the family of an unnamed wrestler that had just died. Naturally curious about the identity of the wrestler, Black then approached Dijak, who informed him that it was Williams.
Black initially responded to the news with confusion. Once Dijak reconfirmed that he was indeed talking about Andy “The Butcher” Williams, the soon-to-be PROGRESS World Champion collapsed into a state of sadness and disbelief.
“I fell down and he just caught me,” Black said. I’m just hanging in his arms. I’m going, ‘Wait, no, no, no!’ I’m kind of clawing against him. It’s like, ‘No, no, wait, what?’ I just started sobbing. I became almost hysterical. I’m 41 years old; becoming hysterical is not something that I would associate with someone as me who for the most part is a pretty stoic individual.
“I’m a bit frozen,” he continued. “I couldn’t compute it. I was fighting it as if he’s purposely telling me something that is not true, as if he’s lying to me. I’m almost getting mad at him. I’m like, ‘No, what the f***, dude.’ I’m trying to claw away from him and he’s holding me. He’s like, ‘No, I’m sorry.’ I can see in his eyes that he’s like, ‘Oh, I should not say anything,’ but it’s not his fault.”
After eventually regaining his composure, Black apologized to Dijak, noting that the news caught him especially off guard due to his long-time closeness to Williams. Black then tried to hide it from his wife Xelina (fka Zelina Vega) in an effort to not upset her before own match against Myla Grace. Xelina and PROGRESS co-owner Big Damo were already aware of Williams’ death by that point, however.
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