Guitarist Impresses in First Singles Pro Wrestling Match

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Photo Credit: Steve Argintaru

‘Every Time I Die’ Guitarist Impresses in First Singles Pro Wrestling Match

Andy Williams is best known as the lead guitarist of the band Every Time I Die, but after his impressive showing in the ring Sunday, a second career as a professional wrestler may be in the cards.

Williams has dabbled in wrestling over the past year, making appearances and wrestling a pair of tag team matches, but on Sunday, Williams wrestled his first full singles bout, going 10 minutes against local heel Tarik at a SMASH Wrestling event at the Horner Community Centre in Toronto.

Williams has had two previous in-ring confrontations with Tarik leading to this grudge match. The 6’3’’, 250-pound Williams rocked Tarik with stuff punches and chops as the match spilled to the floor. Williams impressed the crowd of approximately 350 fans with his surprising quickness and with well-executed chokeslams, back suplexes, and a spinning sidewalk slam. However, Tarik took advantage of a distracted referee to connect with a chop block and steal the win.

Williams legitimately injured his knee during the match, aggravating an existing injury. He felt his right knee begin to go out as he attempted to lift Tarik up for a stall suplex, which caused a moment of panic.

“I kind of equate (wrestling) to song-writing,” Williams said following the match. “A song has its parts – a bridge, verses, the chorus. When you’re setting the match up, it’s a lot like writing a song, where you have those parts. Sometimes you forget the verse or the bridge or the chorus. The cool thing is, is a song, you know the next part is coming up. It’s the same thing with wrestling. If you screw up or something gets messed up, you can always remember what you’re supposed to do next. But wrestling is like making a song 30 minutes before you play it, and then you have to go out and play it live.”

A wrestling fans since childhood, Williams began training to become a wrestler at the age of 19, driving from his hometown of Buffalo, New York, to a wrestling school in Burlington, Ontario. But, after three months of training, his wrestling career was derailed … at least, at that point in his life.

“I blew my knee out. The injury actually ended up being the catalyst for me playing guitar more,” Williams said. “If I didn’t blow my knee out, I probably wouldn’t have started Every Time I Die. My life changed completely.”

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Photo Credit: Steve Argintaru

Every Time I Die formed in 1998 and has released seven albums. Now that the band has established itself and built a loyal fan following, Williams has had the opportunity to go back and revisit the dreams of his childhood. He trained with wrestlers Pepper Parks, Cherry Bomb, and Mikey Everynight for the past several months at a gym in Buffalo in preparation for this match.

The referee for the match was former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas, who refereed the main event of WrestleMania 24 between Edge and The Undertaker. A wrestling referee for 30 years, Korderas said he was impressed with Williams’ showing.

“Considering it was his first singles match, I was pleasantly surprised,” Korderas said. “There are always things you can nit-pick, but he handled himself very well. I think he understood the nuances. He looked strong. Everything he did looked crisp.”

Williams said he expects to get back into the squared circle again in the near future.

“I would like to continue. I’ve got to get this knee stuff figured out and then it’s going to be full-on,” he said. “We’re in the middle of recording a new record. I took the day off from that for this. Monday morning, I go back in and play guitar.

“I know I have the Every Time I Die fans in my corner when I wrestle, but the challenge is trying to win over that guy that knows nothing about music, but may be a huge wrestling fan. I want him to come away saying ‘I don’t know anything about his music, but that Andy Williams guy is a pretty damn good wrestler.’”

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Dan Murphy is a freelance writer in Buffalo. Pre-order his new book documenting the rise of women’s wrestling from sideshow to WWE main event on Amazon.com, "Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women’s Wrestling"
Dan Murphy
Dan Murphy
Dan Murphy is a freelance writer in Buffalo. Pre-order his new book documenting the rise of women’s wrestling from sideshow to WWE main event on Amazon.com, "Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women’s Wrestling"