Former ECW Wrestler Rockin’ Rebel’s Death Being Investigated As Murder-Suicide

Former ECW wrestler Rockin’ Rebel — real name Charles “Chuck” Williams — and his wife were found dead inside a home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, early Friday after police responded to the residence for a report of a shooting.

According to a press release from the West Goshen Township Police Department, Charles Williams allegedly shot and killed his wife, Stephanie Williams, on Friday, then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The press release states:

“Further information regarding the June 1st shooting in the 300 block of North Five Points Road: The decedents were a married couple in their fifties named Charles and Stephanie Williams. The Williams family resided at 302 North Five Points Road.

“Both appear to have died as a result of gunshot wounds that occurred sometime in the overnight hours. Initial indications support that Stephanie Williams was shot by her husband. Charles Williams then fatally shot himself.

“The investigation is ongoing in conjunction with the Chester County Coroner’s Office.”

West Goshen Township police were dispatched to the home at around 6:30 a.m. and met by family members in the driveway.

The officers searched the home and discovered the bodies of an adult male and an adult female in the living room of the residence.

Police said children were inside the home, but unharmed.

One neighbor said that although the couple rarely went outside, police were called to the home several times.

“There were always problems over there. The police were there a lot,” Stephanie Seiple told 6 ABC.

Another neighbor believes they were having marital problems.

“There were arguments between the parents and they were loud and the language used was extremely nasty. It scared me,” Michael Plunkett told CBS Philly.

Charles Williams was 52 years old. He was born on January 13, 1966, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Here is a recent photo of Charles Williams with his wife and children.

So fucking sad. This was one of the last pictures of Rockin' Rebel. With his wife and kids from a week ago. You never know what's going on in peoples heads. pic.twitter.com/Jm5w80cRYL

— Old Chunk Of Coal (@ian_stewart7) June 1, 2018

Charles Williams took the name Rockin’ Rebel after being trained by The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) and made his wrestling debut in December 1988. He began to gain success 1990 with the Philadelphia-based Tri-State Wrestling Alliance. He won the TWA Heavyweight Championship one time and most notably wrestled future ECW star The Sandman.

The origins of ECW can be traced back to the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, which was owned by Joel Goodhart. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Tod Gordon, who in return renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. Rebel joined the promotion in 1993 and wrestled for the group through 1995 (Eastern Championship Wrestling got renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1994).

You can find over a dozen of Rebel’s ECW matches on the WWE Network.

According to CageMatch.net, Williams also worked as a jobber for both the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.

For the WWF, he did job duty at four television tapings in 1989 under the name Chuck Williams, losing to The Honky Tonk Man, The Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian), Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, and The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau). He appeared once more in June 1995 as Rockin’ Rebel, losing to Kama (aka WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather).

For WCW, he worked three WCW Saturday Night television tapings, both as Chuck Williams and as Rockin’ Rebel. He beat Bob Starr in a dark match, before losing to V.K. Wallstreet (aka Irwin R. Schyster) and Paul Orndorff in televised bouts.

Following his brushes on the national stage, Williams hit the independent wrestling circuit for good, appearing for Combat Zone Wrestling, Atomic Championship Wrestling, Classic Championship Wrestling, Valour Pro Wrestling, and various other promotions on the East Coast. According to CageMatch.net, Williams wrestled as recently as May 19, for Atomic Championship Wrestling.

Here is an interview Williams did with Bill Apter in January 2013, where he offered advice to wrestlers and talked about how he broke into wrestling himself.

Williams had a Facebook page that he updated regularly with advice. Here are some messages he posted in the days before his death.