ECW Original Balls Mahoney Passes Away at 44

Jonathan Rechner, better known as the ECW wrestler Balls Mahoney, has passed away. He just recently turned 44 years old yesterday. His good friend, and fellow ECW original, Tommy Dreamer confirmed his passing via his Twitter.

Mahoney made a name for himself in Paul Heyman’s ECW, but had been wrestling for most of his young life. Starting at the age of 15, he joined the Monster Factory, the famous New Jersey training facility known for breeding wrestlers such as WWE Hall of Famer Bam Bam Bigelow and the Big Show.

He briefly wrestled for the WWF in the mid-90’s as Xanta Claus, before moving to ECW where he would make his mark on the world of extreme professional wrestling. As part of WWE’s purchase of ECW and WCW, Balls would come around 2005, during the One Night Stand pay-per-view, but was released of his contract in 2008, but managed to take on–and lose to–guys like John Cena while employed.

He was a three-time ECW Tag Team Champion, but was in the running for TV Title gold while in the original ECW.

Rest in peace.