WWE News: ECW Original Balls Mahoney passes away at age 44

It is a dark day for the interntational wrestling community as ECW Original Balls Mahoney has passed away in his home today. Mahoney, real name Jonathan Rechner, celebrated his 44th birthday just a day ago.

Johnny Candido, brother of deceased wrestler Chris Candido, disseminated the news of Mahoney’s passing via Twitter. According to wrestlinginc.com, Johnny noticed ambulances parked in front of Mahoney’s house. Concerned, he called Mahoney’s wife who told him the tragic news of Mahoney’s sudden passing. He posted this remembrance on Twitter:

At a loss for words, love you brother, you'll be missed, rip Balls Mahoney pic.twitter.com/xAFsschzXK

— jonnycandido (@Candido118) April 13, 2016

PWInsider reports that Mahoney suffered a bad fall a few days ago, injuring his hip, though the circumstances surrounding it are unknown. Mahoney had to use a walker after that and his health deteriorated rapidly following the injury.

Mahoney is best remembered for his tenure in ECW beginning in 1997, where he would wield a steel chair inscribed with something. Mahoney returned to the indy circuit following ECW’s folding in 2001, but was one of the first signings when the WWE relaunched ECW under their auspice.

Mahoney was a long-time friend of Chris Candido and even got a tattoo of an inverted pentagram on his arm, dedicated to his friend. Mahoney’s last wrestling appearance was on December 6th 2016, a flaming tables match which he won. Here’s a video of his match with John Cena: