Former ECW And WWE Wrestler Balls Mahoney Dead At 44

According to the Los Angeles Times,  Jonathan Rechner otherwise known as wrestler Balls Mahoney,  died yesterday at his home in New Jersey. He was 44.

Balls made his name wrestling in ECW as a tag team specialist.  He won the tag team championship three times with different partners.  One of those title reigns was with Axl Rotten as the Hardcore Chair Swinging Freaks.  After ECW Folded,  he went on to be one of the ECW Originals in WWE before being released in 2008.

Before his ECW days, he did wrestle briefly under his own name in WWE.  He also  appeared  as Xanta Klaus an evil Santa in 1995.   Until his death, he spent the remaining years wrestling on the independent circuit.

One of the many memorable hardcore guys from the glory days of ECW.

A cause of death has yet to be released.