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WWE News: Another ECW Original Passes Away — 2016 Wrestler Death List Continues To Grow

By Danny Cox
Published on: 15:23 PST, Apr 12, 2016

The sad year for celebrity deaths continues as the list just keeps on growing, and the wrestling world has lost yet another great one. ECW Original and hardcore legend Balls Mahoney has passed away at the young age of 44. In an interesting and weird note, his former tag team partner, Axl Rotten, passed away earlier this year at the exact same age.

The news was broken on Twitter by Johnny Candido, brother of the late Chris Candido. He was the one that brought the tragic news to the world.

Candido said that Balls Mahoney, whose real name is Jonathan Rechner, had just turned 44 years old on Monday, but details of his death are very little right now. A friend who lived near him had said that there were a number of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, at Mahoney’s home.

It was then that Candido called Mahoney’s wife only to have his wife answer the phone and let him know that Rechner had died.

wwe news ecw original balls mahoney dies wrestling deaths 2016 axl rotten
[Image via WWE/ECW]
Pro Wrestling confirmed the news of Balls Mahoney’s death after seeing it on a number of other wrestler Twitter accounts, including that of Tommy Dreamer.

The wrestling world is extremely saddened by the loss and so many of them have spoken on how kind Rechner always was to anyone he knew and those he didn’t know either. He was known as a hardcore good guy as he was always smiling and just always looked happy to be where he was and doing what he was doing.

The death of Balls Mahoney makes him the ninth professional wrestler to pass away in 2016 already, and the year is only halfway through April. As the Pro Wrestling Wikia shows, the list just keeps on growing.

  • Kris Travis
  • Robert Windham aka Black Jack Mulligan
  • Axl Rotten
  • “Iron” Mike Sharpe
  • Lord James Blears
  • Archie Gouldie
  • Eiji Ezaki
  • Charlie Fulton

It was less than a week ago that Blackjack Mulligan passed away, and the WWE website spoke of his time spent in the ring until he died at the age of 73. The 6-foot-9, 345-pound giant proved that everything was bigger in Texas, and he did it with a brutal in-ring style.

There is really nothing known about the death of Balls Mahoney, but plenty is known about his wrestling career which was still happening on the independent circuit. He began wrestling back in 1987 in the World Wrestling Council and eventually found his way into ECW in 1997.

Balls Mahoney did have a short stint in WWE from 2005 through 2008 when he took part in the newer version of ECW. He was a fan favorite then as he had been throughout most of his career, and he always had his trademark chair with him.

The touching tributes are pouring in from around the world and wrestlers that knew him, loved him, and worked with him. Balls Mahoney is an icon in wrestling and one that will be truly missed in every promotion there is.

Balls Mahoney was always a lot of fun in the ring even though he was one of the most violent and brutal wrestlers to ever step into a ring. It’s just so very weird that his death comes a mere month and a half after that of his former tag team partner in ECW, Axl Rotten. The world is going to miss the chairman of wrestling, and it’s truly sad that this original icon is gone.

[Image via WWE]

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