The House of Hardcore wrestling promotion, run by Tommy Dreamer, took time out to celebrate the life of recently deceased ECW Original, Balls Mahoney.
House of Hardcore Celebrates Balls Mahoney’s Life
At House of Hardcore 13 in Philadelphia, Dreamer fittingly started the show by taking time out to speak about the life of Balls Mahoney. Along with Rob Van Dam, Rhino, Blue Meanie, Shane Douglas, Joel Gertner and Danny Doring, Tommy led the crowd in a sing-a-long to commemorate Mahoney. As AC/DC’s hit Big Balls blared over the PA system, the crowd in attendance belted out the lines, which can be seen here.
Jon Rechner, a.k.a. Balls Mahoney, began wrestling when he was 15 years old, in 1987. After some success in Smokey Mountain Wrestling, he made ignominious WWF debut as Xanta Klaus, Santa’s evil twin from the South Pole, known for swiping gifts. The character was not well-received and lived a short life, serving only to rob Rechner of the opportunity to make a name for himself with the company. After being used as enhancement talent, Rechner left the WWF and eventually signed with ECW in 1997.
It was in Extreme Championship wrestling where Rechner would find success, embracing the subversive culture of the company and garnering support from the fanbase that was hungry for violent action in the squared circle. Under the cheeky moniker of Balls Mahoney, Rechner was a no-nonsense crowd favorite, giving throngs of testosterone-filled fans a reason to chant “balls” over and over again. He found success as a tag team wrestler, carrying the straps with two different partners, Masato Tanaka and Spike Dudley. He stayed with the company until it closed in 2001 and plied his trade on the independent circuit before signing a deal to appear in WWE’s ECW revival.
Originally slated to team with his first ECW partner, Axl Rotten, Mahoney was forced to go at it alone after Rotten was released. Signed as a tie to the original product, Mahoney was featured on the weekly product, but was never pushed into the main event, despite displaying consistent work in the ring and being over with the crowd. Never pushed as a top star, he still engaged in feuds and most memorably was involved in an angle with Kelly Kelly, as an unlikely romantic twosome. Despite this push, he left the company in 2008 after his contract ended and returned to his roots on the independent circuit, appearing in TNA and ROH, in addition to other smaller promotions.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Rechner’s wife reports that the two were watching Jeopardy when the ECW Original become unresponsive. Despite a call placed to 911, Rechner was pronounced dead when the medics arrived, leaving the world the day after his 44th birthday.
A Go Fund Me page has been created to help the family deal with the funeral costs, as well as helping his son Christopher and wife Gayle in the future. Funeral information can be found here.
Mahoney, like Rotten, is yet another ECW Original whose extreme wrestling style could have easily contributed to his early demise. Known for wielding a chair during his matches, Rechner sacrificed his body to maintain his wrestling persona. The news serves as a grim reminder that professional wrestlers may know the outcome of the contests that they take part in, but the toll their bodies take is all too real. Rechner lived the life that many wrestlers lead: achieving a modicum of mainstream success, but nonetheless always performing at a high level, seeking to entertain the fans, no matter what the numbers at the gate. In a profession in which many wrestlers purport themselves to be dour individuals, Rechner brought a fun-loving attitude to his craft, engaging the fans and his opponents with an infectious love of the business. The display by Dreamer and the other ECW Originals pulled the curtain back on the real life camaraderie that the men shared and what Rechner meant to those who encountered him in and out of the ring.
Main Photo By Tabercil – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48160988
