10 Things Fans Should Know About ECW Wrestler Balls Mahoney

Fans looking back on the 1990s upstart promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling will certainly remember the top stars of the promotion — names like Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Cactus Jack, Raven, The Dudley Boyz, and countless others. But one ECW Original that fans might neglect to mention is Balls Mahoney, who showed up in the company in 1996 and stuck around until ECW went under in early 2001.

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Nicknamed “The Chair-Swinging Freak,” Mahoney, with his grungy look and penchant for violence, perfectly embodied the vibe of ECW. However, because he gets overshadowed by the bigger names in the promotion’s history, let’s take a special look at Balls Mahoney and what fans should know about him.

10 Trained By Larry Sharpe

Hailing from New Jersey, John Rechner was on the wrestling team in high school and decided to pursue pro wrestling at the age of 15 alongside his buddy and future ECW star Chris Candido. Together, the two enrolled in the Monster Factory, the renowned wrestling school run by wrestler turned famed trainer Larry Sharpe. Founded by Sharpe and the original “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers, the Monster Factory is known for training names like Bam Bam Bigelow, Raven, D’Lo Brown, The Godfather, and The Big Show.

9 Wrestled On The Indies As Abuddah Singh

John Rechner made his in-ring debut in 1987, but it would be nearly a decade before fans would ever hear the name “Balls Mahoney.” While working the indie scene, Rechner had the ring name of Abuddah Singh and incorporated fire breathing into his gimmick and gained some notoriety when a fire-spitting spot gone wrong resulted in his opponent, Abdullah the Butcher, receiving third-degree burns. More positively, Abuddah Singh was also voted by Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers as 2nd runner-up for “Rookie of the Year” in 1994, behind Bob Holly, but just ahead of Mikey Whipwreck.

8 Was Boo Bradley Jr. In Smoky Mountain Wrestling

The year 1994 saw Chris Candido debut for Jim Cornette’s Tennessee-based Smokey Mountain Wrestling, with John Rechner soon following. In SMW, Rechner became the Boo Bradley, Candido’s idiot bumpkin sidekick, who regularly took abuse from not only Candido, but also his valet and real-life girlfriend Tammy, best known as WWE’s Sunny.

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Eventually, Candido turned on him, resulting in Bradley booting his buddy out of the company in a Loser Leaves Town Dog Collar Match. During his stint with SMW, Boo Bradley also got his first titles in wrestling by capturing the Beat The Champ Television Championship on two occasions.

7 Showed Up In WWE As Xanta Klaus

Balls Mahoney would find his way to WWE in the mid-2000s, but in the decade prior John Rechner got his first taste of the company, first working as a jobber under his own real name in the early 1990s. Then, in 1995, he’d actually debut with a real character, albeit a totally ridiculous, short-lived one: Xanta Klaus, a bizarro Santa Claus enlisted by Ted DiBiase who’s from the South Pole and steals presents. Xanta Klaus’ time amounted to a couple of appearances and one match before never being seen again.

6 Debuted In ECW In Late 1996

After Smoky Mountain Wrestling went under and his WWE stint ended, John Rechner returned to the indies, wrestling under his Boo Bradley persona until late 1996 when he finally joined up with ECW. There, he finally became Balls Mahoeny, debuting at the early December show Holiday Hell in a winning effort against Devon Storm, a.k.a. WCW’s Crowbar. For the most part, Mahoney lost every match he competed in until about the spring of 1997, and by May started getting title shots, his first being at Television Champion Shane Douglas.

5 Formed A Tag Team With Axl Rotten

Balls Mahoney was only a couple of months into his ECW run when he first teamed with Axl Rotten, who’d previously been in the tag team Bad Breed with his kayfabe brother Ian Rotten. By August 1997, Mahoney and Rotten began teaming regularly, forming a tag team known as The Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks. Together, they entered a rivalry with the Dudley Boyz, challenging them for the ECW World Tag Team Title on multiple occasions, but never managed to capture the belts.

4 Tag Team Champion With Masato Tanaka

While he was never able to capture the ECW tag belts with Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney managed to do so for the first time with a seemingly random partner: Japanese wrestler Masato Tanaka. It all began on an October 1998 episode of Hardcore TV when a singles match between Mahoney and Tanaka was interrupted due to an attack by Buh Buh Ray and D-Von Dudley, causing the two to form a tag team in response.

RELATED: 10 Odd Teams You Forgot Challenged For The ECW Tag Team Championships

After defeating the Dudleys on the same episode of Hardcore TV, Mahoney and Tanaka beat them once again at November to Remember, capturing the Tag Team Title in the process. The two held the belts for about five days before dropping them back to the Dudleys.

3 Two-Time ECW Tag Team Champion With Spike Dudley

Balls Mahoney’s other notable tag team partner during his ECW run was the diminutive Spike Dudley, who feuded with Buh Buh Ray and D-Von after they betrayed the broader Dudley family. Having already feuded with the Dudleys with two other partners, Balls made a great partner for Spike, and managed to dethrone the Dudley Boyz at Heat Wave ‘99, holding the belts for 26 before losing them back in a rematch. The two teams trade the belts once more, with Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley winning the belts on an episode of ECW on TNN and then losing them again after 12 days.

2 Part Of WWE’s ECW Revival

ECW had been gone for over four years when WWE brought back the brand for a reunion show called One NIght Stand in 2005, during which Balls Mahoney made an appearance. After actually competing in 2006’s One Night Stand — in a winning effort against his old partner Masato Tanaka — Mahoney became part of the relaunched ECW television show that debuted after the pay-per-view. However, for the most part ECW Originals weren’t given much in-ring success, so Mahoney had disappointing feuds with homegrown WWE talent like Kevin Thorn and Gene Snitsky.

1 Had A Romance Angle With Kelly Kelly

The biggest thing Balls Mahoney did during his time with WWE’s ECW revival was enter, of all things, a romance angle. Mahoney’s love interest was Kelly Kelly, who debuted with the new brand. During the storyline, Kelly Kelly and Balls Mahoney developed a mutual affection for one another, but ran into objections from not only Kelly’s fellow members of the Extreme Exposé troupe — Brooke Adams and Layla — but also The Miz, who was Extreme Exposé’s manager. Unfortunately, Balls was never able to beat The Miz in a singles match.