UPDATED: ECW Original Balls Mahoney Passes Away

UPDATE: According to PWInsider, Balls Mahoney took a bad fall several days ago, severely hurting his hip. The late ECW original had been using a walker since and took ill this evening before passing away.

ORIGINAL: ECW original Balls Mahoney has passed away. Johnny Candido, the brother of the late Chris Candido, revealed the news 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

Candido added that despite rumors of suicide, Mahoney died suddenly at home. He was forty-four years old; a cause of death has not been revealed at this time.

Mahoney began his professional career training at the Monster Factory as a teenager. He made his professional debut in 1987 as Abbudah Singh and worked smaller promotions before earning fame as the heel Boo Bradley Jr. in Smokey Mountain Wrestling where he had a long feud with Candido and had a brief tag team with Mick Foley in his Cactus Jack persona.

He appeared in the WWF in 1995 as as Xanta Klaus before going to ECW, where he made his name as Balls Mahoney in a team with Axl Rotten (who died in February). The two feuded with the Dudley Boyz and became known for their hardcore tendancies. Mahoney was a three-time ECW Tag Team Champion, twice with Rotten and once with Spike Dudley. After ECW folded, he worked several independent shows before appearing at WWE’s ECW One Night Stand. He had a singles run in WWE’s ECW when that brand was made official and appeared in a storyline with Kelly Kelly. He was eventually released from the company in April of 2008 and returned to the indy circuit where he had been working the past seven years.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Balls Mahoney.