10 Things You Didn't Know About Balls Mahoney
5. His First ECW Gimmick Was Even Less Safe For Work
More often than not, and rightly so I would say, Paul Heyman is described as a genius. A lot of this adoration and respect comes from his time as the evil genius at the helm of Extreme Championship Wrestling, the promotion that pushed the boundaries in the 1990s and arguably heralded the onset of the Attitude Era.
Heyman exhibited a lot of brilliance at this time, but it is easy to forget that he was also responsible for some absolute story stinkers too. One such example is the gimmick Balls was saddled with upon entering the promotion.
Balls started off as a, and I'm not joking, a gay sado-masochistic biker. There isn't a huge amount of information on the gimmick (and it isn't really something I'm too keen to type into google), but Balls recalls that it involved him touching himself whilst taking punches in the corner. The gimmick was flat out terrible, and Balls was going nowhere fast.
It took 'Ravishing' Rick Rude of all people to convince Paul Heyman that something needed to change. Rude told Heyman that Balls could work, and everything would be better if he was just allowed to be himself. Heyman finally gave in, and the Balls Mahoney we knew was set free.