The world of professional wrestling lost another of its brethren when Matt Borne passed away yesterday at the age of 56. To fans of the WWE, Borne is best known as the original Doink the Clown. As strange as that character was, even in the cartoonish world of wrestling, Borne made it work and fans often look back on his heel run in 1994 as a great role, and one that was completely neutered when he left the organization late that year and the role was recast.
Matt Borne was a second generation wrestler, the son of “Tough” Tony Borne. He debuted in 1978, and had significant runs in Portland and in Mid South where he was in a faction called the “Rat Pack” with Ted DiBiase and Buzz Sawyer. He competed at the inaugural Wrestlemania in a losing effort to Ricky Steamboat in what was a very brief WWF run.
He would later appear in WCW as mid card run as Big Josh, a rugged outdoorsman character who would be one third of the WCW Six Man Tag Team Champions, though it was a couple years later that he would sign with the then named WWF and defeat Crush at Wrestlemania IX and would have good matched with Bret Hart at Summer Slam and Mr. Perfect on multiple Monday Night RAWS. Unfortunately, issues with substance abuse caused him to lose his position with the WWF, and he was out of the organization less than a year after he was inked to a contract. He would compete on the indies for the rest of his career, and would later become known for his candid shoot interviews.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com offer our sincere condolences to the friends and family of Matt Borne.
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