Matt Osborne

At 55 years old, Matt Osborne has this physical status:

Matthew Wade Osborne (July 27, 1957 – June 28, 2013), known professionally as Matt Borne, was an American professional wrestler.

Osborne was a second generation wrestler, the son of Tony Borne, and is best known as being the first wrestler to portray the character of Doink the Clown.

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Professional wrestling career

Matt Borne, Osborne, debuted on December 6, 1978 and competed for several National Wrestling Alliance nations, most notable for Pacific Northwest Wrestling, where he was their heavyweight and four-time tag champion. Borne also referee matches in Portland because the territory had only one primary referee (Sandy Barr) and it was not unusual for wrestlers to ref when not working a match: his officiating, for example, became a part of several big angles. He captured his first championship and first of two tag titles he would compete with Buzz Sawyer in Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling on June 6, 1980. He allied with Ted DiBiase and Jim Duggan, a heel stable, in Mid-South Wrestling and gained their tag title with DiBiase. He served in Canada with All Star Wrestling and Maple Leaf Wrestling.

Borne appeared in the WWF on March 2, 1985, defeating Rick McGraw to a time limit draw in the Boston Garden. Bret Hart, the eventual WWF champion, was followed four days later in Elizabeth, NJ. Borne lost to David Sammartino in Hershey, PA, two days later.

He was mainly a jobber, but at house shows he occasionally beat other occupations. He made his WWF television debut on March 23, 1985 edition of All Star Wrestling, with Frank Marconi as his partner in a losing effort against WWF Tag Team Champions Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham. Borne would face a variety of opponents on television and live events throughout the year, but the highlight of this stint was losing to Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at the first WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden. On April 29, 1986, he lost to George Wells in the Cow Palace.

Borne was accepted to the World Class Championship Wrestling Association in May 1986. He reformed his tag team with Buzz Sawyer under Perpetual Pringle III's direction in September to win a one-day tournament to crown new World Tag Team Champions. At the Christmas Star Wars tournament against The Iron Sheik, he also won the Texas Heavyweight Championship and defended the title. Borne and Sawyer feuded with fellow Pringle protege Dingo Warrior after falling out with them during a six-man tag match, with Warrior's babyface becoming a direct result of the incident.

World Class joined the United States Wrestling Association, which is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1989. He and Jeff Jarrett won the USWA Southern Tag Team Championships over Cactus Jack and Scott Braddock. He defeated Kerry Von Erich for the USWA Texas Heavyweight Championship on May 25, 1990 and then resigned the title to Von Erich on June 1. In 1991, he left the United StatesWA.

Osborne joined World Championship Wrestling in 1991 and debuted as "Big Josh," an outdoorsman who danced with bears and was friends with Tommy Rich. He debuted as a fan who would run in from the crowd with a axe handle in order to protect babyfaces from vicious assaults by heels. During his time with WCW, Osborne defeated Ron Simmons of the United States Tag Team Championship and the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Dustin Rhodes and Tom Zenk. Borne made his last pay-per-view appearance for the company on May 17, 1992, where he defeated Richard Morton; and then continued to make sporadic WCW TV appearances during the summer of 1992 before leaving the company.

After leaving WCW in 1992, Osborne returned to the World Wrestling Federation on September 21, 1992 in Winnipeg, Canada, at a WWF Superstars taping. He defeated Bill Jordan, who was competing as himself. Borne would later become Doink the Clown, a pessimistic clown gimmick that would often pull tricks on wrestlers at ringside as well as fans. On January 31, 1993, he made his in ring televised debut over Bob East on the Wrestling Challenge in ring televised format. Before returning to WWF television in March, he would also use the character in the United States Wrestling Association in February. After his televised return, he began feuding with Crush after destroying him with a prosthetic arm on an episode of Superstars of Wrestling that resulted in a match at WrestleMania IX. Another Doink (Steve Keirn) came out from under the ring and struck Crush with another prosthetic arm, allowing the authentic Doink to pin Crush.

Doink was given the opportunity to participate in the King of the Ring tournament against Mr. Sullivan in the spring of 1993. In the qualifying round, everything was fine. Mr. Sullivan was up for a second time limit draw. In their third match, Perfect defeated Doink in a perfect match. Doink (or rather, two Doinks) distracted Crush, causing him to lose to Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels at the Pay Per View itself. Doink continued his feud with Crush in the summer months, as well as unsuccessful house shows against Marty Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid, as well as occasionally losing to high-profile opponents such as Bret Hart or Tatanka. Jerry Lawler brought Doink to fight Hart as he feigned injury, but the Hitman" claimed disqualification when Lawler intervened. Doink later turned against Lawler by inciting a raging chant from the fans directed at him.

Doink poured a pail of water over Bobby Heenan on September 13, 1993, his fan favorite performance. Doink was given a gift from Santa Claus in the form of a midget in the Doink costume, which he named Dink on a December episode of Raw. However, Osborne was suspended shortly afterward for re-occurring opioid abuses. It was his last TV appearance in the WWF in the 1990s on the December 27, 1993 episode of Raw. Bam Bam Bigelow did not like handing over Osborne in a gun shoot, according to Osborne. Bigelow was suspended from the WWF after being caught smoking weed in his hotel hallways and causing his expulsion from the WWF. Doink was played by Ray Licameli (also known as Ray Apollo) after his release.

Borne appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling for a handful of matches as Doink after being banned from the WWF. However, the followers reacted angrily to ECW's WCW as an alternative to the WWF and WCW, and seeing a gimmick like this made Doink a villain for a completely different reason.

Douglas continued to mock Vince McMahon for transforming a talented wrestler like Borne into a comedic relief character, saying he knew how to bring out Borne's full potential. Borne Again emerged and wore the clown costume again, although without the wig, wearing a tiny amount of face paint, and growing out his hair and beard. After defeating his opponents, he'll make them dress in clown costumes. However, his time with the company was short-lived due to personal reasons.

Osborne, who left ECW, competed on the independent circuit for many reunion shows and even under different conditions under his Matt Borne ring name. In 2005, WrestleReunion II Borne competed in an eight-man tag team match with Andrew Martin, Steve Corino, and The Masked Superstar. However, his team lost to Dusty Rhodes, The Blue Meanie, Tom Prichard, and D'Lo Brown. As he was involved in a Legends Battle Royal on December 10, 2007, Osborne revived Doink at Raw's 15th Anniversary. In early 2010, Osborne reimagined the Doink character to mimic Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight, nicknaming the version 'Reborn Again'. The new character debuted in ISPW in New Jersey on March 27. Doink the Clown, played by Dusty Wolfe, interfered with Skandor Akbar and his troops Dr. Knuckles and Rommel on May 23, 2010. They were unable to win the Wrecking Ball Wrestling tag titles because of this. Akbar called on the original Doink (Matt Borne) in revenge (Matt Borne). They were supposed to meet on August 15, 2010. Wolfe skipped the festival in order to escape Borne's wrath. Borne Wrestling Championship was won on August 8, 2010. After this, Osborne returned to a full-time schedule, with semi-regular teams all over the United States for the past many years until recently, just a few days before his death on June 28, 2013.

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