Matt Osborne

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.

Under the ring name Matt Borne, Osborne debuted on December 6, 1978 and wrestled for various National Wrestling Alliance territories, most prominently for Pacific Northwest Wrestling, where he was their heavyweight and four-time tag champion.

Borne also would regularly referee matches while in Portland as that territory had only one primary referee (Sandy Barr) and it was not uncommon for wrestlers there to ref when not working a match: his officiating indeed became part of several major angles.

In Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling on June 6, 1980, he won his first championship, also the first of two tag titles he would hold with Buzz Sawyer.

In Mid-South Wrestling, he allied with Ted DiBiase and Jim Duggan as a member of The Rat Pack, a heel stable, and won their tag title with DiBiase.

In Canada, he worked for All Star Wrestling and Maple Leaf Wrestling.

Borne debuted in the WWF on March 2, 1985, wrestling Rick McGraw to a time-limit draw in the Boston Garden.

This was followed four days later by another draw, this time to eventual WWF Champion Bret Hart in Elizabeth, NJ.

Two days later Borne suffered his first recorded defeat, losing to David Sammartino in Hershey, PA.

He was primarily a jobber, though occasionally beat other jobbers at house shows.

He made his television debut for the WWF on March 23, 1985 edition of All Star Wrestling, teaming with Frank Marconi in a losing effort against WWF Tag-Team Champions Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham.

Throughout the year Borne would face a variety of opponents on television and at live events, and the highlight of this stint was losing to Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at the first WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden.

His last match was a loss to George Wells in the Cow Palace on April 29, 1986.

In May 1986, Borne joined World Class Championship Wrestling.

That September, he reformed his tag team with Buzz Sawyer under the management of Percival Pringle III to win a one-day tournament to crown new World Tag Team Champions.

He also won the Texas Heavyweight Championship and defended the title at the Christmas Star Wars event against The Iron Sheik.

Borne and Sawyer feuded with fellow Pringle protege Dingo Warrior after falling out with him during a six-man tag match, with Warrior turning babyface as a direct result of the incident.

In 1989, World Class merged with United States Wrestling Association based in Memphis, Tennessee.

He and Jeff Jarrett won the USWA Southern Tag Team Titles defeating Cactus Jack and Scott Braddock.

On May 25, 1990 he defeated Kerry Von Erich for the USWA Texas Heavyweight Title and dropped the title back to Von Erich on June 1.

He left USWA in 1991.

In 1991, Osborne signed with World Championship Wrestling 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 an ax handle to save babyfaces from villainous attacks by heels.

During his stint with WCW, Osborne won the United States Tag Team Championship with Ron Simmons and the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Dustin Rhodes and Tom Zenk.

Borne made his final pay-per-view appearance for the company on May 17, 1992 at WrestleWar, where he defeated Richard Morton; and continued to make sporadic WCW TV appearances throughout 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, Manitoba at a WWF Superstars taping.

Competing as himself, he defeated Bill Jordan.

Borne would shortly thereafter become Doink the Clown, in a villainous clown gimmick that would frequently pull tricks on wrestlers at ringside as well as fans.

He made his in ring televised debut on the January 31, 1993 edition of Wrestling Challenge defeating Bob East.

He would also briefly use the character in United States Wrestling Association in February before returning to WWF television in March.

Soon after his televised return, he began feuding with Crush after attacking him with a prosthetic arm on an episode of Superstars of Wrestling, which subsequently resulted in a match at WrestleMania IX.

During this match, another Doink (Steve Keirn) came out from under the ring and attacked Crush with another prosthetic arm, allowing the real Doink to pin Crush.

In the spring of 1993, Doink was given the opportunity to enter the King of the Ring tournament, facing Mr. Perfect in the qualifying round.

After two time-limit draws, Mr. Perfect defeated Doink in their third match.

At the Pay Per View itself, Doink (or rather, two Doinks) distracted Crush causing him to lose to Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels.

Doink spent the summer months of 1993 continuing his feud with Crush as well as successful house show runs against Marty Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid, as well as occasionally losing to higher profile opponents like Bret Hart or Tatanka.

At SummerSlam, Jerry Lawler hired Doink to wrestle Hart as he feigned injury, which "the Hitman" won by disqualification when Lawler interfered.

Several days later, Doink turned against Lawler, by inciting a mocking chant from the fans directed at him.

On the September 13, 1993 Raw, Doink poured a pail of water over Bobby Heenan, marking his fan favorite turn.