Matt Borne was one of the more successful local wrestlers in the 80s and early 90s, advancing onto the national stage with runs in WWF and WCW. But his own personal demons kept him from ever achieving long term success in the business.
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| 1957-2013 RIP |
Matt followed his father, one of Portland's all-time biggest draws, Tough Tony Borne, into the business in the late 1970s. He held the Pacific Northwest tag team title with Mr. Electricity Steve Regal (not to be confused with the WWE/WCW wrestler) and Rip Oliver. He also held the PNW Heavyweight title for one day in 1981, winning it from Buddy Rose, and losing it back to him the next day.
He had success in Mid-South Wrestling, forming a stable called the Rat Pack with Ted DiBiase and Jim Duggan, and holding the Mid-South tag team title with DiBiase in 1982.
His first national run came as a preliminary wrestler for the WWF in 1985 and 86. This run would be completely unmemorable if not for the fact that he faced Ricky Steamboat on a card titled WrestleMania.
After finishing up in the WWF, Borne had his most success in World Class Championship Wrestling. He held the tag team title with Buzz Sawyer and Jeff Jarrett, and had two reigns as the Texas Heavyweight champion. He had a memorable feud with Kerry Von Erich just before Von Erich went to the WWF as the Texas Tornado.
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| WCW 6-man Champs |
His next national run came in 1991 when he signed with WCW. Borne was Big Josh, a lumberjack from the woods of Oregon. He debuted by jumping out of the crowd to save Tommy Rich from a beatdown. Rich would then train him to become a pro wrestler. He held the 6-man tag team title with Dustin Rhodes and Tom Zenk and the U.S. tag team title with Ron Simmons. He never progressed past the mid-card, mostly because the gimmick wouldn't allow it, and left the promotion in the spring of 1992.
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| Doink the Clown |
A few months after leaving WCW, Borne arrived in the WWF for the biggest run of his career. He became Doink the Clown, an evil clown who played pranks on the babyface wrestlers. He feuded with Crush and faced him at WrestleMania 9. He faced all the top stars in the WWF at the time, including Mr. Perfect and Bret Hart, but unfortunately, his drug problems got in the way and he was fired in the fall of 1993.
Shortly after Eastern Championship Wrestling became Extreme Championship Wrestling, Borne became a character called Borne Again, mocking the Doink persona, and aligning with ECW champion Shane Douglas. But the character never got going as his personal problems once again got in the way.
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| Borne in 1996 |
He continued to appear on independents as Doink the Clown. He returned to Portland in 1996 and became a regular for Sandy Barr's Championship Wrestling USA. He had a lengthy feud with Jesse Barr that included many different gimmick matches like chicken wire cage matches. Borne began to book the shows and the quality of the KOIN T.V. program really turned around. Crowds were seemingly increasing when Sandy closed the promotion down. I never knew the story behind this, but always assumed it was a split between Barr and Borne.
Borne worked with Ivan Kafoury to start the new Portland Wrestling in 1997. It was in this promotion, that he trained former U of O football player Josh Wilcox, and put together a card for Wilcox's debut that drew over 700 fans and received news coverage. There hasn't been a local show of this magnitude since.
He continued to wrestle through the 2000's, including appearing as Doink the Clown on the Raw 15th Anniversary special, and most recently appearing on KPTV's Portland Wrestling Uncut. He was found dead by his girlfriend on June 28th.
