Matt Borne

[7.0] "Matt Borne doesn't get talked about enough for how talented he actually was. People mostly remember the Doink character, but behind the face paint was a really solid technician with legit psychology. He could work comedy without it feeling lazy, bump his ass off, and still make everything make sense in the ring. He wasn't an all-time great in terms of classics or longevity at the top, but his creativity, versatility, and ability to fully commit to a character give him a strong legacy. If his personal issues hadn't derailed things, he could've been remembered on a much higher tier."

[10.0] "This post may be difficult to understand due to the translation function. Evil Doink's performance in 1993 alone deserves a 10. The heel version of Doink the Clown was the greatest, baddest, greatest heel character in the history of professional wrestling. How amazing would it have been if Bourne had stayed in the WWF and become part of the New Generation, competing against HBK and Razor Ramon? It's the ultimate what-if in the world of professional wrestling. His performance as part of the Rat Pack in the Mid-South was also great. I also liked Doink's homage to the Joker from The Dark Knight in his later years on the indy circuit."

[5.0] "His heel version of Doink is genuinely one of the greatest inventions of wrestling that never, ever went the way it should have. He was great in the ring but he never connected outside of that one character that was poorly utilized by WWF, and there's at least a certain amount of blame to be thrown on the wrestler for his own personal demons getting in the way of his career. I sure wish I could rate gimmicks separately from the man."

[6.0] "The original Doink character was great and he played the part the best. He also could wrestle in the ring. Unfortunately, his drug addiction hurt his career and he never achieved any success after leaving WWE. Other characters like Big Josh never connected. In the ring he could go with anyone."

[8.0] "Matt Borne as Doink is one of my all time favorites. He was so good. By the way Borne's final match in the WWF in the 90's as Doink took place on September 29th 1993 in Portland, Maine. All the WWF Doink matches listed after that were with Ray Liachelli / Ray Apollo portraying Doink."

[6.0] "The original Doink. What an all-time great gimmick this could have been if they had kept him heel and not fired Matt Borne. A skilled in ring competitor and strange type of charisma felt tailor made for the Evil Clown gimmick, but it was not meant to be. An underrated talent that never had his big break due to timing and his personal demons."

"a seriously underrated gimmick in doink the clown that matt borne mastered really well sadly however it was ruined after he was no longer in control of the character"

"Surprised how much I enjoyed Matt Borne's Doink run in 1993. I watched pretty much every televised match he had with the WWF and was always impressed by how much personality he put into the gimmick, Borne would enter laughing and joking like your average clown before turning on a dime throwing a nasty snarl at the camera and feeling like a totally different character. His in-ring work was very solid too, Borne was clearly a good technical wrestler with a good knowledge of holds and understood pacing. What Doink lacked was a good feud at a time when the WWF had a lot of goofy gimmicls but few stars. Doink post-Borne was just silly and the character lost all his edge, if Matt Borne had had more control over his abuse issues he could have done big things in the WWF."

"A bit of a corny gimmick, but not too far out of the norm for the state of Wrestling at the time. Never achieved much on the big stage, biggest accomplishment was probably making the roster of WWF Raw for SNES, though he wasn't exactly a popular pick."

[4.0] "God. You could make quite the indy fed with all the wrestlers who pissed away their talents due to substance abuse and or personal issues. Matt Borne was a competent JJTS back in the 80's then became something of a cult favorite with the Doink gimmick before self destructing. After that, he just spiraled out of control and it ended like you would expect. Can't go higher than a 4 because he was a jobber in the WWF, went to WCW and became the lumberjack Big Josh, then an evil wrestling clown. After that he just threw away his talents. Hints of greatness but he couldn't get his head on straight."

[8.0] "The original Doink the clown was such a good character worker for 1993 standards. An evil clown gimmick was just a perfect gimmick for the time, and honestly would still work great today. Matt Borne could really work too! it's such a shame WWE fired him for drug use, as let's be honest he was not the only drug user on the roster many others did not get fired for it. It makes me so mad that he got replaced with a new Doink that turned face. Like who wants to watch a baby face clown wrestle? Especially if Matt Borne wasn't the one portraying him. The reason people make fun of the Doink gimmick was because of the post Matt Borne version, and honestly if anyone could have made a face clown gimmick work it would have been Matt Borne. What could have been with this guy. Oh well, rest in peace Matt."

[6.0] "I remember 3 versions of Matt Borne: the jobber that showed up at WM 1, Big Josh in WCW and the first Doink the Clown in WWF. The jobber was serviceable. Big Josh was random and generic, but he could wrestle good. Doink was great tho, probably the only good gimmick in those years. Even as a face he was acceptable and he was MASSIVELY over. Sadly he was released because he kept getting caught with drugs. One of the many what ifs or wrestling"

[8.0] "A very enjoyable watch wherever he went. Although the bulk of his career was heel, i think he did rather good face work as well. Speaking of which, even though the gimmick was kinda silly; i liked The Big Josh run, only fault was his name - because we all knew who it was; shoulda just called him Big Matt. Matt was also one of the few saving graces in WCCW's dying days and although it was short lived: his team with Buzz Sawyer was much needed at the time. Even the stuff he did as Doink was cool, the whole evil clown/great wrestler thing was a good gimmick when Borne had the reigns, but you all know Vince(and the rest is Wrestlecrap history). I really dug a few of his moves and they should be noted: his top rope "bombs away" was impressive, i loved that he brought The Stump Puller out of obscurity when Doink and heck - i even like the Log Roll bit as Big Josh."

[10.0] "Matt Borne is an amazing worker. Great in the ring and when you watch the heel Doink you understand that somebody had to live the gimmick to give such amazing reactions. He also has a finisher unique to him, the stump puller and it is a good move indeed."

[8.0] "Underrated, underutilized, underappreciated, overlooked. Matt Bourne wasn't only an amazing worker that could go in the ring, he also managed to played the evil Doink character to pure perfection. No one should be able to do the latter, at all."

[6.0] "He was not too bad in his earlier career. Not good as Big Josh in WCW. He was the better Doink the Clown."

[6.0] "Good in-ring talent but his career was completely derailed by very serious substance abuse issues even more than poor booking."

[2.0] "I know Doink was some bad creative team idea but he didn't add to it very much. He started a bit good but then gone very bad. Even his work outside of this stupid gimmick didn't convince me enough to rate him higher."

[7.0] "Forced into somewhat of an unfortunate gimmick, he truly made the best of it. And a shockingly capable wrestler on top of that."

[5.0] "The original evil Doink was such a good character. Some excellent nuances in the vein of the Joker. It's too bad they didn't stick with it for longer. I would have loved to have seen where it could have gone. When Borne left & they turned the clown into a goofy face jabroni, the Doink character was never the same. Unfortunately Borne never made more than a blip on the map in the long run."

[6.0] "He was great in the Pacific Northwest. Afterwards he went landslide. In WWF he was a decent jobber. As Doink he he well with the gimmick. Great talker on the mic."

[8.0] "Doink has had many fun momentsm and was a great heel with a brutal finisher, but his face work felt generic."

[4.0] "When he was known as Matt Borne he was fairly good in the ring. WWE had to give him a dumb clown gimmick. As Doink the Clown he never really found true success and never had any good matches. Doink the Clown has given us some very memorial moments. Overall he was okay in the ring but the gimmick killed his carrier. R. I. P."

[8.0] "The story of Matt Borne is a strange one indeed, and not just because of the characters he played. He first started out as a dancing lumberjack called Big Josh. When that went nowhere, he went to the WWF and became one of the best heel characters ever in Doink the Clown. Doink was obviously never meant to hold championships or headline WrestleMania. He was just there to freak people out, upset the kiddies, and play brilliant mind games with his opponents. When Matt left, Doink stayed, and became an obnoxious cretin by the next few people who portrayed him. Matt, meanwhile, developed a new persona, a schizophrenic veteran who dressed as his most famous character purely out of habit, hanging around the younger wrestlers and creeping everyone out. It was quite a sight to behold, especially on TCW and Portland Wrestling Uncut. I'm sad he's gone, but he'll be forever remembered as a one-of-a-kind character that can only be found in pro wrestling."