National Wrestling Alliance (1978–1984) Under the ring name Matt Borne, Osborne debuted in December 1978. He suffered his first recorded loss on March 8 to
David Sammartino. He left the WWF following a loss to
George Wells on April 29, 1986 due to drug issues.
United States Wrestling Association (1989–1991) In 1989, World Class merged with the
United States Wrestling Association (USWA). For the next two years, Borne won the
USWA World Tag Team Championship twice with
Jeff Jarrett and held the
WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship twice. In August, Big Josh won the
WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with
Dustin Rhodes and
Tom Zenk, which they held for three months. He continued to make sporadic WCW TV appearances throughout the summer before leaving the company. He 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. In March, he started
feuding with
Crush after attacking him with a
prosthetic arm on an episode of
Superstars, which resulted in a match at
WrestleMania IX on April 4. Doink defeated Crush after another Doink (
Steve Keirn) came out from under the ring and attacked Crush with another prosthetic arm. In the spring, 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 on the May 24 episode of
Monday Night Raw. At the
titular event on June 13, Doink (or rather, two Doinks) distracted Crush, costing him his
Intercontinental Championship match against
Shawn Michaels. In the summer, Doink continued his feud with Crush and was successful in house show encounters against
Marty Jannetty and the
1-2-3 Kid, despite occasionally losing to higher profile opponents such as
Bret Hart or
Tatanka. At
SummerSlam on August 30,
Jerry Lawler hired Doink to wrestle Hart as he feigned injury, with Hart winning by disqualification when Lawler interfered. Several days later, Doink turned
face by inciting a mocking chant from the fans directed at Lawler. On the September 13 episode of
Raw, Doink poured a pail of water over
Bobby Heenan, marking his face turn. In late November, Doink was given a present from Santa Claus in the form of a
midget in the Doink costume, which he named
Dink. Shortly after, however, Osborne was fired for re-occurring drug abuses. Osborne cited in a shoot interview that
Bam Bam Bigelow did not like putting over Osborne, which led to Bigelow snitching on him for smoking weed in the hallway of his hotel and getting him fired from the WWF. Following his departure, Doink was played by Ray Licameli (also known as Ray Apollo). Borne then changed his ring name to Borne Again and continued wearing the clown suit, albeit without the wig, wearing a minimal amount of face paint, as well as growing out his hair and beard. After beating his opponents, he would make them dress in clown outfits. However, his tenure with the company was short-lived due to personal problems. On December 10, 2007, at the suggestion of
Ricky Steamboat, Osborne reprised the role of Doink at
Raw's 15th Anniversary as he took part in a Legends Battle Royal. At that time, Wolfe no-showed the event to avoid Borne. On August 8, Borne won the Wrecking Ball Wrestling Championship. Osborne continued to compete on a semi-regular basis all over the United States for the last several years until a few days before his death on June 28, 2013. ==Death==