“with a name like iain burnisde maybe its no surprise you are a fellow scot
and you’re right nothing will ever make me feel better in life than faddys
goal on wednesday…unless we went to wembley and pumped england 10-0
anyway back to the wrestling related stuff..i have always wondered what
happened to matt bourne (ie. the original doink) i thought the bourne again
gimmick in ECW was immense but i also know the guy had “personal demons he
had to confront” is he still wrestling or waht?
and another scotland related question do you think drew galloway can m,ake
it big in the WWE i’ve seent he guys in the indies a couple of times and he
is nothing short of immense.”
– Stevo McClernon
Matt Borne played the original and best Doink from the character’s debut in January 1993 through to September that year, when he was fired for reoccurring drug problems (mainly cocaine) and the gimmick passed to Steve Keirn. In his own words, “I tried to do it myself, I tried to keep my problems a secret, which is kind of impossible to do when you’ve got drug problems. But I tried to seek help just myself, try to do it myself, but I just couldn’t do it. Finally I just decided I wanted help. I was tired of repeating the same mistakes. I guess I would have some success then I would sabotage myself.” Wise words for wrestlers to heed at times like these. He then turned up in the fledgling ECW as a wrestling clown. It was received with utter disdain by the fans there but this was planned for, leading to a storyline where Shane Douglas would tell Borne he was too good to hide himself beneath such a lame gimmick. He then became Borne Again and would dress defeated opponents in clown gear to get a sense of revenge from the world that had slighted him so. He didn’t stay long in ECW though, as he really began to go off the deep end. Face it, when your drug problem is so intense it’s incompatible with the mid ‘90s ECW locker room, you’re in trouble. He drifted for a few years, working with indie groups like Portland Wrestling and ECCW in British Columbia, and thankfully managed to clean himself up after a stint at a rehab centre in Pennsylvania. Now he’s married for the fourth time, has two young children and works at a strip mine as well as imparting wisdom to the youngsters of Pro Wrestling Canada, for whom he also still wrestles. It was a wide and wild journey but Matt Borne’s life turned out just fine after all. Back to the man himself – “Win or lose, I had a lot of success with Doink and I feel grateful for getting that opportunity. I look at it as a learning experience. I’m a better person for it.”
Jim Ross said Borne was by far the best at the Doink gimmick in one of his recent blog posts. Let’s view some evidence:
Perhaps more importantly, why would Vince McMahon ever think that “youngsters from coast to coast†could possibly be thrilled by Koko B Ware? Especially when he’s wearing an outfit like that? And what the hell was with Mirror Universe Honky Tonk Man? And how retrospectively amusing is it to hear Vince talk about Doink showing us moves we’ve never seen before right as he goes for an STFU? 67% or so, I’d say. Yes, the evil clown gimmick was premature by a number of years. I wonder how things would have turned out had they brought in someone like Mick Foley to replace Borne
Drew Galloway has a decent shot at making it onto a WWE roster in the near future. He’s been competing in various British promotions like BCW in Scotland, IWW in Ireland and ASW in England since 2001 and even turned down a WWE development deal in 2006 as he had not yet finished his undergraduate degree in criminology. I still can’t think about studying criminology without hearing Randall in Clerks 2 – â€ÂWhat the hell were we going to be; Batman?!†Perhaps some have found a useful way to utilise the subject. Perhaps the course contains a tutorial on how to properly buff your Boy Wonder’s short shorts. Who knows? The important thing to note is that by making such a decision Galloway showed a mature and responsible side that will stand him in good stead. If a wannabe pro-wrestler is able to get himself some real-world qualifications before delving headfirst into the murky, injury-prone, drug-inducing, concussion-causing wrestling business, he bloody well ought to do so. WWE recognised this and came back with another developmental offer in May this year, which Galloway promptly signed. Some impressive dark match showings during their last UK tour helped his cause too. He’s over in Kentucky at OVW nowadays to have the WWE style beaten into him. Comments like this one in an interview with Wrestling Clothesline won’t help his cause much. When asked what he thought of the current state of wrestling he said:
â€ÂUnimpressed to be honest, rarely watch WWE now especially smackdown and I grew up never missing a show. There just isn’t the characters that really draw you in anymore and they all work the same coming off the same conveyor belt (obviously few exceptions however not enough to keep me tuned in). Regarding the indy scene there are many talented individuals with very impressive move sets, some psychology may be questionable at times and some may not work hard enough on their appearance but are very entertaining to watch.â€Â
When reading that you can almost hear the wrinkling of Bob Holly’s brow and the unzipping of JBL’s trousers. Good luck, Drew.
He also cited his favourites as Michaels, Benoit, Van Dam, Styles, Bret, Dynamite, Hennig and, uh, Hogan. Way to hedge your bets, brah. Anyway, the big advantage that Galloway has is that WWE remains so keen on setting up a UK territory via Len Davis’ Real Quality Wrestling group. Galloway would no doubt be an integral part of such a territory alongside other recently signed Brits like Sheamus O’Shaunessy, Steve Lewington and Katie Lea, not to mention other developmentals like Paul Burchill and Harry Smith, plus established stars like Finlay and Regal. Oh, and the, er, Highlanders. Lob in a couple of fairly popular North American stars and things could get off to a flying start, although it’s still not clear if WWE would want this to be a major promotion with decent TV and even PPV exposure or if they’d just want it to be a transatlantic equivalent to OVW. If it were to be the former, you can bet that Wellness violations in the USA would not apply in the UK and vice versa, so anybody who pulled an Orton in one area would just get transferred overseas for a spell until they could return.
Anyway, Drew is by all accounts a promising young talent with a good look and positive attitude. His MySpace is here for those who care about such matters. He has as decent a shot at making it as anybody else in OVW but bear in mind WWE could simply rush him up before he’s prepared for it, lump him with an idiotic gimmick, see the audience respond with utter apathy, blame him entirely for the failure and then ditch him. It seems to be a popular theme among WWE writers in modern times.
Check out this tribute video from his BCW days:
What the hell happened to Creed anyway?
If you’ve a wrestling question you’d like answered, send it in. We’ll be back soon with another update!
