Jim Cornette on Dark Side Of The Ring's Doink The Clown / Matt Borne Episode 

What Dark Side episodes always teach me: Dont do pills, dont do cocaine, and dont work for Vince Russo

I love it when it takes 20+ minutes for the artwork to make sense

"So here's this drunken drug addict and this fuckin frog...." I laughed so hard I cried for 10 minutes

The funniest part was that woman who said Everyone else who dated him was a gold digger lol

If no Matt Borne, then theres no Road Warriors. And if no Road Warriors, then theres no Doink because that was Hawk's idea for Borne. That means they each inadvertantly created the other like Batman and Joker in the 89 movie.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: There's nothing scarier than a clown that knows submission holds.

"She's sittin' there with her frog fuckin' face..." I feel bad, but I almost died laughing from this. Seediest Dark Side to date.

The frog lady stuff was peak Cornette.

Jim going in on this poor frog-faced lady was absolutely savage

The behind the scenes lore of wrestling is better than the actual shows 😂

“We used to call him ‘Krusty the clown’ you know? It’s not like that clown suit got washed much. He’d be sitting at the bar and makeup would still be caked around his ears” -Kevin Nash on Doink

As a Philadelphian who loves hearing stories about the maniacs here, I've always been a fan of, "the clown is down!"

Literally everyone in his life comes across as crazy and unhinged.

"Cause she's sittin there with her frog fuckin face" OMG JIM LMFAO

The women Matt was hanging with really did show the crazy life he led outside of the ropes. Their interviews were so nuts.

When jim started telling the frog tale i just lost it 😂😂😂

Buzz Sawyer is also qualified to have his own Dark Side episode. Also, if Matt Borne were alive today, he'd probably be getting paid to wrestle someone like Hannibal.

The “frog face” discussion has me roaring with laughter. That’s good shit, pal.

Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of Matt Borne's passing - crazy how fast time flies. I got to meet him at a convention in 2009 & he was really nice. Bret Hart was at the convention as well & I told them both how much I loved their match at Summerslam 93, that I felt it was really underrated. They both agreed :) RIP Matt Borne.

Heel Doink, absolutely amazing. Dude was mysterious, creepy, entertaining, he had badass wrestling skills, and left you wondering what he would do next match. If he was around in the Attitude Era, it would have been awesome. He could have been WWF's version of the Joker. Once they turned him face with Dink, it sucked.

I feel bad for his daughter, but all this episode did was make me realise he was worse than I thought. He didn't just get fired from the WWF, he couldn't last anywhere. Did he have any friends in the wrestling business? Even Mick Foley who is the nicest guy in wrestling couldn't really redeem him. There are no answers to why he was such an asshole either. You can't just put it down to drugs, it sounds like everyone was on drugs in the 80s. Doesn't seem like he was ever accountable for his mistakes or got his shit together either.

Borne was a known pedophile and actually ended up fleeing a territory because he was caught with a 12 year old girl.

My favorite part of the episode was when his daughter was like "No disrespect to Ricky Steamboat, but my dad was really good."

Brian - "Mick Foley can say anything ... he just smiles" Jim - "Mick can find something good to say about anybody ... he can find the one brief little moment when a disreputable ... repugnant human being actually exhibited some kind of human qualities ... and he'll focus on that ... he's a very wonderful ... wonderful person ... Mick Foley" 🥰

He lived not far from me over in PA. Matt Borne had beef w a guy I knew and came to his house to beat him up. The dude sd "Doink the Clown came to my house to beat my ass!"

I feel sorry for his daughter being in denial. Matt Bourne was a completely out of control drug addict his entire career more or less, and the fact he lived as long as he did was a small miracle.

The JYD episode was outstanding, Tony Atlas, Koko B Ware and JYD nephew were all great. Looking forward to that review

At 15:30 when they're talking about if anyone knew Doink was being portrayed by someone other than Borne, I clearly remember noticing that Doink, all of the sudden, was no longer left-handed.

The description of Matt Borne’s last moments was really disturbing.

I understand the grief of losing a parent, but Doink's daughter is delusional and just looking for an outlet to vent her unresolved feelings. Borne was a junkie whose habits unfortunately caught up with him, there was no foul play involved. His GF was far more ignorant than malicious. Could she have saved his life if she reacted better? Possibly, but I certainly don't think she killed him or intentionally let him die

"You wanna work? Or you wanna fight?!" - Doink (when shooting on Hacksaw)

Arn Anderson has shared his first hand story of witnessing the fight w B Brian Blair. That's who Brian was trying to remember.

I used to hate Jim cornette but now I couldn't wait til he did this because I new he would. Best commentary ever !!!

It’s always difficult to watch people go on about how their partner physically abused them and their child, only to end with, “he was really a good person”. I’m not trashing them, it’s just sad to see because it happens so often. A kind of Stockholm syndrome. It’s why those two seem to refuse to put the blame on him for his death and are latching onto hating the other woman for not reacting quick enough.

"There is no Road Warriors without Matt Borne being a derelict". Hysterical.

That's why he was so effective as Doink. Matt had issues (to say the least) and had demons. I think that's why his portrayal of Doink was so good. He always had that messed up vibe about him. Laughing like a goofball then staring at you like some deranged serial killer before he would start giggling again. He was part Krusty. Part Joker. Part Pennywise (It). Part Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and part John Wayne Gacy.

Lol 23:31 “Hey it’s me! It’s Matt Borne. How ya doin, do you have a place to live?” 😂😂 That cracked me up

Travis is a beast with his artwork. This is so great and very detailed.

Anyone who hasn't: Look for the matches between Doink the Clown and Mr. Perfect to qualify for the 1993 King of the Ring. Matt Borne and Curt Hennig were both 🔥in those!

Doink in ECW was an amazing gimmick

Could we get a Dark Side of the Ring episode on Kevin Dunn or Dave Meltzer? I'm sure Jim Cornette would want to participate in that.

These family members are bats$$t crazy. They cannot accept reality. A junkie, gone be a junkie, gone be a junkie. As someone who works in icu and has for a long time dealt with many drug overdoses, I 100 percent believe the girlfriend. Family members are always looking for some other reason for death instead of just accepting the now deceased had some demons and made poor coping choices. And I totally get the girlfriend calling a friend before police. Happens very often. Very very often actually. These people are not medical professionals and have no clue what is going on. So you call a friend for advice cause calling 911 leads to questions and attention from police. And if the sick person is fine, you still have police snooping around your house and who knows what questions may be asked or what they might see In your house. That’s life. And don’t give me the well someone is possibly dying crap so do the right thing. Most people are not going to risk messing up their life to protect the life of an addict who is pissing theirs away. People pass up on morals and doing the right thing everyday to protect their own butts. Don’t expect people to put their asses on the line for a junkie who more than likely when they get home from the hospital will immediately get high and overdose again. Nobody wants police around if you have some suspicious stuff going on in your home when the person you are concerned for may possibly have never needed medical attention to begin with. and even if they do need medical attention, will repeat the same behavior a week later .

"Crush" Bryan Adams needs his own DOTR episode. He was heavy drug user too and very close with Undertaker but beside that I actually know nothing about the man.

Matt Borne was one the first wrestling show that I ever watched. He was one of my favorites as "Big Josh" in the WCW days. I was also a huge fan of the original version Doink, and I remember getting so excited when I realized it was Big Josh under the paint when I was about 10. He was a talented performer, but unfortunately had problems he couldn't escape.

I love Jim Cornette never changes his attitude towards dead people or alive. Bro isn't fake on how he feels toward people who are bad in real life.

Can't believe it's been 10 years since he passed away. RIP The true Doink The Clown

More than any other episode, this one gave me the biggest impression that the person being highlighted was a deplorable heinous human being. Outside of the Grizzly Smith one for obvious reasons.

One of my first memories of wrestling was my brother telling me its a different Doink

I lost my shit when he started describing the frog lady 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Don't forget the Heath Ledger version of Doing the clown in the Indy circuit.

13:38 "This was not a wrestling documentary. It was a documentary about this prick". 😂😂 Haha. Jim's so funny.

I don’t think it can be understated how, even though their run was brief, the Rat Pack was one of the first heel factions that I can remember holding all the gold in a territory. Unless I’m forgetting another group that came before. DiBiase was North American champion and 1/2 of the Tag Champs with Borne, and Duggan (with TWO Gs!) was the Louisiana Champion. I always considered them a prototype of the Horsemen minus the “stylin’, profilin’, jet-flying’, and limousine ridin’,” of course.

I'll never forget his program w crush in 93 , hitting him w the fake arm cast thing. My 7yearold self thought he was really hurt

As someone born and raised and still living in Ellwood City, it was cool to finally hear about our small-town on TV.

He was a great technical wrestler. His version of Doink is one of the greatest gimmicks in wrestling history. I was there for it and remember it very well. WWE had so many bad gimmicks and guys who couldn't wrestle that Doink stood out with his in ring work as well as his character work. I so wanted him to stick around in ECW because his Bourne Again gimmick was REALLY damn good. I met him at a wrestling convention in the early 2000's and he was a very nice man. When he talked to me about his life growing up it sounded like he had been abused as a kid and never got help for it. I am also a childhood abuse survivor. I am not condoning any of the things he did as a human being but it was so blatantly obvious he needed real therapy and help. He just never got it. Memory eternal.

I love the cartoon thumbnails for these videos!, seriously, you have a creative team, I could watch video after video with jim voicing his cartoon character in these interviews, with funny animated descriptions of the events discussed!.

It's funny how Jim can see through certain people's wrestling stories but then be oblivious to others

My favorite part was Foley just laughing at the Hacksaw Matt Shoot lol I also liked Tom Prichard’s comment about us all having demons. It’s true man it’s easy to criticize but we all have our vices and proclivities

When his daughter said he was better than Ricky Steamboat it made me wonder if brain damage is hereditary!

I thought it was okay. It was like the Warrior episode in that they got the family so they wanted to focus on his personal life, but then you had this weird dichotomy where his family is talking about what a great guy he was sober and then every wrestler being like “Yeah, he was a lunatic.” I also felt like they deliberately avoided the Georgia incident to not step on any toes.

Doink was the OG Dr. Rockso, just without the rock and roll

Some time back between 2009 and 2012 I remember being in the Oak Grove part of Milwaukie, Oregon and there was a bartender that was so upset about the news coming out about Matt Bourne because she was either married to him or dated him at one point and she swore people were lying about him. It was a crazy interaction meeting her. I've been trying to find the email I wrote to Jason Solomon back then, which he dismissed at the time because what are the chances one of his listeners casually came across someone affiliated with Matt Bourne but here we are. I need to watch the documentary to see if she was featured, I kinda wonder if she was the frog lady because she was kinda toad-like.

Everybody remembers Hacksaw Jim Duggan and his Tuba Ford.

25:45 As someone that does work as a 911 calltaker, you would be shocked and scared how many times that happens where instead of calling the police or getting an ambulance, the person that needs help calls a friend who is the one that calls 911.

I need Jim to just recite fairy tales to kids from memory.

"Obviously not your dentist" - Kevin Nash

Jim's comparison of that chick & a Frog in a blonde wig is dead fucking on!! 😂😂

The funniest part was when he tried to shoot with Hacksaw at the small indy show and then just bounced.

What is it with wrestlers always going for peoples eyeballs?

"cause she's sitting there with her frog fucking face" 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

Doink The Clown is one if the most under baked ideas in wrestling. Look at clowns in pop culture and how effective they are. There's like a half dozen versions of just The Joker that people all adore. Then there's Pennywise. Like, the things you could have done with Doink are basically limitless.

Mick Foley might have to do Jim Cornette's eulogy... 😂😂😂😂

"You can get fucking warts from that shit" 😭😭 I never knew when i hated jim as a kid that i would love him so much as an adult🤣🤣

This artwork is the best one ever for Jim and Brian!

Matt never got over his mother saying you take the little bastard i dont want him , now what kind of mother is she and is she alive and if so i hope people call her a asshole .

I remember Borne and Arn on Georgia WTBS and Borne had a big piece of square white tape on his bottom lip and to his chin. They never acknowledged it or said anything about it. I imagine this was from the Blair fight. Blair must have bit him enough to need a bunch of stitches.

Trailer park trash comes to mind after watching this dark side of the ring episode! Sadly!

the "frog" is one reason to actually judge a book by its cover, she had "yikes" written all over her, the daughter seemed the most normal

As a young teenager had trampoline accident broke my orbital socket believe me it sucks

Great episode and review here. Very funny both Jim and Brian.

I love how Corny pronounces "two-bih-four"

Bret hart loved the evil doink character so did i

I remember meeting him March 2013 not realizing as a teen that he had passed a couple months after. But there's a bar across from the shrine mosque in Springfield Missouri. A company called tcw was in town, he had set up shop with WWE action figures t-shirts things of that such and only autographing "if you buy something kid" good memory in my opinion

The Evil Clown had untapped potential. Fast forward into the era when merch sales became a major player and Doink the Clown T-shirts (hats, hoodies, etc.) woulda probably rung up surprise numbers like "Happy Rusev Day".

They should do "The Light side of the Ring"

I found the thumbnail confusing until Jim started tearing into nurse Frog, now the thumbnail has me in absolute hysterics

It wasn't until they brought in Dink that I really saw enough of Doink to realize they had changed the guy behind the makeup. I'm pretty sure I saw Matt Borne once and Ray Apollo once at house shows in Philly. It's the sort of thing that if Doink were higher up the card, everyone would have noticed the day they switched. The gimmick was better with Matt Borne, but it was obviously unsustainable with someone that chaotic.

BIKER DOINK ALWAYS CRACKED ME UP 😂

We partied with Matt in Ellwood in the late 90’s and early 2000’s while we tried to get FNW in Pittsburgh up with Dave (Tarantula). I can confirm that Matt had a large scar on his lower lip and he never told us what caused it. We now assume it was the bar fight mentioned in the show. Sabu worked with Matt briefly right after 9-11.

The frog stuff is hilarious 🤣🤣😭💀

They didn't talk about his time in World Class near enough. He had a good run

I remember when he dropped us on our heads as big Josh

Disney's The Clown and The Frog.

Heel doink was one of those characters as a kid I actually really liked. If he had gotten the personal demons under control, and if WWE put their machine behind him the way they did something like Gold dust... Who knows what would have happened with that character. It was really cool with the music and just the creepy clown vibe and the fact the guy could wrestle pretty decent didn't hurt either.

This frog analogy is everything Cody wanted his take on "the frog & the scorpion" to be.

I remember shortly after the Duggan incident in 2010, Borne had his own 'Who's Slamming Who?' show and spoke about it in some detail. His version of events (which were very biased to the point of being absurd) started in Applebee's where he said Duggan was getting drunk before the match. And of course, Matt did no wrong at all....

That line up from mid south honestly sounds like one of the most solid locker rooms ever. So many units in one place all in their 20s 😅

I believe Dr. Death and Nurse Kratchet were in USWA around the time when Eric Embry and Richard Lee's Moondogs were the top heels.

Damn Jim, did you really have to go in on the frog lady like that, I know she may or may not have killed doink but still 😂💀

LOL the statement "Yeah you saw him in the stands and 'what the fuck is that clown doing up there?" comes across as so confused, yet so genuine, and so hilarious all at the same time. I mean really, where else but wrestling can a person find themselves asking "what the fuck is that clown doing up there"?