Insane Insights From Dark Side Of The Ring - Doink The Clown
In the professional wrestling business, there are a ton of professional wrestlers whose careers suffered due to drug addictions. They are sometimes given multiple chances, but they squander every single one given to them.
Professional wrestler Matt Osborne fits into this category, as his abuse and addictions destroyed all the potential he had. His best gimmick was when he was the original portrayal of Doink the Clown. Dark Side of the Ring did an episode on him and it is truly insane.
10. How Matt Osborne Met His Wife Michelle
The documentary introduces Osborrne's family, including his ex-wife Michelle James and daughter Tegan Osborne. Michelle reveals that she met Osborne in 1993, the year Borne got fired.
When talking about his job dressing up as a clown, she thought it was for birthday parties. When he tells Michelle that he is a professional wrestler, she calls it fake. Well, the more she got to know him, the she saw it was more real. They eventually had two kids, and she loved him for him. A fun fact was that Matt Osborne was 37 years old when he met a 21-year-old, Michelle James.
9 How Matt Osborne Grew Up
Not much information was given on Osborne's childhood and how he grew up; however, the brief information was interesting. Osborne is a second-generation wrestler, as his father wrestled Tough Tony Borne. Tony Borne was a tremendous star in the Oregon Scene in the territories era of WWE.
Matt Osborne's Mother sounds like a real piece of work. Osborne's mother split from Tony Borne, and she wanted no part of Matt. She allegedly told Matt, “You go with your dad because I don’t want you, little b******." What a terrible thing to say to a child.
8. His Bar Fight With Brian Blair
Brian Blair was interviewed, and he told the story about the fight. Osborne randomly decided to walk up to him and ask, "Why are you messing with his woman?" which was strange as Blair didn't have a girlfriend at the time. Osborne decided to attack him and was about to bite his nose. Blair, seeing what he was doing, decided to bite him first, in the lips.
This gets worse as Borne, after getting bandaged up, decides to attack him again. This time, Osborne tries to pull Blair's eyeball out of his socket. Luckily, Ivan Koloff is there and kicks Brone, responding with "no eyes." The craziest part is that Osborne is all bloody and willing to keep fighting, but he stops. It was clear that Osborne was heavily intoxicated and was almost superhuman.
7. Matt Osborne Was Never Sober
There have been a ton of stories where Matt Osborne was intoxicated by alcohol and drugs. Another ex-wife named Maria was interviewed and told multiple stories about his drug usage. We got a stunning revelation when she was in labor and had a child with him, Matt showed up, but he was high and drunk.
Michelle,, his other wife,, admits that even when he worked, Osborne was never sober and took any drug he could get a hand on. Think about how scary that is. It's dangerous not only to himself but his opponents.
6. Osborne Was Abusive To His 1st Wife Maria
Osborne's addictions got worse in 1993 when he would disappear for 3-4 days straight. The no-shows and failed drug tests ultimately resulted in Osborne losing his job. When Maria (his first wife) left him, it was because he was very abusive to her and his children. He would throw lit cigarettes, pull her off the sofa, and slam her to the floor while she was carrying their baby. What an absolute piece of garbage, and thank goodness Maria left immediately after that incident happened with their kid.
5. Vince Sent Legal Papers Regarding Osborne Using Doink On ECW
With Matt Osborne departing WWE, he signs a deal with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). He decided to bring the Doink character and gimmick to the promotion. It was in the Borne Again era of his career, and the character was Osborne, who was wearing a green wig and half of his face covered in Doink makeup.
However, Vince McMahon was not happy with him doing that and sent legal papers to him and ECW to stop. Osborne admitted to signing the copyright over to Vince but was bitter when they fired him. He decided to countersue due to not receiving residuals and would settle his lawsuit.
4. That Legit Fight He Had With Jim Duggan
Osborne is now wrestling in the Independent Circuit and was way past his prime. He gets a booking in a match with Hacksaw Jim Duggan. In the planning of the match, Osborne wanted to use a chair, and Duggan would use a 2x4. Duggan didn't want to do it as there were 100 people at the show and wanted a simple and safe match.
Osborne decides to cut an unscripted promo and hits Duggan in the nuts. Osborne keeps hurting Duggan, and it turns into a shoot. Duggan then realizes the situation and grabs a 2x4 as Osborne is getting a chair. Duggan wants to finish this fight in the back, but Osborne just refuses, leaves, and walks out the emergency door with the chair in his hand. Mick Foley said it best, saying, "You have to work really hard not to like Jim Duggan."
3. How Osborne's Daughter Tegan Found Out About Her Dad's Death
On June 28th, 2013, Matt Osborne passed away at the age of 55. Tegan found out about it from his mother via text. All of a sudden, on that day, she gets a message saying, "I think your dad is dead." That's a weird way to text your daughter. She checked TMZ, and it was confirmed that her dad had died. The craziest part is that Tegan believes that Osborne's girlfriend Connie had a role in killing her dad.
2. His Girlfriend, Connie, Does Not Come Across Well At All
The documentary introduces Connie Cook, Matt Osborne's girlfriend when he died. I mean, this woman comes across as a complete psychopath in this documentary. Connie admits they were both crazy and hit it off when both connected on Facebook. Yeah, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
Connie moved to Texas to be with him, and Osborne would "help" take care of her sick mom. Keep in mind that I used the quotation marks in the word helped there. Osborne decided to steal all of Connie's mother's drugs for himself. Probably not the brightest idea to give a full-blown addict access to your mother's medicine.
On the day Osborne died, Matt was moaning in the kitchen and fell to his knees. Connie originally thought he was either going to ask him to marry her or he was having a heart attack. Connie then finds his glasses by her mother's pills, and a bottle of it is opened and moved. When finding out, Connie wants to know where they are, and Osborne responds, "If I told you, I would go to jail." Lovely.
1. Connie Did Not Immediately Call The Police
On the day of Osborrne's death, Connie, at 6:30 AM, saw Matt gurgling and foam coming out of his mouth. Did this woman call 9-1-1 immediately? Nope. She decided to call a friend to ask what to do, and the friend recommended that she call 9-1-1. Does she listen to her friend? Of course not, because according to the police reports, she then decided to sleep for another few hours before rechecking on him at 9:00 AM. Connie claims that the police report is not true, that she did everything she could, and that she immediately called 9-1-1, but it's clear that she's full of it.
The detective was investigating, and it was determined that Osborne took a total of 30 pills from Connie's mother's medicine. The official cause of death was an overdose of Hydrocodone, Morphine and an enlarged heart. With how Connie acted, Tegan believes that Connie 100% killed her father and got away with it.
My Thoughts On The Documentary
The big takeaway from this episode is that Matt Osborne was not a good person at all. All the fights he has had with others, being abusive to his wives/girlfriends, and drug addictions. The guy was his own worst enemy.
I have to be honest. In this episode, Osbone's ex-wife, Michelle, kind of came across as an enabler. She was always making excuses for him for his attitude and drug usage. The fact that the mother and daughter blame Connie alone and not the man who was constantly drugged up and abusive all the time is insanity. Yes, Connie doesn't come across well in this documentary, but Osborne was a complete trainwreck.
I'm surprised the documentary did not mention Osborne's legit fight with Buddy Rose. Rose and Osborne had a tremendous feud in the Portland territories. Rose was legit married to Osborne's sister, and it didn't last long due to Rose being abusive. When she calls her brother, Matt rushes over, kicks the front door, and Buddy Rose beats the ever-loving heck out of him. The police were called, and it became tremendous news in Portland. The promotor in the aftermath focused on Rose and Osborne working with each other so they could capitalize off of this tremendous situation.
Matt Osborne is another professional wrestler who was given a ton of chances but squandered every single one of them. He could have been a much bigger star because his version of the Doink character was the best. This was a crazy episode, and if you haven't watched it, absolutely do.
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