Matt Borne, in full Doink regalia, began appearing with ECW in 1994, but it was clear that the gimmick was not designed with that company's audience in mind. However, Doink's ECW tenure set up an ahead-of-its-time angle when Shane Douglas criticized Vince McMahon for saddling Borne with the character. Aligning himself with Douglas and changing his name to "Borne Again," the former clown began painting half his face, affecting a personality disorder, and painting his opponents' faces after he defeated them.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
