The world of professional wrestling lost another of its brethren when Matt Borne passed away yesterday at the age of 56. To fans of the WWE, Borne is best known as the original Doink the Clown. As strange as that character was, even in the cartoonish world of wrestling, Borne made it work and fans often look back on his heel run in 1994 as a great role, and one that was completely neutered when he left the organization late that year and the role was recast.
Matt Borne was a second generation wrestler, the son of “Tough” Tony Borne. He debuted in 1978, and had significant runs in Portland and in Mid South where he was in a faction called the “Rat Pack” with Ted DiBiase and Buzz Sawyer. He competed at the inaugural Wrestlemania in a losing effort to Ricky Steamboat in what was a very brief WWF run.
He would later appear in WCW as mid card run as Big Josh, a rugged outdoorsman character who would be one third of the WCW Six Man Tag Team Champions, though it was a couple years later that he would sign with the then named WWF and defeat Crush at Wrestlemania IX and would have good matched with Bret Hart at Summer Slam and Mr. Perfect on multiple Monday Night RAWS. Unfortunately, issues with substance abuse caused him to lose his position with the WWF, and he was out of the organization less than a year after he was inked to a contract. He would compete on the indies for the rest of his career, and would later become known for his candid shoot interviews.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com offer our sincere condolences to the friends and family of Matt Borne.
We are going to be lazy here and just reprint what was written by Caroline Lee from UPI.COM as we have not seen it anywhere else:
“Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan is not NFL Hall of Fame material, according to former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp.
Sapp commented Wednesday after Strahan was not accepted into the 2013 class, and said it was because the Giant was overrated.
"Nobody ever talks about Simeon [Rice,]'' Sapp said of his former Tampa Bay teammate. "Simeon was a better rusher than Michael Strahan any day of the week and twice on Sunday.''
Sapp also said that Strahan didn't succeed in the NFL until the Giants moved him from the right side to the left side, leaving Strahan blocking a weaker player.
"This is a man who wants something given to him and they gave it to him,'' Sapp said. "So have it.''
In February, Sapp started the feud, saying that Strahan was a "media darling" during his first year of hall-of-fame eligibility. Strahan responded to Sapp on Twitter.
"You never cease to amaze me!" Strahan tweeted. "Enjoy your moment. You don't need to take a shot at me to justify yourself to other people."
Strahan has not yet responded to Sapp's latest jabs.”
Hmmm….We honestly thought Strahan should have gotten in before Sapp, or at least together. Still, considering Strahan is living it up on “Kelly and Michael” and Sapp just declared bankruptcy, we will let Sapp have this moment.
Another wrestling legend was lost today when it was reported that Memphis legend, Jackie Fargo passed away today at the age of 85. Fargo would win many titles in his long career, mostly in the NWA in promotions in the South. Fargo would be a multi-time tag team champion with his kayfabe brother, Don Fargo, and eventually would settle in as a mainstay on the Memphis scene, where he would mentor Jerry “The King” Lawler to greatness.
Some wrestling historians have pegged Jackie Fargo as one of the inventors of the “Hardcore” style, as he was one of the first to have wild brawls in the ring. Perhaps his greatest gift to wrestling was the “Fargo Strut” which is copied by many wrestlers today.
Although Jackie Fargo had no real association with the WWE, we have him ranked at #67 on our WWE list, and as the organization has inducted performers with similar resumes (Abdullah the Butcher). We offer our condolences to the family and friends of Jackie Fargo at this time.
Our work on the existing Hockey Hall of Fame Classes continue. We have now made our way to the year of 1982. The Class of 1982 contains:
Emile Francis
Norm Ullman
Rod Gilbert
Yvon Cournoyer
Gang you know the drill. Check it out, and cast your votes and let us know whether you think they deserved their Hall of Fame induction. Look for upcoming classes soon!