**Matt Borne as Doink the Clown**

[TheEvilDoink1987]

Did anybody else like the original Doink character as much as I did?

He was a great character and really innovative. Back then wrestling was still pretty generic in terms of heels and babyfaces. The good guys were cheered and the villains were booed accordingly. Doink was one of the only wrestlers during that time to get a mixed reaction. Matt Borne made the character kind of -- dare I say -- badass and the clown started getting over. He was the dreaded "cool heel" which was not nearly as common as it is today.

Borne could wrestle very well and really went over the top with the whole gimmick. I think the whole idea of turning Doink face was due to the increasingly positive crowd reaction Borne was getting. Too bad being nice and cheery kills any cool factor a wrestling clown may have.

People usually scoff at the idea of a clown as a professional wrestler. However, one of the most legendary characters in wrestling history is an undead zombie looking to go 18-0 at WrestleMania.

www.pinfalls.com/doink.html

[bane]

Doink was ok. I enjoyed him. I had taken a short hiatus off of wrestling back in 1991 and came back and stayed to this day in 1993 so I missed the beginning of Doink and ALL of Flair's first run etc.

[LeighD]

The Evil Doink gimmick I LOVED! I thought it was great and was sad it never lasted longer than a year or so. I felt WWF could've used it a lot more had it Borne stayed heel.

[Mike Bockwinkel]

As good as Matt was as Evil Doink, he was epic.. I repeat... EPIC, when he went to ECW as Bourne Again

[figurefan]

Evil Doink was great. For some reason I like the Brett hart vs Doink match at SummerSlam 93

[June]

Bourne was great and he really made the gimmick.

[chopperkingpin]

Doink has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. My friends hated him which only make me enjoy the character more.

[Doomrider]

I loved Doink. He was one of my first childhood wrestling memories.

[BCizzle]

Yeah he was a great heel. Then they make him into a lame comedy act and the gimmick faded away into nothingness (kind of like they've done with Santino. Kind of).

But Matt Bourne had some big issues. I think Doink would've lasted longer if he wasn't such a screw-up. But he did have a really nice little run there.

[NAЯDO]

i love doink but not to forget dink

[June]

Mar 24, 2010 21:58:57 GMT -5 BCizzle said:

Yeah he was a great heel. Then they make him into a lame comedy act and the gimmick faded away into nothingness (kind of like they've done with Santino. Kind of).

But Matt Bourne had some big issues. I think Doink would've lasted longer if he wasn't such a screw-up. But he did have a really nice little run there.

I agree that Bourne screwed himself. I would not compare him to Santino, Bourne could actually wrestle. the guy I compare Bourne's Doink to is Goldust. Both gimmicks were freah and red hot as heels, then they were taken their balls away andturned into babyface comedy acts.

[TheEvilDoink1987]

Mar 25, 2010 3:49:08 GMT -5 June said:

Mar 24, 2010 21:58:57 GMT -5 BCizzle said:

Yeah he was a great heel. Then they make him into a lame comedy act and the gimmick faded away into nothingness (kind of like they've done with Santino. Kind of).

But Matt Bourne had some big issues. I think Doink would've lasted longer if he wasn't such a screw-up. But he did have a really nice little run there.

I agree that Bourne screwed himself. I would not compare him to Santino, Bourne could actually wrestle. the guy I compare Bourne's Doink to is Goldust. Both gimmicks were freah and red hot as heels, then they were taken their balls away andturned into babyface comedy acts.

Wow, that is an amazingly accurate comparison.

Both had really hot starts as heels (Borne as Doink attacking Crush/Goldust trying to get into Razor's pants) and started getting serious heat from the crowd in the months that followed. Some of that heat would translate into a few cheers here and there and because of that someone decided "OMG... the crowd loves this guy! Let's turn him face for no apparent reason, strip him of everything that got him over in the first place and flat-out neuter the character!!"

Doink was badass before badass was cool in pro wrestling. Had it been 1996 and not 1993, most of us would still have a Doink 3:16 shirt buried in our closets these days.