There were a number of outlandish characters who arose in WWE throughout the 1990s, particularly in the era of transition as Hulk Hogan stepped away from the company. There were occupational gimmicks like wrestling garbage man, Duke the Dumpster Droese, Bob Holly the Racecar Driver, and Repo Man. There were nonsensical attempts at breaking the mold like Mantaur as well.
And then there was Doink the Clown, who became representative of over-the-top, cartoonish booking from that period in WWE history. That assessment isn’t altogether fair, though. Doink had his moments, especially with Matt Borne under the face paint. The character was beyond any sort of redemption, however, once he had a little person sidekick, Dink the Clown, added to his presentation.
The Original Heel Doink The Clown Was Compelling
WWE did a fine job of slowly introducing Doink the Clown to the WWE landscape. He was an eccentric presence in the crowd at first, before more overtly leaning heel as he played mean-spirited pranks on the fans. That set up babyface Crush to confront the clown. A fake arm injury laid the foundation for Doink to wind up attacking the Hawaiian big man, to set up a collision at WrestleMania 9.
WrestleMania 9 may have marked the peak for Doink the Clown. With the referee down, a second Doink emerged to batter Crush with a prosthetic arm. Rather than a silly spectacle, the moment was genuinely frightening, particularly for young fans at the time, and a rare, truly distinctive moment to define a character. The sinister clown was a heel mastermind, ready to think well outside the box of conventional wrestling tactics. Moreover, Matt Borne was a strong worker in the gimmick, and would go on to very good matches, including a forgotten gem against Bret Hart, filling in for a supposedly injured Jerry Lawler, at SummerSlam that August. However, the history of the character grew muddier from that point forward.
Dink Represented Everything Wrong With Babyface Doink The Clown
Doink the Clown turning babyface was a kiss of death for the character, as he went from edgy and dangerous, tapping into a bit of the ethos of Stephen King’s It, into what was truly nothing more than a cartoonish wrestling clown. The addition of Dink to the act may have played to children, but stripped away what little credibility the Doink character had left after the turn.
Dink the Clown regularly offered illegal interference on Doink’s behalf. Rather than a character wrinkle that offered nuance to the babyface act, these spots made a farce out of what rules WWE did have. Things went from bad to worse in 1994, when Doink and Dink teamed up for an offbeat mixed tag team match that was far beneath the considerable talents of Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon at WrestleMania 10 (though at least the heel duo did pull off the victory). Worse yet, with Ray Apollo in the Doink gimmick, he and Dink, joined by two other little people clowns, Pink and Wink lost to Jerry Lawler and his own crew of heel little people at Survivor Series months later.
The Babyface Run Ruined Doink The Clown’s WWE Legacy
Some wrestlers or characters lend themselves better to face or heel alignments. In the case of Doink the Clown, however, the babyface run wasn't only weaker, but undermined the whole concept of his character and how it has become remembered. Nowadays, a large portion of wrestling fans look back at Doink as somewhat analogous to Bastion Booger or Mantaur--characters that were a bit too far over the top, regardless of the talent of the men beneath the gimmicks. People forget Doink actually did spend several months as a truly exciting part of WWE programming in 1993.
The babyface turn took away most of what was interesting about Doink, and Dink the Clown played a similar role to the ventriloquist dummy Rocco applied to the Legion of Doom as their WWE run broke down. Both Dink and Rocco were albatrosses, designed to appeal to younger fans, but so juvenile in their aesthetic that they made it impossible for older fans to take the act seriously.
Doink the Clown probably always had a shelf life, as there’s only so much a wrestling clown could do. The original heel version as portrayed by Matt Borne was something special, though, and appealing parts of the gimmick have sadly been buried beneath the mirthless farce that was Dink the Clown dancing around the babyface jester.