Talk about it here.

I think this is a gimmick that's going to look GREAT in hindsight, even though it was sort of hated at the time.

 

Doink names himself for the first time, and in a great moment, they cut to a girl in the crowd who mouths, "He thinks he's so funny".

 

Then he squirts Ray Rougeau in the face with water from the flower on his jacket.

I think this is a gimmick that's going to look GREAT in hindsight, even though it was sort of hated at the time.

I remember thinking at 14 how dumb Doink was, but now it might be the best gimmick of 93 one month in.

At the time Rougeau was also the announcer for French TV. Heel announcer Guy Hauray (who since then became some sort of coaching guru, I'm serious) was laughing his ass off at Raymond here. Good stuff.

Agreed totally. I remember hating the gimmick when I was around 20. Now it looks like a million bucks. Doink is one creepy sadistic looking clown. He totally has the Joker vibe going for him.

Nothing new to add here. Heel Doink is one of those gimmicks where it is easy to see why at the time people would shit all over the idea of the WWF bringing in a wrestler dressed as a clown, but looking back on it you can appreciate how boss it was. Borne was so good in this role, it would have been really interesting to see the character have a longer run. As it is, we have about 9 months of a run that was years ahead of its time.

 

If you get the chance, youtube some heel Doink squash matches. They are as fun as shit, with Borne just tooling jobbers.

A run with The Undertaker would have been so much better for all involved, least of which those of us who had to put up with watching Taker work his way around Jorge that year.

I LOVED heel Doink at the time. I even had a poster of him on my bedroom wall, next to Bret Hart and Bob Backlund (the first wrestler I liked ironically). And I was 15. Anyway, one of the great heels of that era IMO, with the creepy music, mysterious side, and also a pretty good wrestler to boot. I even loved the multiple Doinks and remember discussing the rumours of which wrestlers they were with my friends. His involvement in the famous Summerslam match with Hart and Lawler was also awesome. I was pretty pissed when they turned him face, as they had barely scratched the surface of his potential as a heel. I'm sure the poster came down pretty soon after.

 

I knew the smart crowd hated face Doink, but I didn't know they also shit on heel Doink. If I was 20-25 years old in 1992 I probably would have shit on him as well, sadly enough.

 

I think I may have to start a Matt Borne as Doink tribute thread.

Doink being interviewed by Ray Rougeau. He’s no Sean Mooney. Fun clips of Doink’s previous hijinks to other wrestlers. I wasn’t watching at the time of heel Doink but he has been fun to watch since then.

Highlights of the Clown's antics, antagonizing the Big Boss Man, Tatanka, Marty Jannetty, and Bob Backlund. Ray Rougeau browbeats him for his jokes always being at other people's expense--those typically are the best kind. Borne instantly has this act down cold, going from manic and giggly to serious as he talks about taking children's smiles away.

 

Doink was another target of the smart fanbase at the time, but just like Papa Shango I liked the gimmick then and I like it now. Difference being Borne was absolutely on fire as a worker, with some fine matches on the Yearbook and quite a few that didn't make the cut--the Superstars match that ends the feud is probably the best singles match of Brian Adams' career.

I hated Doink back in the day. He's was one of those things that would make me think twice before mentioning I was a wrestling fan because I was that embarrassed by it. The passage of years and hindsight are wonderful things, as looking back, it's actually a genius idea. In many ways it is the perfect wrestling heel gimmick.

Doink out for a promo with clips of his pranks on Bossman, Backlund, Tatanka. Great promo, basically like The Joker. Really original character and act by Borne. I was not at all a fan of this when I watched it at the time. Now? Seems awesome. Go figure.

Count me in as someone who has liked the Doink snippets we have seen going through the early Raws. I look forward to all of his havoc and this was a good introduction.

This is one seriously disturbed character. Not quite as disturbed as '91 Jake, but the closest we've come to him since. Borne sounds like he's about ten fries short, and they really pushed him hard, giving him issues with at least three or four different guys, any one of which he could have had a nice run with had they chosen to go that way.

 

Ray sounded almost Piper-like with his confrontational attitude here. Was he too hurt to work? I seem to recall he retired due to injury. If he was just plain retired, I wonder if they thought of a match between him and Doink in Montreal. Anyway, I'd have loved to see Jacques come to his brother's aid, shock stick and all. It not only would have redeemed the Mountie character, but it might have alleviated the trouble they were probably still in with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

 

Leave it to dipstick Lawler to defend the guy. Also, nice to hear former sworn enemies Savage and Lawler in the booth together. I wonder if Randy pushed for a resumption of the Lawler feud in the WWF and was turned down. I know that they wrestled a few times, but there really wasn't much of a feud.