The WWE has gone through a lot of changes over the years but one “era” I remember the best was from the mid 80’s and early 90’s. You remember the era that had Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, the Undertaker and Doink the Clown. That’s right, I said Doink the Clown.

Doink appeared on the scene in 1992 and debuted as a wrestler in 1993. Doink was the WWE’s answer to all the critics who called the company a “circus” or said that it had a circus atmosphere. People are going to learn that Vince McMahon does not like his company criticized and when people laugh at him, he is going to laugh right along with you until he is laughing at you and Doink the Clown was a laugh at the critics. There have been many wrestlers who have played the role of Doink but my favorite and in my opinion, the best Doink by far was the first one, played by “Maniac” Matt Bourne.

Doink started out as a heel wrestler and his entrance music was that of a combination of the original circus music, “Entry of the Gladiators” and then into some macabre, evil music and he pulled pranks on face wrestlers such as Crush by trying to make friends with him while his arm was in a cast and a sling. He offered Crush a small bouquet of flowers and when Crush turned his back after accepting the flowers, Doink pulled the cast from the sling and hammered Crush on the back with it. This led to a feud between the two which culminated at WrestleMania IX and also brought the appearance of a second Doink. The second Doink was played by Steve Keirn and made his appearance at WrestleMania IX. Doink, then still played by Matt Bourne, was involved in a feud with Kona Crush and during the match, a second Doink appeared from under the ring and hit Crush from behind with a plaster arm cast allowing Doink to get the victory just after the eight minute mark of the match.

Other people to play Doink over the years included wrestlers like Jeff Jarrett, Chris Jericho and Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore. Chris Jericho donned the clown suit in order to sneak attack William Regal and Jeff Jarrett played Doink so he could play pranks on Doink’s midget sidekick, Dink. Nick Dinsmore played the clown in the APA Invitational Bar Room Brawl Match at the Vengeance pay-per-view card in 2003 which was won by APA member Bradshaw. Eugene wrestled as Doink during the following Smack Down card in a match with Chris Benoit and lost.

Doink had a couple of favorite moves called the “Stump Puller” which was an inverted Boston Crab and he also used a Seated Senton that he called the “Whoopie Cushion”. In 1995, Doink inducted George “The Animal” Steele into the WWE Hall of Fame. Love him or hate him, Doink was the WWE’s slap in the face to its critics.