We return to our journey down the road to Raw 900 with a look at everyone’s favorite wrestling clown. Doink started off as an evil clown which I thought was a great gimmick since a lot of people think clowns are creepy. He would later become the normal fun loving clown with a mini side kick named Dink. The original Doink was played by Matt Bourne until late 1993. Steve Keirn, RAy Apollo, and Steve Lombardi have all taken turns under the mask since then.  Doink was a major part of the early years of Raw so here’s a look at some of his matches.

Doink vs. Kamala 3-22-93
Evil Doink enters the ring holding a present. Kamala then makes his way to the ring accompanied by Slick. Doink tries to give Kamala the present, then puts it in the corner. Doink works an armbar, a headlock and a wristlock. I love how the evil clown is a great scientific wrestler.  Kamala fights out of the wristlock with some over handed chops,  Doink takes Kamal down and goes back to the armbar with Slick looking on from ringside.  Kamala hits some more chops then tosses Doink into the corner and hits the big belly splash. Kamala chases Doink around ringside until Doink grabs the present and offers it to Kamala again. Doink rolls into the ring while Kamala opens the present and gets counted out. There ends up being nothing in the box. Kamala chases Doink again this time going under the ring and Kamala crawls in after him. Doink comes out the other side and grabs a chair and hits the ring apron each time ti looks like Kamala is going to come out. Kamala instead comes out the side and attacks Doink from  behind then chases him into the back.

Doink vs. Mr. Perfect 5-24-93
This a 1993 King of the Ring Qualifying match. Doink comes out and climbs under the ring. We then see Doink standing outside talking to Lord Alfred Hayes claiming to be an illusion. Doink then climbs out from under the ring. Mr. Perfect makes his way to the ring and as soon as he gets in the ring Doink takes Perfect’s towel and starts choking him with it. Perfect then takes  the towel and clotheslines Doink with it and tosses it out of the ring. The two exchange punches with Perfect taking advantage and starts working over Doink’s leg. Doink kicks Mr. Perfect then tosses him out of the ring.

Doink hits an axe handle off the ring apron then rolls back in the ring. Doink pulls perfect in and goes for a fireman’s carry takedown, but perfect reverses it into a head scissors. Doink escapes and kicks perfect and goes into an armbar. Perfect goes back to working Doink’s leg and locks in a figure four variation. Doink escapes with the eye poke of doom then bites Perfect’s nose. They go back to the outside and Perfect is rammed into the post. He then slams Perfect’s arm into the post. Doink goes back to working over the arm of Perfect. Doink picks Perfect up and slams him down on the arm. Perfect attempts a comeback with an atomic drop followed by a clothesline. Perfect clotheslines Doink out of the ring, and we see a second Doink run and hide under the apron. Second Doink pulls first Doink under the ring and the fresh Doink climbs back out pretending to be hurt and gets into the ring. He hits Doink with a monkey flip. Doink goes for a over head toss but Perfect stops and hits the prefectplex for the win. The original Doink then comes from under the ring and the double Doinks attack Perfect until Crush comes out and makes the save.

I loved this match, I forgot how awesome evil Doink was and how great of a wrestler he was was because of the goofy antics of happy go lucky Doink.

Marty Jannetty vs. Doink 2 out of 3 falls match 6-21-93
Doink is in the ring as Jannety makes his way to ringside. Oddly enough Jannetty’s flashy outfit with the tassels and his ring music is giving me ultimate warrior flashbacks.  Doink keeps trying to call Jannety over to the corner but Jannetty stays away. They lock up and go intot the ropes and Doink throws a few punches and gets a headlock. Reason 3,129,412 why Bobby Heenan is my favorite announcer, he just compared Doink to Michael Jordan.  We get the run the ropes leap frog spot which Jannety uses to monkey flip Doink across the ring.  Doink with the greco roman hair pull. Jannetty continues to work Doink’s arm, while Doink continues his heel tactics and taunts Doink. We get the criss cross the ropes spot until Marty just stops and watches Doink run.  We get the leap frog spot again and Marty stops and delivers a fist drop.  Jannetty continues to work the arm. Marty hits another monkey flip to get a two count.  Jannety misses a drop kick in the corner which allows Doink to hit the flying butt smash off the top rope to get a 3 count and the first fall.

Second match starts with Doink going after Jannetty with punches, Marty tries to fight back but no luck. Doink slaps Marty around and tosses him outside. Doink nails a flying double axe handle off the top rope. Doink tosses Marty back in and locks in a head lock.  Marty attempts a roll up but gets a two count. Marty blocks a suplex attempt and hits one of his own. He follows up with a super kick he goes for a pin, but Doink is in the ropes. Marty hits a flying fist drop from the top rope and gets a 3 count to tie things up.

Third match starts with Janety giving Doink an atomic drop. Doink rolls out of the ring and slams Marty’s leg into the ring post.  Doink locks in a figure four in the middle of the ring and gets a series of 2 counts before Marty is able to roll Doink over to reverse the pressure and Doink grabs the ropes. Doink continues to work over the leg. Marty hits a back body drop but his knee gives out. Doink locks in the Regal stretch, but Jannetty escapes.  Doink goes for the flying butt smash but Marty throws him off the top rope across the ring.  Jannetty does the 10 count punches and we get Doink #2 runs out and goes under the ring.  The crowd is screaming about the second Doink and marty starts looking under the ring. Doink kicks the distracted Morty in the face and tosses him into the guard rail, then back into the ring. Jannetty dropkicks Doink to the outside and climbs under the ring and climbs back out and attacks Jannetty.  Jannety knocks Doink out of the ring again and he goes back under the apron and this time Doink #2 comes back out.  Doink #2 smashes Marty’s face into the turnbuckle, then hits a piledriver to get the pin and the win. Macho Man then comes in attacks Doink #2 and pulls Doink #1 from under the ring and the ref sees both Doinks and reverses the decision giving the win to Marty Jannetty.

Doink vs. Corey Student 10-4-93
Corey Student starts in the ring and Doink comes to the ring in a little red wagon and tosses balloons to the fan, apparently we have happy go lucky Doink now. I also love how Bobby loved evil Doink now he hates good Doink. Doink acts like he is going to throw a bucket of water at Bobby but it turns out to be popcorn. Doink gets in the ring and hits a back body drop on Student then hits a standing drop kick.  He follows up with a belly to belly suplex. Doink hits a body slam then the flying butt smash from the top rope to get the win. We then have Bam Bam Bigelow at ringside to get revenge on Doink but the officials stop Bam Bam from getting to Doink. Bam Bam then destorys Doink’s wagon.

Doink vs. Owen Hart 5-23-94
This match is a 1994 King of the Ring qualifier match, so that should give away the ending to most of you. This match was originally scheduled to be Owen Hart vs. Earthquake, but Earthquake was injured at a house show the weekend before. Owen enters first and we await the revival of Earthquake’s replacement which is Doink who is accompanied by Dink.  Owen attacks Doink as he gets in the ring.  Owen drags Doink’s face across the top rope then chokes him. Owen attempts to ram Doink into the turnbuckle, but Doink reverses it. Owen then hits a back drop suplex and an elbow drop.  Doink hits a couple of hip tosses and a body slam. Owen goes out side for a breather and Dink rolls into the ring and taunts Owen. Owen back in the ring raking Doink’s eyes and going for the 10 punches in the corner. Doink reverses a irish whip into a hip toss. Owen chases Dink outside and gets clotheslined by DOink and clotheslined. Doink gets back in the ring and taunts Owen some more.

Owen slams Doink’s leg into the ring post and gets back in the ring. Owen with a headlock, and follows with a belly to belly suplex.  Owen then locks in a camel clutch, Doink escapes and we get the double clothesline spot.  Doink hits the spinning elbow and a belly to belly suplex of his own. Doink then does the 10 punches spot in the corner. Jeff Jarrett comes out from the back and grabs Dink and starts to walk off with him distracting Doink, allowing Owen to get a school boy roll up for the three count and the win. Doink goes after Jarrett who drops Dink and runs away.

Doink vs. Bob Backlund 12-12-94
This is crazy Mr. Bob Backlund fresh of his 8 second World title loss to Diesel. Shawn Michaels is with Vince on commentary. Backlund in the ring and Dink comes down to the ring without Doink. Dink gets in the ring to wrestle Backlund and Doink comes out from under the ring and takes Backlund by surprise with a chop block from behind.  Bob and Doink do some takedowns and some mat wrestling. Again it’s slightly odd to see a soundly technical match between Backlund and a clown, but it’s a solid match.  Doink gets a head scissors on Backlund, but Backlund is able to roll out with Doink going into a bridge to get a two count. Doink then goes to a headlock, but Bob escapes and start working over the shoulder. Backlund goes for a chicken wing but Doink gets to the rope.  Backlund continues to work the shoulder while continuing to be crazy.  Doink hits a bodyslam and a small package for 2, but Backlund escapes and gets a wrist lock.  Dink up on the steps looking on.  Doink gets whipped into the turnbuckles but jumps up to the middle turnbuckle and dives off for a cross body block that gets a two count. Doink with bodyslam but misses an elbow drop  and Backlund locks in the crossface chickenwing to get the win, but Backlund refuses to let go of the hold until the refs pull him off Doink.

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Doink is one of the few wrestlers I haven’t seen much of since his original run, and I have to say I really enjoyed watching these matches again. I forgot how great Doink was at actually wrestling, holding his own with Bob Backlund and Mr. Perfect. If I had to pick I’d say the Doink/Perfect match was my favorite that I reviewed for this article. WWE still uses Doink on occasion for a nostalgia pop, but it’s always happy go lucky Doink as a jobber. I much prefer evil Doink and would love to see Evil Doink feud with Santino Marella, not only would the comedy be golden, but when they let him Santino can wrestle.  It might be weird to say but I think WWE’s recent release Raw: Beginnings is worth a purchase for the Doink matches alone.

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