Doink the Clown

Doink the Clown
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Doink the Clown The Clown
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight	243 lb (110 kg)
Billed from	Parts Unknown
Debut	1992

Doink the Clown is a professional wrestling gimmick, originally used by Matt Osborne in the World Wrestling Federation from 1992 to 1994. Since Osborne's departure from the WWF, the character has been played by several wrestlers, primarily on the independent circuit, as well as in sporadic special appearances on WWE programming.

History

World Wrestling Federation

After making appearances in late 1992 in the crowd and at ringside, playing tricks on the fans and wrestlers, the Doink character made his in-ring debut in the WWF in 1993, originally wrestling as a technically sound but mentally unstable villain. Doink played cruel jokes on both fans and wrestlers in order to amuse himself and put them off guard. Some of his villainous pranks included tripping The Big Boss Man with a trip wire, dumping water on Marty Jannetty and attacking Crush with a loaded prosthetic arm. He clashed with Crush at WrestleMania IX, a match which he won after the appearance of an identical Doink (played by Steve Keirn) from underneath the ring. Doink also briefly feuded with Randy Savage on an early edition of Monday Night Raw, and Bret Hart, after substituting for an "injured" Jerry Lawler, at SummerSlam in 1993.

Doink then turned on Lawler on the September 4 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge in Lawler's The King's Court segment, making Burger King jokes to amuse the crowd and eventually hitting Lawler with a pie. Matt Osborne, the original man behind Doink, was fired for re-occurring drug abuses, eventually leaving the gimmick (after bouncing through a few others) to Ray Apollo. Now as a fan favorite and with a new midget sidekick Dink, Doink encountered Lawler again the following year in a match at Survivor Series. In this match, Doink and Dink teamed with Wink and Pink to meet Lawler's dwarf team of 'little kings' Queazy, Cheezy, and Sleazy. As a fan favorite, Doink was more of a comic relief character, but continued to pull pranks on other wrestlers (albeit more harmless and silly than outright cruel), mostly villains such as Lawler and Bobby Heenan. Doink and Dink also battled with Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon in a feud that culminated at WrestleMania X. One of Doink's final appearances in his original run was at the Slammy Awards when he was attacked by Stone Cold Steve Austin amidst chants of "kill the clown".

He was also a playable character in WWF Raw released in 1994 by Acclaim Entertainment and WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game released in 1995 by Midway

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Following his departure from the WWF, Osborne appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling for a handful of matches as Doink in a blue and green clown suit, setting up an angle where Shane Douglas criticized Vince McMahon for turning a talented wrestler like Osborne into a comic relief character, and claimed that he knew how to bring out Osborne's full potential.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Doink made random appearances in the next decade. He competed in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven. He showed up in the A.P.A. Bar Room Brawl at Vengeance in 2003. He also fought Rob Conway on an October 2005 episode of Raw. On the June 2, 2007 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Doink (Dwaine Henderson) teamed up with Eugene and Kane to defeat Umaga, Viscera, and Kevin Thorn. On Raw XV, the 15th-anniversary Raw special on December 10, 2007, Doink participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal.

On the July 12, 2010 edition on Monday Night Raw, Doink (Dwaine Henderson) teamed with William Regal, Zach Ryder, & Primo Colon vs. Santino Marella,Vladimir Koslov, The Great Khali, & Goldust. The match was set up as a foil for guest host Florence Henderson who starred as Carol Brady in 70's sitcom The Brady Bunch. Doink was pinned by the Great Khali during the match and during the post-match celebration The Great Khali picked up Florence Henderson and proceeded to make out with her while Santino and Goldust danced to Khali's music.

Independent circuit

In early 2010, Osborne reinvented the Doink character to resemble Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight, nicknaming the incarnation 'Reborne Again'. The new character debuted on March 27 for ISPW in New Jersey.

On May 23, 2010 Doink the Clown, portrayed by Dusty Wolf, interfered against Skandar Akbar and his men Dr. Knuckles and Rommel. This caused them to lose the Wrecking Ball Wrestling tag titles. In retaliation Akbar called on the original Doink Matt Borne. They were scheduled to meet on Aug. 15th, 2010. At that time Wolfe no showed the event to avoid the wrath of Borne. On August 8, 2010 The Original Doink The Clown-Matt Borne won the Wrecking Ball Wrestling Championship.

IWA Wrestling

Doink has been to some IWA events in Ohio. He has been signing autographs and takes pictures with fans at events. He was spotted signing autographs outside a Frisch's Big Boy in Lima, Ohio.

Doink appeared at warlney school 25th september 2010 as part of a charity event

Personnel

A number of men have used the Doink gimmick, as well as wrestlers using the face-paint as a disguise at various times. The first Doink was Matt Osborne. The second was Steve Keirn who played the "illusion" Doink at Wrestlemania IX and occasionally played Doink at house shows. He was succeeded by Steve Lombardi and Dusty Wolfe, and John Maloof all of whom played the character temporarily after Osborne left the company until Ray Apollo was brought in as the permanent replacement.

Jeff Jarrett once dressed up as Doink to pull pranks on Dink. Men on a Mission and The Bushwhackers appeared as "The Four Doinks" to compete in a Survivor Series match. Chris Jericho also took on the persona of Doink in order to perform an ambush on William Regal. Doink was played by Nick Dinsmore and selected by Rhino to face Chris Benoit on July 31, 2003 edition of Smackdown!. Doink has also made sporadic appearances since then. On the July 12, 2010 episode of Raw, Doink (Dwaine Henderson) teaming with William Regal, Primo, and Zack Ryder was defeated by the team of Santino Marella, Goldust, Vladimir Kozlov, and The Great Khali.

Indy wrestler Matt Garrett has gained some notoriety in Canada for playing Son of Doink.

In wrestling

Doink with Psycho.

• Finishing moves
  • Stump Puller (Inverted Boston crab)
  • Whoopie Cushion (Diving seated senton)

Championships and accomplishments

• • Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1994)
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1994) vs. Jerry Lawler
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1994) with Dink, Pink and Wink vs. Jerry Lawler, Sleazy, Queasy and Cheesy at Survivor Series

• NWA Southwest
  • NWA Southwest Television Championship (1 time)

• Wrecking Ball Wrestling
  • Wrecking Ball Wrestling Championship (1 time)

External links

• Doink at OWW
• Doink's WWE Alumni Profile
• Doink at IMDB
• Tha O Show Episode 157 Matt Osborne/Doink The Clown Interview