Doink the Clown.
Doink the Clown is an infamous wrestling villain, or heel, who dressed as a clown and was known for committing cruel pranks such as popping children's balloons with a cigar, splashing water on the audience, and using a fake prosthetic arm to attack opponents. His arena theme was also noteworthy for starting off as a happy "circus theme" before descending into a dark and threatening tune complete with cackling sound effects reminiscent of evil clown laughter. Doink was initially the sidekick of Jerry Lawler as he was appointed to be Lawler's court jester. He would eventually turn on lawler and cease his evil ways. Although Doink the Clown no longer appears in wrestling he is remembered by many as one of the sport's more unusual and effective villains (it is also worth noting that Doink the Clown was not a single wrestler, he was portrayed by several wrestlers throughout his career). Doink began by making ringside appearances, playing tricks on fans and wrestlers.
Biography
After making appearances in late 1992 in the crowd and at ringside, while again playing tricks on the fans and wrestlers, Doink made his in-ring debut in the WWF in 1993. 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 tripwire, 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 from underneath the ring. The identical Doink wielded the loaded prosthetic arm and took out his opponent Crush to win Doink the match. Doink also briefly feuded with Randy Savage on an early edition of Monday Night Raw, and Bret The Hitman" Hart, after substituting for Jerry Lawler, who faked an injury, at SummerSlam in 1993.
Doink would 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 emptied a bucket of water over Lawler. Now as a fan favorite, he unvieled a new midget sidekick Dink. Doink then became more of a comic relief character, but continued to pull pranks on other wrestlers (albeit more harmless and silly than outright cruel), mostly on heels like Lawler and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Doink's official run with the WWF (now WWE) his final televised match in September 1995, to Triple H, then as Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Doink reemerged one last time in 1997 at the Slammy Awards and was attacked by Stone Cold Steve Austin, amidst crowd chants of "kill the clown."
Doink the Clown - Titantron (Heel)
Doink the Clown as a villain in WWF
Doink eventually retired and would continue, however, to make random and sporadic appearances but was never as effective as he once was. His costume would even be used by wrestlers such as The Bushwackers and Chris Jericho for attacks on their own rivals. From the Gimmick Battle Royale of Wrestlemania 7, the 15th-Anniversary Royal Rumble in 2007 on RAW, and in 2012 against Heath Slater. Doink would return once more on RAW's 1000th episode to aid in the defeat of Slater among other WWE/WWF legends.
Trivia
Doink as he appears in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009.
- Doink is a playable character in Acclaim's 1994 video game, WWF Raw, and Midway's WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game (1995). He also is a playable character in the Xbox 360 & PS3 versions of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 as downloadable content (DLC).
- Doink once attacked an opponent with a car battery
- Doink would ask his mirror to reveal where a wrestler truly stands before facing them
- Doink used a trick during Wrestlemania IX by switching with a similarly dressed twin while the referee was down
- During Heath Slaters rivals with legends, Doink was the only one to lose one on one against Slater.