TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,807
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Nov 1, 2022 4:30:18 GMT -5
October 31, 1992. 🎃
Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the debut of Doink the Clown. Of course, we can make this simply an appreciation thread for the character, but it should also be discussed just how pivotal this specific time period was for the WWF.
Doink first appeared in the crowd during a Tatanka/Dale Wolfe match which coincidentally took place right after Yokozuna made his debut on the same episode of Superstars. The segment that followed was a vignette for the returning Bam Bam Bigelow. Within a few weeks, the likes of Warrior and Bulldog would be gone further moving the company away from the era of Hulkamania. Bret Hart was on top as World Champion and the New Generation was quickly taking form which is wild when you look at the roster from just six months prior. Change usually takes place gradually in the world of pro wrestling, but the WWF landscape shifted very fast in late 1992.
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Post by hbkjason on Nov 1, 2022 5:56:09 GMT -5
I liked the creepy vibe the original Doink had, especially that creepy music he had when it would start off fun, but then go all sinister. His run with Crush was something I enjoyed immensely and as we have discussed many times, as good as this storyline was, it ultimately killed Crush's momentum that he had built up in 1992 and in early 93. I think they probably could have stretched out evil Doink more if they had Crush get his win and revenge on him, only for Doink to them come back later to terrorize Crush even more.
His match with Bret Hart at SummerSlam was great and he has an absolute hidden gem with Marty Jannetty from an episode of RAW in 1993 as well. Once he turned face, I kind of lost all interest in him to be honest with you, I did not hate his act, but I was not super into it either.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Nov 1, 2022 14:43:07 GMT -5
Matt Bourne made Doink. Once he stopped being Doink, the character became a true joke, no pun intended.
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Post by The Brain on Nov 1, 2022 14:54:49 GMT -5
Evil Doink was great. Bourne played it to perfection. Wish he had a longer run
This era was rough for Vince and company but I was still a fan.You had Bret leading the charge as champ plus newcomers like Razor,Yoko,Headshrinkers etc That's good stuff in my book.
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nibs92
Main Eventer
Joined on: May 29, 2008 5:47:21 GMT -5
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Post by nibs92 on Nov 2, 2022 1:16:03 GMT -5
Loved his original theme music and the way his demeanour changed as the music became more sinister. Excellent in the ring as well. Really enjoyed his SS93 match with Bret.
Wasn’t so fussed for his face run, a bit too cartoonish for my tastes.
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Post by hbkjason on Nov 2, 2022 2:13:11 GMT -5
Also, Doink is one of the most fun characters to play as in WrestleMania The Arcade Game. Not just because of his more over the top and crazy moves, but all of his actual wrestling moves are some of the best-looking/animated in the whole game. Was it Matt Bourne that did all of the mocap for Doink? As the game was started in 1993, I would have thought that the chances he did the mocap are pretty high.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,807
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Nov 2, 2022 7:02:11 GMT -5
Also, Doink is one of the most fun characters to play as in WrestleMania The Arcade Game. Not just because of his more over the top and crazy moves, but all of his actual wrestling moves are some of the best-looking/animated in the whole game. Was it Matt Bourne that did all of the mocap for Doink? As the game was started in 1993, I would have thought that the chances he did the mocap are pretty high. I have no actual proof, but I am 99.9% sure that it was Borne who did the mo-cap for that game. You can kind of notice the facial similarities although the biggest giveaway is just the movement of the character and how he performs certain maneuvers. It definitely appears to be Borne which is wild since that game was released over two years after he left the company. Not my absolute favorite wrestling videogame growing up, but played it a ton and have some great memories. As a SNES kid, it was disappointing that Bam Bam and Yokozuna were not included on that version as having two more playable characters would've really extended the shelf life of that game. |
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Post by MKSavage on Nov 2, 2022 8:23:58 GMT -5
In honor of his 30th anniversary, here is his amazing UE figure, which I believe is the same attire he was wearing when he debuted.  |
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Post by hbkjason on Nov 2, 2022 8:50:03 GMT -5
Also, Doink is one of the most fun characters to play as in WrestleMania The Arcade Game. Not just because of his more over the top and crazy moves, but all of his actual wrestling moves are some of the best-looking/animated in the whole game. Was it Matt Bourne that did all of the mocap for Doink? As the game was started in 1993, I would have thought that the chances he did the mocap are pretty high. I have no actual proof, but I am 99.9% sure that it was Borne who did the mo-cap for that game. You can kind of notice the facial similarities although the biggest giveaway is just the movement of the character and how he performs certain maneuvers. It definitely appears to be Borne which is wild since that game was released over two years after he left the company. Not my absolute favorite wrestling videogame growing up, but played it a ton and have some great memories. As a SNES kid, it was disappointing that Bam Bam and Yokozuna were not included on that version as having two more playable characters would've really extended the shelf life of that game. The SNES version is an absolute mess, how they had so muc trouble porting it still blows my mind. I had it on PlayStation and even that and the Saturn version are far from being arcade perfect. This is one of my favourite WWF games of all time, I have every version of it, even a rom of the arcade version on my modded Arcade1up. |
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Post by PJ on Nov 2, 2022 14:10:12 GMT -5
I was never into any version of Doink. But he was a memorable character.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,807
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Nov 2, 2022 17:32:27 GMT -5
I have no actual proof, but I am 99.9% sure that it was Borne who did the mo-cap for that game. You can kind of notice the facial similarities although the biggest giveaway is just the movement of the character and how he performs certain maneuvers. It definitely appears to be Borne which is wild since that game was released over two years after he left the company. Not my absolute favorite wrestling videogame growing up, but played it a ton and have some great memories. As a SNES kid, it was disappointing that Bam Bam and Yokozuna were not included on that version as having two more playable characters would've really extended the shelf life of that game. The SNES version is an absolute mess, how they had so muc trouble porting it still blows my mind. I had it on PlayStation and even that and the Saturn version are far from being arcade perfect. This is one of my favourite WWF games of all time, I have every version of it, even a rom of the arcade version on my modded Arcade1up. Yup, still played it a ton because I just didn't know any better, but the SNES version was easily the worst. To quote Vince's commentary, "It's a total debacle!!!" |
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Post by JokerFC on Nov 4, 2022 23:56:43 GMT -5
Evil Doink was good stuff....it had a vast potential that Vince was unwilling to tap.
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Post by jason88cubs on Nov 7, 2022 22:38:54 GMT -5
Love evil Doink
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Post by Back to the Codyverse on Nov 8, 2022 11:31:51 GMT -5
I was never into any version Doink. But he was a memorable character. This |
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jason1980s
Main Eventer
Joined on: Sept 30, 2009 14:58:56 GMT -5
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Post by jason1980s on Nov 8, 2022 23:03:00 GMT -5
No pun intended, Matt was "born" to play Doink. Just like the Undertaker-a character like that and maybe even Razor or Diesel could only be played by one guy. But especially Undertaker because give it to the wrong guy and it's a two year gimmick at best. It's just a shame Matt's demons got the best of him.
I always come to the defense of Ray Apollo though. He was given the character that was hard to overcome the better guy playing it. Just like fake Razor and Diesel. But Ray had his own style and it worked for a time. It's a shame that when fans were turning on him Matt couldn't be rehired and do a "heel turn" but again, in defense of Ray he did the best he could given the character to play. He is a real Doink to me. He doesn't seem to get a lot of love from internet fans. When Eric Simms brought him and a few other guys to a signing, literally days after Matt died fans flamed him as a fake Doink. Ray had been announced even before Matt's death because Ray is a good guy, easy to deal with, fan friendly and local to the east coast area. It would have been cool to see a real four Doink match (Matt, Ray, Lombardi, Keirn) at Survivor Series but glad MOM and Bushwhackers a got a payday. It's also amazing to think face Doink was past its prime and last PPV appearance was Royal Rumble 1995 but he lasted until early 1996. I think it was either 1996 Slammy's or 97 they still had him for an appearance.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,807
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Nov 9, 2022 6:09:46 GMT -5
No pun intended, Matt was "born" to play Doink. Just like the Undertaker-a character like that and maybe even Razor or Diesel could only be played by one guy. But especially Undertaker because give it to the wrong guy and it's a two year gimmick at best. It's just a shame Matt's demons got the best of him. I always come to the defense of Ray Apollo though. He was given the character that was hard to overcome the better guy playing it. Just like fake Razor and Diesel. But Ray had his own style and it worked for a time. It's a shame that when fans were turning on him Matt couldn't be rehired and do a "heel turn" but again, in defense of Ray he did the best he could given the character to play. He is a real Doink to me. He doesn't seem to get a lot of love from internet fans. When Eric Simms brought him and a few other guys to a signing, literally days after Matt died fans flamed him as a fake Doink. Ray had been announced even before Matt's death because Ray is a good guy, easy to deal with, fan friendly and local to the east coast area. It would have been cool to see a real four Doink match (Matt, Ray, Lombardi, Keirn) at Survivor Series but glad MOM and Bushwhackers a got a payday. It's also amazing to think face Doink was past its prime and last PPV appearance was Royal Rumble 1995 but he lasted until early 1996. I think it was either 1996 Slammy's or 97 they still had him for an appearance. The version of Doink played by Ray Apollo definitely sucked, but that was the character he was paid to portray so nothing personal against the guy under the paint. He played the gimmick longer than Borne did so it is definitely unfair for people to call him "fraudulent" as I'm sure that babyface character who was accompanied by Dink is the definitive version for many who grew up watching in that era. Royal Rumble 1995 was his final PPV appearance, but he stuck around for a while after that like you said and I know he even jobbed to Waylon Mercy on TV sometime in the late summer. |
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jason1980s
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Joined on: Sept 30, 2009 14:58:56 GMT -5
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Post by jason1980s on Nov 9, 2022 23:00:55 GMT -5
I think his last match was January or February 1996 against Hunter.
I like in typical Jakks fashion they put Ray's Doink and called it Evil Doink on the package. LOL. Just gave it a crazier looking face.
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Post by The Brain on Nov 10, 2022 0:02:28 GMT -5
I think his last match was January or February 1996 against Hunter. I like in typical Jakks fashion they put Ray's Doink and called it Evil Doink on the package. LOL. Just gave it a crazier looking face. The match with Trips was on Raw in the Fall 95. He didnt make it to 96 |
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jason1980s
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Joined on: Sept 30, 2009 14:58:56 GMT -5
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Post by jason1980s on Nov 10, 2022 11:22:07 GMT -5
I think his last match was January or February 1996 against Hunter. I like in typical Jakks fashion they put Ray's Doink and called it Evil Doink on the package. LOL. Just gave it a crazier looking face. The match with Trips was on Raw in the Fall 95. He didnt make it to 96 Ok cool. I might be thinking of the last time I saw Duke Droese on a major show. I don't remember him doing much until like early Summer when WWF did an impersonations video with him and others. Now I seem to remember his Waylon Mercy match may have been one of the last with the writing on the wall. Ray and Dink do autograph signings every once in a while and Tiger Jackson/Dink looks absolutely miserable. Not sure if it's him in general or he just has bad memories of wrestling. I know he was picked on by Steiners and Bam Bam. Matt staying as Doink is such a huge "what if?" for the New Generation era. |
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Post by The Brain on Nov 10, 2022 11:31:06 GMT -5
Bourne did seem to make it work during the little time he was a babyface before his departure. Just goes to show ya the talent he had
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