Can you clarify for the less knowledgeable how long Borne portrayed Doink (from when to when) and perhaps clear up who all played Doink during the characters WWF/E tenure. I know of a guy named Ray something, but were there others?
Sure. Borne was the original, came in around January of 93 with the debut of RAW and lasted until sometime around Survivor Series of that year. I still can't pin down the exact date of the change, but it's around the time he turned babyface, which was against his wishes. He quit/got fired (depending on who you ask of course) and was replaced by indy guy Ray Apollo (real name Licachelli) who was noticeably taller. That's the Doink with the different costume and all the midgets and stuff. Steve Keirn would play Doink when a second one was needed for switches, and Steve Lombardi would sometimes do house shows or double for Apollo and finally took over the gimmick for good when they'd bring it back for nostalgia things like the Slammies in the 90s or whatever. In 2004 Doink was played by Nick Dinsmore for a few appearances before he got the Eugene gimmick. Those are the ones who played Doink in WWE, and then a wide variety of indy geeks used the gimmick after Borne left originally. You can basically rent the costume and makeup now and put anyone in the suit.
Jericho dressed as Doink once in 99. In his book, He describes a hilarious exchange backstage with Michaels after the match.
ReplyDeleteI could have sworn Jericho played Doink in 2001 right before Mania 17 instead of 1999 but maybe he did it twice?
ReplyDeleteWhat is this, the Borne Of Doom?
ReplyDeleteIt's just not an indy show without someone dressed like:
ReplyDelete-Doink
-Spiderman
-A Power ranger/Ninja Turtle/Shockwave The Robot
bonus points for our fat Ultimate Warrior knockoff.
I'm 99% positive Doink debuted in late '92 in the crowd on some episodes of Primetime Wrestling.
ReplyDeleteThere's an NWA sanctioned fed near me that has, and I promise I'm not shitting anyone here, "Zombie Rick Rude". Oh and the main heel stable are all Middle Eastern terrorists. Needless to say I've never bothered to go there.
ReplyDeleteThat exchange is the funniest thing about Jericho's 2nd book. I started laughing the moment you brought it up.
ReplyDelete"You're Doink now??"
"Just for now, it's part of the angle with Regal"
"Oh ok"
(pause)
"Listen...them making you Doink now...it's bullshit"
When I was about ten or eleven, I got to spend several hours hanging out with Ray Apollo and Tiger Jackson before, during, and after an autograph signing - it was the most mind-blowing thing to me at the time, seeing them with and without their make-up, getting to try on the giant Doink jacket, just getting to chat wrestling with real live wrestlers... just a dream come true at the time.
ReplyDeleteGot to spend time with Ted Dibiase at the same signing, another super-nice guy that had absolutely no problem placating a young kid that was still in the phase of thinking wrestling was at least semi-real, and a young kid that just yapped away for hours about his favorite hobby.
Where might one rent/buy a Doink costume anyway?
ReplyDeleteMatt Borne's last known address?
ReplyDeleteI remember going to the WrestleFest before WrestleMania X when I was a kid. Doink was there, and he took a picture with me and signed it. I got home and saw that the signature didn't match the official one from one of the WWF Magazines. I felt so cheated.
ReplyDeleteYeah that's right, it was a one-shot in 2001.
ReplyDeleteI went to an ROH show (the one where Liger was in the tag match back in '04) and someone there was dressed as Winnie the Pooh. CM Punk did a sit-in that lasted through intermission and wondered allowed if Winnie the Pooh and Green Lantern Fan were gonna come to blows. I lol'd.
ReplyDeleteHe did. He also appeared at the 92 Survivor Series during the Tatanka vs Rick Martel match.
ReplyDeleteEvil Doink was an interesting character and it's a shame they didn't stick with him longer. Matt Osborne seemed to play him like a more sadistic Cesar Romero, giggling and laughing one minute, then snarling and making his voice deep the next.
ReplyDeleteHis beatdown of Crush during their feud was actually pretty violent for the time period as he kept smashing his head over and over again even after Crush was unconscious to the point where he'd probably have killed him if it had been real. Even heel announcer Jerry Lawler seemed taken aback and when you start making other heels nervous, you know you're onto something. Pity it didn't last.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAqDNsTpq5c
Also, why is it possible? Did Vince not trademark the name and costume?
ReplyDeleteWow, Stan Lane goes on to be in the Midnight Express, and Steve Keirn gets to be a backup Doink. Was that just fabulous luck on Lane's part, or did Keirn doink himself somehow?
ReplyDeleteKeirn also got to be Skinner, so he didn't do too badly for himself.
ReplyDeleteStan Lane only had a cup of coffee with the WWF as an announcer.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7k41k_wwf-superstars-intro-stan-lane-s-ww_sport#.Uc5gEvlA1Cg
Actually, that sounds like it could be amazing in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of way.
ReplyDeleteThat's...
ReplyDeleteWow. I'd have to go, just once.
Are you sure?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA0dF-M2YQs
I read through some old Observers and Osborne was suspended right after the face turn (TV tapings right after Summerslam) and that's when they started using Steve Lombardi in the costume.
ReplyDeleteNever quite understood why Lane didn't end up doing more. Handsome guy, athletic, well-spoken...Vince's wet dream for an announcer.
ReplyDeleteI love Vince on commentary. "He took his own are out of the socket." Really? So awesome.
ReplyDeleteThere have been multiple "Funny Clown", "Evil Clown", "TV Clown", whatever type cheats. But honestly, a lot of guys use trademarked stuff on small time indies and autograph sessions. Vince is mainly concerned with taking his properties and using them on actual competition, he's not really begrudging these guys from making a living when they're working high school gyms for peanuts.
ReplyDeleteOK that makes more sense, him coming from MCW which is a niche fed that has monster type characters.
ReplyDeleteStill kinda shitty of them to do that.
Dinsmore was a perfect choice to take over.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing: I saw an indy show on TV and the guy had the Doink outfit but they called him "the funny clown". I guess you can't use the Doink name?
YOU FORGOT JERICHO, SCOTT. HE PLAYED DOINK FOR ONE NIGHT.
ReplyDeleteTHERE'S A HILARIOUS STORY ABOUT THAT TOO. SHAWN MICHAELS WAS SO FUCKED UP ON DRUGS ONE NIGHT THAT WHEN HE SAW JERICHO IN THE DOINK COSTUME HE TOLD HIM "OH, CHRIS. I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE DOING THIS TO YOU! FOR SHAME." LOLLLL
Really? Ask Bill Eadie...
ReplyDeleteBy the end of the Express, he just wanted out of the business. If I remember, he's now (or was) a commentator on speedboat races.
ReplyDeleteHe's still hittin the road with Darsow as Demolition (and a sadder sight you'll never see). There was some kind of circumstances around that one, most of the time they don't care.
ReplyDeleteThe Jericho/Regal feud was definitely in 2001, but then why was Shawn Michaels backstage? He was nowhere around the E in 2001...Did Jericho do Doink more than once?
ReplyDeleteNo, Jericho just did Doink once. Michaels was supposed to come in to add some heat to the HHH/Undertaker match at WrestleMania X-7. This was a deal which HHH was pushing for to bring Michaels back, and when he showed up he was still all messed up on pills (and if you look back at the time, it wasn't like they needed Michaels on what was already an epically loaded show) so Vince decided not to use him. This lead to some heat between HHH and Shawn about Shawn not being used.
ReplyDeleteI think some of this is covered in Michaels book. And I might have some of the details messed up (like it might have been that Michaels was at Raw and was ok, his segment got cut THEN he showed up to Smackdown messed up), but the bottom line is Jericho was Doink once, and on the night he was Michaels was there to be added to the Undertaker/HHH mix at Mania X-7 but he was sent home from that show because he was A MESS on pills and that was it for Michaels as a performer in the WWE until he could show Vince he wasn't a drug up mess.
I wanna say that Eadie came up with the gimmick and that was the reason he got to keep it.
ReplyDeleteDinsmore bring back Evil Doink would've been great.
ReplyDeleteWhen Matt Borne lived (and worked some local indies) in the Pittsburgh area in the early 2000's, I did some promos with him, in full Doink regalia, as "the evil clown". I've also been involved with shows with different guys who billed themselves as Doink, so it's usually a matter of how much confidence you have in flying under the radar with the gimmick. Matt knew to be more careful (plus, as far as I gathered, he was of the "you never know" mentality re: whether or not he'd ever work with the WWE again, so he didn't want to step on any toes.)
ReplyDeleteDemolition in 2013 are still awesome.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen them? Its really pathetic. Fat, bald/gray haired, with cheap and badly applied makeup. It's pathetic.
ReplyDeleteShockwave the Robot is from just up the road from me, he's been trying to get that over for years. He used to just be a run of the mill indie geek called Shockwave.
ReplyDeleteHe's a favorite of mine. His stuff from Japan with Mecha-Mummy is one of my guilty pleasures.
ReplyDelete