In the year 1992, World Wrestling Entertainment introduced a new character who’d prove to become one of the company’s most enduring gimmicks: Doink the Clown. Starting off as a sinister heel clown akin to The Joker, soon enough Doink evolved into a babyface comedy character and, later, an easy go-to punchline to lampoon WWE’s old tendency for cartoonish gimmick wrestlers.
Unlike most WWE gimmicks, the Doink persona wasn’t limited to one performer. While attempts at perpetuating gimmicks like Diesel and Razor Ramon were rejected by fans, numerous wrestlers have donned the Doink mantle over the years, likely because it’s hard to tell just who’s under that wig and makeup.
Updated February 17, 2022 by Danny Djeljosevic: There have been 11 notable wrestlers to portray Doink the Clown since his inception in 1992, but not all Doinks are created equal. In general, there are three types of Doinks: WWE stars that portrayed the role for an extended period of time, guys who put on the iconic makeup as a one-off instance in WWE for storyline purposes, and guys who adopted the gimmick outside of WWE for some reason. The first of those three deserve more fleshing out than they originally got, so let’s take a second look at the major Doinks.
11 * Major Doink: Matt Borne (1993-2013)
The original Doink -- and, by most accounts, the best -- Matt Borne made a name for himself in the Pacific Northwest before moving on to promotions like Mid-South Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, and WCW. An offhanded comment by Road Warrior Animal comparing Borne to Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons would inspire the gimmick of Doink, a sinister clown hat played cruel tricks on his fellow wrestlers and terrorized the fans, but also showed off some solid in-ring skills when the bell rang.
10 Minor Doink: Steve Keirn (a.k.a. Skinner) (1993)
Steve Keirn is a highly decorated tag team specialist as The Fabulous Ones alongside Stan Lane in the NWA territories -- particularly in Florida -- but fans more likely remember him as Skinner, WWE’s resident alligator hunter. Occasionally, Keirn would portray Doink in WWE, most infamously as a duplicate Doink to help Borne’s original Doink defeat Crush at WrestleMania IX. Steve Keirn would leave WWE in 1993 but would on occasion assume the Doink character on the independent circuit.
9 Minor Doink: Dusty Wolfe (1996)
A journeyman wrestler hailing from San Antonio, Texas, Dusty Wolfe was a WWE jobber from 1987 to 1993, and otherwise wrestled for WCW, the NWA territories, and Puerto Rico’s World Wrestling Council. While he doesn’t appear to have used the Doink gimmick while working for WWE, he’s certainly used it after.
While he once lost to Matt Borne’s Doink in a 1993 Superstars squash match, Wolfe started using the gimmick in 1996, including as part of the short-lived World Class Championship Wrestling reboot World Class II: The Next Generation. Wolfe’s portrayal of Doink continued into the 2010s, including his last match in 2013.
8 Minor Doink: Mark Starr (1994)
Not a well-known name in wrestling, Mark Starr is best known for being a part of the WCW tag team Men At Work alongside Chris Kanyon in the 1990s. In 1994, Starr portrayed Doink for the Las Vegas-based National Wrestling Conference, losing to Greg Valentine. Afterward, Mark Starr would have a short stint as a jobber for WWE from late 1994 to early 1995 before returning to job for WCW -- that is until an injury forced his retirement in 1998
7 One-Time Doink: Jeff Jarrett (1994)
Double J spent a majority of 1994 feuding with the babyface version of Doink to the point where it seemed like he was cursed to wage war with the prankster clown for eternity. Of course, being the heel in the rivalry, Jeff Jarrett would turn things around and pose as Doink to play evil pranks, including in the above interview segment where he attacked Doink’s sidekick Dink with pies and silly string.
6 One-Time Doink: Chris Jericho (2001)
On the 3/26/2001 Raw, William Regal got into the ring with Crash Holly just six days before his WrestleMania X-7 Intercontinental Title match with Chris Jericho. It isn’t long into the match that Doink -- in his full-on costume from the ‘90s -- came out of nowhere for a run-in.
Once Doink put Regal in the Walls of Jericho, it was clear that it was Chris Jericho staging the attack even before he took off the green wig. When it came time for ‘Mania, Doink would actually appear in the Gimmick Battle Royal -- portrayed by Ray Apollo (see below) -- while Jericho would successfully defend the IC Title against Regal.
5 Minor Doink: Nick Dinsmore (a.k.a. Eugene) (2003)
Nick Dinsmore was a talented developmental wrestler down in OVW but would make it to the main roster only to be saddled with the character of Eugene, WWE’s most offensive gimmick, which would really put a ceiling on his career trajectory. Occasionally, however, Dinsmore would also portray Doink, a similar career killer. The first time was at the APA Invitational Bar Room Brawl at Vengeance 2003, and then days later on SmackDown when he was beaten by Chris Benoit in less than 90 seconds. Interestingly, Dismore would also team up with Doink on a few occasions: Steve Lombardi in WWE, and both Matt Borne and Dusty Wolfe on the indies.
4 * Major Doink: Ray Apollo (1994-1995)
By 1993, Doink proved popular enough that WWE turned the character babyface via pulling a prank on heel announcer Bobby Heenan, shortly after which Matt Borne would be fired. A relative unknown wrestler named Ray Apollo would be hired by WWE to take over the character. Now a comedic face, Doink gained a miniature sidekick in Dink and played pranks on the bad guys.
As Doink, Ray Apollo would have a major feud with Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon, setting up a match where Doink and Dink took on the heel duo at WrestleMania 10. The other big feud during this run was against Jerry Lawler, which led to a Survivor Series match Dink and Doink were joined by two additional small clowns, Pink and Wink, to fight Lawler’s team. Apollo’s Doink would soon become a jobber and left WWE in 1995, but he would reprise the Doink role for the WrestleMania X-7 Gimmick Battle Royal as well as on the indies until his last match in 2014.
3 One-Time Doinks: The Four Doinks (1993)
In 1993, Doink was feuding with Bam Bam Bigelow, leading to a Survivor Series elimination match that year. While Bigelow’s got Bastion Booger and The Headshrinkers backing him up, curiously Doink himself doesn’t even take part in the match.
In his place is The Four Doinks, who are just obviously established tag teams The Bushwackers and Men on a Mission in the Doink face paint. It all works out for Doink, as his team makes a clean sweep over all four members of Bam Bam’s team. The Doink/Bigelow feud would continue all the way to 1994’s WrestleMania X.
2 Minor Doink: Ace Darling (1994)
Like Dusty Wolfe before him, Ace Darling started his career as a WWE jobber and got squashed by the original Doink on a 1993 episode of Superstars. From there, he’d wrestle in the Northeastern US indies as well as making jobber appearances on WWE’s Shotgun Saturday Night and WCW Monday Nitro. Darling would actually don the makeup for some shows co-promoted by Smoky Mountain Wrestling and NWA New Jersey, notably facing ex-WWE talent like Jim Neidhart and Scotty Flamingo (later known as Raven).
1 * Major Doink: Steve Lombardi (1993-1996)
Working for WWE from 1983 to 2016, Steve Lombardi was best known as perennial jobber the Brooklyn Brawler, but he’s actually a man of many gimmicks, having portrayed Kamala’s manager Kim Chi as well as baseball-themed heel Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz. It should come as no surprise that he took the role of Doink at times, almost exclusively at house shows from 1994 to 1996.
Lombardi’s in-ring career slowed down by 1998, after which he took a backstage job with WWE as a road agent. That didn’t keep him reprising the role of Doink, however, which he did on occasion from 2005 to 2012, including a loss to Rob Conway, a tag match alongside Kane and Eugene, and an encounter with Heath Slater ahead of the 1,000th episode of Raw.
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