10 Unexpected Origins Of Wrestling Characters

10. Doink The Clown: A Literal Cartoon Character

Doink the Clown is remembered - rightly and wrongly - as a cartoon character.

Throughout a genuinely unnerving heel run, Doink, portrayed by Matt Borne, burrowed into the psyche of fans with his expert grasp of the camera. He leered into it at ringside and, to deeply unsettling effect, located the hard camera in moments when he wasn't supposed to be looking into it. It was haunting, as was Borne's overall portrayal; he possessed an unseemly, misanthropic quality, revelling in taunting and making miserable his opponents. The malevolent sad sack vibe could not be carried off by anybody else, and after Borne lost his job following a misjudged face turn, Ray Apollo chewed scenery as an all too literal clown.

What's ironic is that, while a bold and superbly executed character, it was in fact rooted in a cartoon: Krusty the Clown from the Simpsons.

The legend goes that Road Warrior Hawk surveyed Borne backstage, sprawled out and generally being very bleak, and compared him to Krusty - which, coincidentally, tied in with Vince McMahon's desire to promote an evil clown character.