10 Incredible WWE Moments Nobody Ever Talks About
2. The Original Doink The Clown
Supernatural gimmicks do not work in pro wrestling, and while the Corporate Ministry did coincide with Raw's best ever run of ratings, they worked with the guy - Steve Austin - who made the money.
Bray Wyatt's various runs have all ended in disaster, the latest of which saw his apparent psychological tormentor, Uncle Howdy, play Jack Evans at the 2023 Royal Rumble. It was unintentionally hilarious, the whole thing, and not remotely scary.
It's very difficult if not impossible to scare a live wrestling crowd, but they can be unsettled. Kota Ibushi's no-selling dark side changes the mood in an arena, as does the violent awesomeness of a pissed off Brock Lesnar, but really, the only time a wrestler truly creeped out an audience was when the original Doink, Matt Borne, worked his heel run.
He was phenomenal at playing a miserable, unnerving sack of garbage - quite possibly because, if dark industry whispers are to be believed, he was. Taking a sick joy in tormenting others, he drew from Tim Curry's performance as IT and scorched every layer of ham; what was left was a grim, sociopathic husk. His interaction with the camera was key to the portrayal; he'd catch it with a deeply unpleasant, shudder-inducing leer.
His ability to conjure pure dread drove his unique matches, the best of which - a 1993 Two out of Three Falls Raw classic with Marty Jannetty - played out like a psychological puzzle.