10 Ridiculous Wrestling Gimmicks That Shouldn't Have Worked (But Did)

Doink’s gimmick was exactly as advertised: a wrestling clown. First appearing in 1992, Doink would appear at ringside to play mean-spirited tricks on fans and wrestlers like, before making his in-ring debut in early 1993. Initially debuting as a surprisingly adept technical wrestler, Doink was a mischievous villain whose antics came with the goal of distracting his opponents, lowering their guard, and increasing his own chances of victory.

Throughout his early run, Doink dumped water all over Marty Jannetty, attacked Crush with a prosthetic arm, and laid-out The Big Boss Man with tripwire. His WrestleMania IX match with Crush saw Doink pull a bait and switch when an identical clown appeared from beneath the ring to help secure the win, and wrestling’s most famous clown even feuded with Bret Hart and Randy Savage for brief spells of time.

The idea of a pro-wrestling clown will never not sound stupid, but Doink’s heelish antics were surprisingly successful. Much of this owed to the original performer, Matt Osborne, who somehow made a convincing and dangerous villain out of one of the daftest ideas in wrestling history. The gimmick lost its juice when Doink was turned face and forced into an ineffective jester-like role, but as stupid as Doink seemed, he was very successful as a heel.