10 Times WWE Destroyed Something Brilliant
4. Doink The Clown
The genius of the Doink The Clown character, as originally performed by Matt Bourne, is that he wasn't really a clown but a deranged psychopath who adopted the guise of a clown to unsettle his opponents and lull them into a false sense of security. Bourne was a terrific character wrestler and an equally sublime technician. His sudden shifts in mood - from cackling loon to dead-eyed psychopath - were performed with the psychology of a master.
Doink, on the surface, was the nadir of the cartoonish New Generation era - but that surface was pure misdirection, intentionally obscuring the dangerous monster within.
And then the WWF had him turn babyface by pouring water on Bobby Hennan's head, after which he instead played pranks for fun, because what the hell was he even doing in a wrestling company now? Nothing about the face turn made sense. His potential as a heel hadn't even been scratched - fans of a certain age mourn a what-could-have-been programme with the Undertaker to this day - and the essence of the character vanished when it was played for laughs.
Doink, as subsequently played by Ray Liachelli (Bourne was fired as a result of his drug problems) became an actual clown in senses both literal and pejorative. He was an embarrassment to wrestling fans.