10 Wrestlers Who Had Their Careers Stolen From Them

Perhaps one of the 1990s most interesting midcard characters, Doink the Clown is memorable for being a great example of gimmick that has been played by several different people. When Matt Osborne signed up to put on the make-up and bright green wig he probably didn’t anticipate that fact.

Doink proved to be decently popular, being something totally different compared to most of the roster by pranking both wrestlers and fans alike. Whilst the idea of an evil clown seems a little ridiculous now, Doink found himself a part of King of the Ring and even a SummerSlam appearance against the ‘Excellence of Execution’ Bret Hart.

After Osborne was fired from WWE for recreational drug use, WWF saw no reason to let the character simply vanish. Anyone could play Doink under all the clown makeup! And several men did, including, most notably, Ray Apollo.

Looking for work elsewhere, Osborne continued to use the clown persona in ECW but the outsider audience of the company didn’t appreciate ECW bringing in WWF characters when they enjoyed the programming for specifically being an alternative. On the indies, Osborne found minimal success as a nostalgia act whilst Ray Apollo meanwhile played Doink in high profile WWE matches such as the Survivor Series ‘94 Clowns R’ Us vs Kings Court multi-man match.

Despite being the original Doink, the character continued without Osborne, who faded into relative obscurity.