10 WWE Gimmicks Saved By The People Playing Them

3. Doink The Clown

A wrestling clown was the perfect character for those to point to when castigating Vince McMahon's WWF for turning their beloved pro wrestling industry into a travelling circus. The character would eventually become a lower-card joke, but it was something more when Matt Bourne wore the grease paint. As Doink The Clown, Bourne was outstanding.

Mixing people's own in-built phobias for clowns and Jack Nicholson's unhinged character in The Shining, Doink's original malevolence made the gimmick a revelation. Few could contort their face like Bourne did as the clown; his expressions were frankly as stunning as they were hair-raising.

When Matt's personal demons reared their ugly head and forced him from the promotion, others like Ray Apollo, Steve Lombardi and Steve Keirn performed as Doink. Exactly none of those men could capture the nightmarish prankster like Bourne had, thus proving that it was his brilliance that made Doink work.