BREAKING NEWS: Doink The Clown Dead

May 2024 ยท 3 minute read
I'm not saying there aren't reasons why certain people are in the WWE HOF and certain people are out. I'm not saying that Doink the Clown "blew the world away." I'm not even saying that I'd cast a ballot for him to get into a legitimate hall of fame. My exact words were "I'd have no qualms with him going in." And I wouldn't; nor do I see why anyone would.

The WWE Hall of Fame is worked. There is no criteria for induction. If there is no criteria for induction, then there's no reason a memorable and entertaining performer is somehow unworthy. He probably won't go in; I don't particularly care if he does or doesn't. I don't care if Randy Savage or Lou Thesz go in. The whole thing is a sham. I'm glad it makes the guys who go in feel good. It should; but let's not pretend that that makes it any more legitimate.


The truth is... many fans seem to take the WWE HOF a lot more seriously than the WWE does. Some fans view it like they would Cooperstown, and how their should be strict criteria for admission and the members should be exceptional, and that anyone who doesn't fit that criteria doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as the HOF.

In reality though, the WWE HOF is more of a lifetime achievement award from the WWE. It's to honor those that stood out for them, that left their mark, and that they liked.

In that context, I too don't see why anyone should have a problem with Borne's Doink being inducted. Look at what the guy did. He took a lame gimmick of a clown, and got it over so well that it's still remembered very well 20 years later. He got it over so well, that another guy (Ray Apollo), has been able to make a career of playing that character ever since Borne gave it up (you can still see Doink on the indy's today). Others like Steve Lombardi and Steve Keirn (and several others), have been able to make money off of what Borne built on the indy's and even the WWE. That in itself is pretty remarkable, and it's not something that just anyone could have done. One just has to look at all the other lame gimmicks McMahon was churning out at the same time he debuted Doink to see that.

Matt Borne was one hell of a talent, who unfortunately had his demons. In Georgia in the early 80's, he had an exceptional team with Arn Anderson that really could have gone places... but he had to leave the territory over some trouble with the law. Some actually feel that the Road Warriors never would have received that initial mega push that they got if Borne had been able to stick around and continue working with Arn.

He had the exceptional ability (much like Mark Calloway), of being able to fully commit himself to his character... which is how he got Doink over. It was exceptional too, because not everyone can immerse themselves like he could.

He was technically gifted beyond most of his peers. This also helped legitimize Doink, because when he first debuted, it added another layer of menace to the sinister clown when people saw that this guy could actually not only wrestle, but he could do it better than everyone else.

As far as I'm concerned... he absolutely deserves a spot in the HOF. Whether he gets it or not is an entirely different matter. Plus there's always the question of would they even honor just Borne's portrayal of the character, or the character himself? Because even on wwe.com, a lot of their tributes to Doink aren't actually of Matt Borne.

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