Let me explain something right away .. when I refer to the coolness of Doink, I am not talking about Ray Apollo Doink, Steve Kiern Doink or Brooklyn Brawler Doink. And I don't even mean Men on a Mission Doink or Bushwacker Luke Doink. I refer to the one and only Doink ... the man who made one of the most unlikely gimmicks into the most famous ... Matt Borne.

"Big Josh" suddenly vanished from WCW (after a loss to "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton on WCW Saturday Night) when a clown started appearing of WWF broadcasts. He'd hop around in the audience with a huge hammer, annoy wrestlers and impressed many as a gimmick that would probably be canceled before it actually began.

But Doink was more than just a fly-by-night gimmick like Abe Schwartz or Phantasmo. Soon, Doink started annoying the then-undefeated Crush--and a feud was born. After attempting to present Bryan Adams with a flower, Doink gets angry and attacks the second incarnation of Crush with a fake cast (Crush had grabbed Doink's arm in the week's prior leading to the cast).

This was Doink's true debut--his matches in the weeks to come would prove that he was more than a guy in a weak gimmick--he was a good wrestler turning a weak gimmick into a top one. Truly, had anyone else portrayed Doink, it would had failed almost instantly. Borne's maniacal take on the evil clown made it popular character back even when heels were still booed.

Borne's Doink was a crazed one. A clown that would fade in-and-out of happiness and maniacal tendencies. Borne's sporadic laugh, facial expressions, mannerisms and tongue-and-cheek humor created a character that was intriguing and (unlike many character at the time) very fun to watch. His interviews started calm then turning chaotic ... all the while, maintaining his clown integrity.

Borne's Doink was a dirty clown; kind of like Marvel Comic's Obnoxio The Clown or a humanistic variation on "The Killer Klowns from Outer Space." It is no surprise that Borne's influence was Cesar Romero from the old "Batman" TV series. Doink's dark outfit relayed this equally dark side; his gut made him look like a normal guy and not the typical "super-hero" that was being portrayed at the time; his crazy, spitting laugh made him seem more like a psychopath than a clown; and his smearing, sometimes dripping make-up furthered the evil, scummy clown mystique.

Doink's evil clown music is probably one of the WWF's very best. Starting out like a circus, then turning into a dark, depressing tune mixed with intermittent crazed laughing. It was so fitting.

And like most heels, Doink had a series of weapons, that ironically, were rarely used more than once. Most fittingly, these weapons were quite clown-ish. Even though we never saw the giant red hammer actually used, we did see a broken umbrella over Bob Backlund's head, wrapped boxes, pies, green goo (used to pin the Big Bossman during his last WWF appearance for several years) and the famous squirting flower.

Doink's character was made even more devious by the announcers themselves. Vince McMahon's snarling, "What kind of a guy likes to make kids cry?" and "That guy is evil!" told the story to fans back when what Vince said was viewed as "the babyface view."

Bobby Heenan, on the other hand, was pro Doink. Heenan put Doink over big-time. Actually, Heenan's ramblings about Borne were some of the best of the time, from "The Brain" pondering just who Doink was to complimenting his style. "That's not your average clown move," declares Heenan, as if the WWF was over-run by wrestling clowns or we had seen some typical clown-moves in the past. When Doink challenges Randy Savage on RAW, Heenan, in perfect deadpan, looks at Savage and states with all sincerity, "Savage, don't do it, you'll get hurt!" and when Doink cradles Backlund for a pin on WWF Challenge, Heenan declares that Doink has just pinned a former WWF champ ... truly, without good announcers like these, the character would had slightly suffered.

Borne's technical skills and over-all wrestling pushed Doink to another level. Yet again, the wrestler overcame the gimmick. Doink's series of matches with "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig in the King of the Ring qualifying tournament resulted in two time limit draws with Hennig pinning a fake Doink to advance in the third encounter. This series was undoubtedly some of the best matches on TV at the time and are probably unrecognized by many current fans. The stiff shots and technical aspect was amazing with Borne's facial expressions and dark humor simply adding positives.

Doink's match with Bret Hart at SummerSlam (replacing an "injured" Jerry Lawler who caused the DQ then subsequently wrestled Bret) can also be considered, along with the matches with Hennig, as the best in his WWF stint.

Borne's Doink was also undefeated (on TV) for almost his entire time in the WWF. He suffered only two loses, one to Marty Jannetty on RAW, during a 2/3 falls match that Doink eventually won but was over-turned due to a reverse decision and another pinfall loss to Savage also on RAW. In today's world of the dying "undefeated" wrestler, this is currently something rarely seen.

Doink turned face without real reason and very quickly. Lalwer fired Doink as his "Official Court Jester" and shortly thereafter, Borne doused Heenan with water on RAW. And he was a babyface! Borne appeared twice as "good-guy-Doink" with new, all-circus music and a new, truly babyface attitude. The feud with Bam Bam Bigelow started and Borne was gone...

And maybe, thankfully so. The character of Doink was truly spoiled once he was turned face ... and possibly not even Borne could had saved it. Loyal Borne fans could tell the difference between the obvious replacement and when Dink came aboard ... well, the legend of Doink was slowly being violated.

The new Doink was quite frankly, pathetic and hard to watch. Dink was unbearable. And while Dink eventually vanished, Doink stayed around jobbing to everyone. When, while wrestling Waylon Mercy (Danny Spivey) on RAW, fans began chanting, "Kill the clown! Kill the clown!"

Shortly thereafter, mercifully, the clown was killed.

After leaving the WWF, Borne was "Borne Again" in ECW for yet another brief stint. Borne wrestled in his clown suit which was now tattered and ragged--he wrestled with half his face painted like a clown, occasionally wearing his green wig. He still acted like Doink but with a harder-edge ... he faded in-and-out of his Doink persona with classic, unrecognized interviews and matches. However, even this wouldn't last long ... Borne would soon vanish from ECW and make fans wonder how long or how much better the Borne Again gimmick could had gotten.