Why do you think "Doink" worked where other cartoon gimmicks failed?

[Rollermacka]

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Great promo by Matt Borne. I liked the heel Doink, and I was wondering why do you think that Doink was able to get over with the fans, and other cartoonish gimmicks like Phantasio (wrestling magician) and Kizarny (wrestling Carny) weren't? I think what make Doink diffrent because it was always talented wrestlers like Matt, Steve Keirn, or Nick Dismore who played him. Why do you think that Doink connected and others didnt?

[Verbose Minch]

A lot of people hate clowns, and how he portrayed Doink just made it creepier.

[abec]

because doink was a heel.

also steven king it

[Waylander]

Doink worked?

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Probably because his gimmick wasn't stupid and the WWF pushed him as a serious wrestler. He wasn't just some novelty like the other guys you mentioned.

[FourFifty]

Doink worked?

YOUR MOM WORKED!!! OH SNAP!!!!

But seriously, Doink worked as a face because of the era he came in. It was a cartoon. Now I have fond memories of guys like The Big Bossman, Papa Shango, IRS, a blue blood Triple H, Duke "The Dumpster", Repo Man, and several other guys that had an over the top cartoon gimmick. However, a face Doink, or these other gimmicks, would be marginal at best in today's atphmosphere.
Hell Doink, on the other hand, played into people's hatered and fear of clowns. This man took an iconic symbol of joy and he made children cry with it. However, if a heel Doink came into day everyone would compare him to Heath Ledger as The Joker.
Albeit on a smaller scale than Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Steve Austin, it was the right time and the right place.

[Nicky Fives]

Matt Borne made Doink work, once he left as Doink, the character was slowly being fased out

[Emperor Smeat]

YOUR MOM WORKED!!! OH SNAP!!!!
Hell Doink, on the other hand, played into people's hatered and fear of clowns. This man took an iconic symbol of joy and he made children cry with it. However, if a heel Doink came into day everyone would compare him to Heath Ledger as The Joker.
Albeit on a smaller scale than Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Steve Austin, it was the right time and the right place.

I could see this working today as long as they play off the fact that while the Joker was a clown, he was also very insane and smart. Make the new clown character a mega heel and its possible to have someone be the opposite of Cena's "superman" style character.

[Afterlife]

Doink worked because it wasn't 2 dimensional. Kind of like...any character that works.

[Fabien Barthez]

Just a mixture of what others have already said covers my thoughts. Matt Bourne was brilliant in his acting. Promos and vignettes and all the stuff he did in the crowd during other matches.... All performed exactly like a psychotic evil clown would if you imagined it. And he transfered the acting into his matches, and was also a really good worker.

The man makes the character, rarely the character makes the man.

[Juan]

The Doink/Hennig matches are amazing.

[Blue Demon]

Just a mixture of what others have already said covers my thoughts. Matt Bourne was brilliant in his acting. Promos and vignettes and all the stuff he did in the crowd during other matches.... All performed exactly like a psychotic evil clown would if you imagined it. And he transfered the acting into his matches, and was also a really good worker.

The man makes the character, rarely the character makes the man.

[Seth82]

Matt Borne was amazing as he made it work and as a heel that was some of the best promos and vignettes I'd seen at the time

I think once Borne left the character was never the same and his run in ECW abeit very brief was alot of fun to watch as well

[Anybody Thrilla]

Echoing some points, but I love Doink, so I feel I have to say something here...

Why did Doink work? In a word: depth. Duke Droese was JUST a garbage man. TL Hopper was JUST a plumber. Bastion Booger was JUST...well, whatever the fuck he was. Doink wasn't just a clown, though. Doink was a seriously troubled individual. Doink was an accomplished ring veteran who was concealing his identity for some odd reason and playing head games with his opponents and the fans alike.

If you ever go back and watch a Doink match, listen to the way Bobby Heenan put him over on commentary. It was a truly intriguing character. He debuted in the crowd, seemingly as a happy-go-lucky clown who was just a big fan of the product. He would randomly show up in the crowd, and at first, he wasn't even mentioned on the broadcast. The more he showed up, the more noticeable he was, and the announcer's would at least give him a nod. Then, he started playing tricks on fans. He went from being happy-go-lucky to being kind of an asshole. His heat with the fans was starting before anyone even knew his NAME.

Eventually, Crush, beig the super face that he was, stopped Doink from picking on a little kid (I believe Doink had been bouncing a ball off the kid's forehead and cracking up about it). Crush admonished Doink and told him to stop being an asshole, for the most part.

The next week on Superstars, Doink showed up with his arm in a sling (from where Crush has twisted his arm the previous week) and seemed completely apologetic towards Crush and the fans alike. Doink begged for Crush's forgiveness, and super face Crush eventually accepted it by shaking his hand...but the second Crush turned around, Doink pulled a fake arm out of his cast and proceeded to beat the fuck out of Crush with it. The fans were stunned. Doink was apparently a lot more than just some random fan.

A beautiful debut. People were very interested in what this clown was all about. Couple that with the fact that there were apparently MULTIPLE Doinks just gave the character so many dimensions. Tack on to that Matt Borne's in-ring and promo abilities, and there's really no way that character DOESN'T get over.