in memorium of matt osbourne, aka doink the clown

i'm not sure when i started rooting for bad guys in wrestling. but i clearly remember getting a kick out of doink the clown. doink the clown debuted in the wwf as a villainous bad guy. he would use stupid clown tricks like spraying someone in the eyes with water to cheat and win. sometimes they'd dress up another dude as a second doink the clown and he would come in and help the first doink win his match. but maybe the most memorable aspect of doink the clown as a heel was his entrance. they'd play this creepy music when he'd come out from the backstage area and children would cry. wwf would actually catch close ups of children crying on camera. pretty sweet stuff if you're rooting for villainy. children crying is like the bad guy equivalent of a standing ovation. the only thing that could possibly top that is a death threat.

it might've been cause i've always dug clowns. when i was a kid, i thought clowns were cool. they were the only grown ups who were allowed to act completely ridiculous at all times. as a child, that seemed awesome. and on top of that, a lot of people fear clowns. and i don't really understand the psychology behind it but i know it's a thing. so here was this thing that i seemed to dig that scared the living crap out of other people. it was like my heavy metal. it made me feel cool. in hindsight, probably wasn't as cool as i thought, but hey, i was a dweeb who needed something over other people. i wasn't gonna start playing sports or kissing girls anytime soon.

doink was originally portrayed by matt osborne. matt osborne died a few days ago. he left wwf on bad terms and to make matters worse, they would continue to dress other dudes up like doink and use the character. so it was like he was never gone. and who can blame wwf? i'm sure the story lines at the time were in high demand for a wrestling clown. the show MUST go on, even if it's a clown who squirts water in the faces of his opponent to cheat, right?

i watched monday night raw last night and i had hoped that wwf (now wwe) was going to do some kinda tribute for matt osbourne, but they didn't. he didn't even get a picture on the screen at the end of the show. and i find that sad (queue a picture of a kid crying to doink's entrance). doink represented a different side of wwf. among all these serious grapplers and tough guys were some silly characters that bordered on the line of cartoonish. and i think doink will always represent that silly side of wwf that is still fairly represented to this day. but as far as silly goes, nothing may ever be as silly as doink the clown, who at times would roll with several other doinks or even several mini-doinks.

thanks for the laughs/tears matt osbourne. cya at the crossroads.