[1993-06-21-WWF-Raw] Marty Jannetty vs Doink the Clown (2/3 falls)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Doink as Ric Flair is awesome -- doing a figure four and being press slammed off the top! This is a hell of a match. Lots of great matwork, and Jannetty does some awesome high flying stuff. I'd put this against anything from KOTR, including Bret/Perfect. The best thing about this is that Jannetty knows what's going on and is trying to stay a step ahead of him by telling the ref and it's not working. A smart babyface, imagine that! Randy Savage and Bobby Heenan end up getting involved, with Savage pulling the original Doink out from under the ring, leading to the ref reversing the decision and giving Marty the win.

[Strummer]

this is a fantastic match

 

underrated gem during the WWF down period

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

I remember how stoked I was for this Raw. Marty Jannetty, my favorite wrestler at the time, in a 2 out of 3 falls match, plus the Razor-Kid rematch. Then on the day of the show the freakin' power went out and I didn't get to see it. The Raw my 8-year-old self was most hyped about ever and I missed it. I wouldn't have minded missing the Michaels-Kamala Raw or the Yoko-Crush Raw that much, but this one hurt. My brother went to his friend's house and watched it there, so he told me the next day about the Steiners winning the titles and about the results of the two big matches. Then, that weekend, they replayed the Jannetty-Doink match on All-American but my dad was taking us to the beach so we had to leave just as they were about to start airing it.

 

Anyway, the point of this is that I didn't get to see the Jannetty-Doink match until some 15 years after it aired. And it ruled. Matt Borne sure was good in this role, which brings me to these questions:

 

1) Are there any good Big Josh matches?

2) Are there any good non-Borne Doink matches?

[Loss]

Not sure about #2, but to answer your first question, Big Josh vs Arn Anderson was excellent and will be on the '92 yearbook. Yet another 2/3 falls match, going about 40 minutes.

[FLIK]

Big Josh vs Arn Anderson for 40 mins, WTF?

That's certainly a match I would not have exspected to exist.

 

Which WCW show did that take place on?

[Loss]

Saturday Night, during the 2-3 month spell where every single main event was a 2/3 falls match.

[shoe]

The Arn vs. Big Josh is a great one. I remember Meltzer busting on it in the Observer back in 92. He couldn't believe That they would allow those 2 to go 40+. I remember really liking that WCWSN format. For the most part they stuck to good workers who could go. Though their were some doggers thrown in.

[FLIK]

Watched this tonight, nothing to really add that hasn't been mentioned, just as good as people are saying.

Forgot how awesome the comentary was back then and Doink/Heenan seems like it would have been one of the all time great pairings had they ran with it.

 

Does anyone have a good timeline for who played Doink and when?

His Wiki page has a rundown of the diff people who've used the character but doesn't go into great detail on when the switch happened.

 

Also thinking about it, i'm surprised no one's ever really stolen his flying whoopie cushion move, really cool looking dive that seems fairly easy and safe to do as far as dives go. Also surprised no one has stolen the stump puller either, wasn't used in this match but it's also another cool move he used to do.

 

Sigh, this made me sad I missed most of evil Doink's run since I temp stoped watching WWF in late 92/early 93 due to freakin Papa Shango giving me nightmares

[Kevin Ridge]

Criss cross! Bruno would have appreciated that one. Absolutely love this match! They do they whole referee reversal finish which I loath but I’m just so high on this match I end up not caring. Marty had such a strong run in 1993 through early 94 in WWF. It’s not any breakthrough comment but damn was Doink so awesome during this stretch. This is probably my favorite WWF match of the year so far. Doink is such a missed opportunity for WWF at this point. He could have been such a solid uppercard guy. Why this warranted two out of three falls I don’t know but I don’t care cause we got a great match. WWF Raw was delivering some excellent matches.

[PeteF3]

WWF MOTY? Looking at it again right after King of the Ring and I think it has a very strong case. This is incredibly multilayered for a WWF TV match--you have the early mind games played by both guys, the story of Jannetty's high flying vs. Doink's mat skills, Doink taking out Jannetty's knee and Marty's incredible sell of the leg injury, and they even throw multiple curveballs at us with regard to the double Doink: Borne goes under the ring but doesn't immediately switch off, and Keirn has thought to pre-smear his face paint. Not to mention Jannetty and the crowd getting in on a terrific audience-participation spot. Even with the involvement of two clowns the psychology here is some fucking All-Japan level shit, folks. Jae over at the DVDVR boards was doing a '93 WWF Year in Review and he had me convinced that Doink and Jannetty were up with Bret as the best workers in the company, and I think these matches are bearing that out.

[soup23]

What an awesome match with multi layers. Chain wrestling, body control, high flying, reversal of a decision, and some great commentary. This really mixes in NWA style wrestling with WWF storytelling and presentation in a way that few matches have done in their history especially around this time. Doink with all of his hijinks was awesome but he really worked over that leg and Marty was game to sell it. Fairly easily the best Raw match so far. ****

[garretta]

​First fall: ​Let me say right off the bat that this is already better than the Big Josh-Arn match from '92, and we haven't even gotten to the second fall yet. Of course, part of that is due to the blessed lack of Jason Hervey.

 

They're playing up the multiple Doinks right from the start, which is one more aspect of the character that started out so brilliant with Borne and turned into bad comedy once he left.

 

Jannetty actually holds his own with Borne scientifically, which isn't exactly a huge shock but is still unexpected because you still think of the high-flying Rockers when you think of him.

 

There's nothing earth-shattering about this workwise, but I enjoyed the fake-out crisscross spot immensely. Again, it's hard to think of Marty as a psychologically sound wrestler, particularly when he's in there against a character that's almost pure psychology, but he pulls it off well here.

 

It's obvious that Heenan's time in the WWF is running out. No one's even remotely interested in setting him up the way he needs to be set up, and most of his good lines are meant with some form of "Shut up, Heenan!" I thought Savage was improving in that regard, but he's not. Between that and proclaiming that everyone in the world loves Marty and wants to see him wipe out Borne in two straight, he's really grating on me so far. Vince perked up when he had something to hype (Waltman-Hall), but his match calling is still the pits. To be fair, Bobby's line about Roger Clinton hanging out underneath the ring wasn't needed, but the man's probably tired of sitting with two people who don't want to work with him anymore.

 

Borne hits the Whoopee Cushion splash to go up 1-0. What does it say about Vince the announcer when he won't even call moves by the stupid names he gives them himself?

 

​Second fall: ​The object of the hype machine in this fall is Yoko's slam challenge. Vince is so busy putting over Bill Fralic that he almost misses a close nearfall. Meanwhile, Heenan chimes in about a female jockey from Newark named Martina. He must really be bored stiff.

 

Borne was tremendous as usual, and I loved him doing the double axhandle off the top right in front of Savage, who predictably complains about it. Borne's version looked excellent, but Savage's was a real killer, especially during his first heel run. Just ask Ricky Steamboat.

 

As for Marty, he hits the loudest chorus of Sweet Chin Music I've seen yet, and Borne knows just how to bump for it. If Marty had stayed in the WWF, it would have been interesting to see which Rocker got "custody" of the move.

 

Marty wins with his rather pedestrian finisher, the flying fist, to tie the match at one fall apiece.

 

​Third fall​: ​Let's start with the finish. I like the idea of the double Doinks being discovered, which leads to Borne's (Keirn's?) disqualification. What I don't like is that Savage is the one who alerts Earl Hebner. Maybe if they were building to a Savage-Doink feud (which would have been great), I could buy it. But they weren't; they never even followed up on anything of the kind from what I can tell.

 

Even worse was Heenan coming to the rescue of the Doinks, which leads to a heated argument between him and Savage. None of the above was ever going to draw a red cent, especially anything with Heenan involved, so why not use Crush or Curt, who have had high-profile encounters with Doink in the last few months? Usually one guy in a WWF feud can't make a move without the other one trying to stop him, so why mess with that formula now?

 

Borne's work on Jannetty's legs is tremendous but a bit rushed. Marty still sells it like a champ, even crumpling in pain after hitting a backdrop. I'd have liked it better if Borne had at least tried to work the leg in the first two falls, but with the WWF you have to take what little solid wrestling you get and be happy with it.

 

Kudos to Vince for at least acting like he's interested in how a figure-four works, which gives Savage the opportunity to explain it a bit. Randy isn't half-bad when he's got something important to talk about or get over.

 

From the Make Up Your Mind Already Dept.: Heenan's favorite line about Doink is that he's like Jello: there's always room for more. Okay, Weasel, then why do you go along with Doink when he calls multiple Doinks an illusion?

 

I think these two could have had a pretty decent feud if Vince had chosen to go that way. That didn't happen, of course, but what we got here is probably the televised Match of the Year in the WWF so far, with only the Bret-Flair Boston handheld topping it overall.

[ohtani's jacket]

#399

 

Loss' list has reacquainted me with Marty Jannetty, that's for sure. Maybe I need to re-watch this but I didn't see it as anything more than a decent television match. The forced storyline of the Double Doinks and what Heenan saw was too much of a distraction for me. Heenan has been hilarious in a lot of the matches I've seen lately, but I don't think the McMahon/Savage/Heenan pairing worked and this was close to Bobby's subpar work in WCW. I was surprised to see the commentary praised here, and lit looks like I didn't pay enough attention to the multiple layers.

 

Trivia question: is this the only match on the list where one of the parts is played by two different workers?

[JKWebb]

It's cool to see Doink working 2 out of 3 falls here after watching all of the Portland 80s footage. Jannetty delivers a fantastic performance, and I just have to think all the experience Matt Borne had working 2/3 falls TV matches really helped in building/delivering a nice structure to the match. The guys work really hard here and deliver a really good to great performance - it's somewhere around ***3/4 to **** for me. Probably closer to ***3/4.

 

#399 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-400-351/

[Superstar Sleeze]

Marty Jannetty vs Doink The Clown - WWF RAW 6/21/93 2 Out Of 3 Falls

 

Jannetty's ring attire is fantastic. The bandanas, zebra print and the colors just fucking bitchin! First fall was pretty fun. It is all about Doink trying to lure Jannetty into traps and Jannetty being both too smart and too fast for Doink. Liked the fake criss cross spot. Jannetty even kept up with Doink's arm work loved the armdrag spot. But Jannetty does finally fall into Doink's trap and Jannetty charges into the turnbuckles. Doink hits the WHOOPIE CUSHION FOR THE WIN! Doink up 1-0!

 

Really enjoyed the second fall with my manufacturing co-workers from Waynesboro, VA. We all had a good time watching while making some badass product. Jannetty whiffing on that kick hard and Doink laughing at him was excellent. Loved Doink mocking Jannetty by crying. Jannetty was really good at selling. Goddamn Jannetty has a better superkick than Shawn at this point. Fist drop gets the win, liked how the ref was counting him down and Marty was all like fuck it. Gave it a bit of attitude. Fun second fall. Tied 1-1.

 

Loved the third fall. Doink looks overwhelmed but grabs a leg and yanks Marty over into the corner and slams it into the post. Immediately into the figure-4. Loved the desperation. Great selling by both on the reversing the pressure. Doink was great on leg and Marty was great at the hope spots but still selling the leg (back body drop, reverse elbow). We see the second Doink come out and the fans tell Marty to look. Marty actually tries to be proactive but cant find the second Doink and BOOM eats a big big boot to the noggin. I liked the psychology there. They do a tease switch, but once the real switch comes in, the second Doink is just too crisp. He hits a sweet piledriver for the win and the ultimate injustice. The Macho Man just wont stand for this and pulls the real Doink from under the ring and that triggers the DQ.

 

Fun, well-built and some good pro wrestling hoopla. Marty's offense and selling was great. Doink is a tremendous heel. Great match! ****