Doink attacks Hogan in new interview

[rge2010]

More weight on the Hogan is a cunt bandwagon. Borne is correct...Perfect, Savage, Hart - the real men of the industry. Sounds like snobbery from me why Hogan wouldnt work with Doink.

_______________________________


Matt Borne, who portrayed the original Doink the Clown, appeared on Inside The Ropes on Thursday to discuss his time as the character. Highlights from the interview are as follows:

How he was offered the Doink gimmick when he came back to the WWF in 1992: "I worked as Matt Borne on TV. I did whatever they asked me to do. On the third night, Vince called me into his office and he asked me about my history in the wrestling business and from that conversation, he came up with the evil clown thing. It took me a back at first. He thought I could do it given my background but only if I wanted to do it. He told me to go home and think about it and I called him the next week and he flew me back and they had drawings and all kinds of shit and they painted my face different ways. Two weeks later, I was on TV in the nosebleeds section being a clown."

How much of Stephen King’s ‘It’ and Jack Nicholson’s Joker influenced early Doink: "I’ve actually been told that I have a lot of mannerisms like Jack Nicholson so yeah I watched a lot of Jack and I watched ‘It’ and watched pretty much any evil clown stuff I could get my hands on and you know I ate, slept and drank evil clowns."

Who was his original opponent for WrestleMania 9: "I was supposed to wrestle Hogan at WrestleMania IX and Hogan refused. I don’t know why, but I think it had something to do with a bad relationship between Hulk and my old partner Buzz Sawyer. Buzz and I, people thought we were brothers, we looked similar. Hogan, I don’t know if he was afraid to work with me, so the second choice was Davey Boy Smith and he refused to work with him too. I don’t know why because I always got along with him real well but a lot of people were wary of the clown character, so it ended up being me and Crush at WrestleMania IX."

Matt’s theory on how Hulk Hogan got his black eye at WrestleMania IX: "Randy Savage gave it to him. I’d bet my left nut and my son’s life on it. Hogan showed his true colours, thats why he got the black eye. Randy Savage was a man. Hulk Hogan has never been a man. Hulk Hogan’s a big ass pussy. I don’t care if you call and tell him I said that. His ex Elizabeth was seeing this small time producer, who happened to be a friend of Hogan. Elizabeth was hiding in the back room when Savage went to see Hogan and he found out about it. Friends don’t do friend like that. Who can you say is Hulk Hogan’s friend? The only people that can say their Hulk Hogan’s friends are the people who are riding his coat tails and trying to make a living off of him like Brian Knobbs or some fat fuck like that. Hogan was supposed to be Savage’s friend and he threw him under a bus and he got a black eye for it."

Why he doesn't like Hulk Hogan: "He was an arrogant fuck. I still think he is. I look at him and laugh because I know him for who he truly is. I don’t like him. I really find it hard to even like him as a person. He’s a phony inside and out. He showed that when he did that to Randy. When he said that him and Randy had made up, after Randy had died, well that’s bullshit. Randy hated Hogan."

Differences between workers from the 80s/90s to today: "I could take Curt Hennig, Randy Savage and Bret Hart, those three guys, they could come to the building, haven’t seen me for three weeks and we’d just meet in the ring and we would tear it up. We wouldn’t have to say a word to each other. We didn’t have to talk to each other. That’s the way great workers do it. You don’t have to choreograph shit. These guys today they’re great athletes, but they’re not great workers. there’s a difference. Working is not going out there and doing a gymnastics thing. working is making the 200 or 20,000 people believe, it’s feeding people and making them like what they’re eating."

 

[harrythem]

One simple thing that's clearly a lie in this? Working with the Bulldog at Mania 9. Considering he was fired from WWF before November 92, I'd say there was no chance of him working with Doink at Mania 9 which, as someone who was "friends" with Davey Boy, Bourne should know.

Having heard most of his interviews I'd call bullshit on anything that comes out of his mouth, much like his hatred of swearing (before going on a 5 minute fuck and cunt rant)

 

[justtxyank]

So Doink the Clown says that instead of making his grand return to Wrestlemania at WM9 to team with his best friend on screen and on off Brutus Beefcake against the evil (and super over) Money Inc. and then go on that night to win the World Title from Yokozuna, what Vince REALLY wanted was Hogan to wrestle an evil clown. And Hogan refused because he mistakenly thought Matt Borne was Buzz Sawyer's brother.

Seems legit.

 

[rge2010]

One simple thing that's clearly a lie in this? Working with the Bulldog at Mania 9. Considering he was fired from WWF before November 92, I'd say there was no chance of him working with Doink at Mania 9 which, as someone who was "friends" with Davey Boy, Bourne should know.

Having heard most of his interviews I'd call bullshit on anything that comes out of his mouth, much like his hatred of swearing (before going on a 5 minute fuck and cunt rant)

Back in them days, Wrestlemania was one of only 4 PPV's so planning happened MONTHS before. Maybe Doink and Bulldog were primed to work at WM9 back when Bulldog was employed?

Wrestlemania isn't planned within a few weeks.

 

[Waylon Mercy]

I'd take anything a disgruntled wrestler who had to dress like a sadistic clown every night with a grain of salt, but the stuff he said about Randy Savage and Hogan makes sense to me. A lot of rumors went around over the years that Hogan and Savage had a falling out over Hogan's supposed affair with Elizabeth. I never believed that - he was far too enamored with himself, and with Brother Bruti to want anything from a pretty lady like her.

 

[Phil]

Very funny, it's a clowns job to make people laugh and Borne has done just that. I can't believe that Doink the clown wrestling Hogan at Mania 9 was ever even considered. Could be possible that someone said it once in a meeting and it was either ignored or shot down quickly but I'm not buying into that. Davey boy was fired in November 92, 4/5 months prior to Mania 9, Doink didn't even make his WWF debut untill late 92 also... Yes Matt ofcoarse that was the plan. No argument about Hogan being arrogant lol, I would love to know who really gave him that shiner. Anyone else on here confirm it was Randy Savage who socked him?

 

[justtxyank]

Very funny, it's a clowns job to make people laugh and Borne has done just that. I can't believe that Doink the clown wrestling Hogan at Mania 9 was ever even considered. Could be possible that someone said it once in a meeting and it was either ignored or shot down quickly but I'm not buying into that. Davey boy was fired in November 92, 4/5 months prior to Mania 9, Doink didn't even make his WWF debut untill late 92 also... Yes Matt ofcoarse that was the plan. No argument about Hogan being arrogant lol, I would love to know who really gave him that shiner. Anyone else on here confirm it was Randy Savage who socked him?

To my knowledge, nobody who would actually know has said it was Savage. The only people who say that acknowledge with their comments that it is them speculating.

The Jet ski story seems legit. I don't even think Linda "let me get attention now by bashing Hulk and calling him a gay wife beater" Hogan claims it was Randy Savage.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

On one hand, I find it fucking hard to believe that Vince wanted to book Hogan vs. Doink at WrestleMania. But on the other hand, it's Vince, and he's booked some questionable stuff in the past.

Even if that was indeed "the plan", it doesn't take a genius to see why Hogan would turn it down.

 

[vampirek]

So Doink the Clown says that instead of making his grand return to Wrestlemania at WM9 to team with his best friend on screen and on off Brutus Beefcake against the evil (and super over) Money Inc. and then go on that night to win the World Title from Yokozuna, what Vince REALLY wanted was Hogan to wrestle an evil clown. And Hogan refused because he mistakenly thought Matt Borne was Buzz Sawyer's brother.

Seems legit.

To be fair this was the WWF back in everything must have a gimmick days. Hulk did face up against some questionable gimmicks, that its hard to disprove what is being said unless Vince comes out himself and denies it.

However it is not surprising, wrestlers from the past having a problem with Hogan. After all he was the number one guy, the money maker he was bound to trend on other wrestler's toes at some point.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

I think some of you are confusing the later Doinks with the original Matt Bourne Doink.

When they first brought out the character, he was considered to be one of their top heels, and he was definitely over with the crowd.

As far as the timing goes... back then Wrestlemania was booked months in advance, and Hogan didn't come back until early 1993. By then Bourne's Doink was established as one of the bigger heels on the roster, and he was someone you could put in there for a one off with Hogan. Remember, this wasn't for the belt, the main event or anything. It would have just been another match at WM. The tag Hogan did that year was just a mid card match designed more for there to be a reason to have Hogan at the show for the later swerve with Yokozuna.

Also about the Davey Boy thing... Bret Hart confirmed this in his book. They wanted Davey to work with Doink, but Diana Hart got in Davey's ear and convinced him that wrestling a clown was beneath him. As it turned out, Davey was let go well before WM anyways, but even if he hadn't been, that's why they didn't work together.

The truth is, that too many people couldn't see past the clown costume and see what a great, original character Bourne's Doink was.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Bret makes reference to this in book, that Davey was being primed to work with Doink - But that Diana was negative to it and told DBS he was being "relegated to working with a clown". Whereas Bret tried to make him see the possibilities as Doink was a great heel. But it was still an option to have Bret v Davey at Mania in a Ladder match.

I think Davey was pretty pissed at the short IC reign and would have quit for WCW even if he hadn't been canned. Cos he knew he could plug in to working with Vader.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

Man crazy ass Buzz Sawyer. Another crazy bastard who died too young. People were scared shitless of him so I can't blame Hogan for that.

As far as the black eye at WM IX goes, I know for sure it wasn't a jet ski accident but I am not sure how he got it. Wouldn't surprise me if it was Savage. Too much bad blood between them.

Can't disagree with anything he said about Hogan.

I think some of you are confusing the later Doinks with the original Matt Bourne Doink.

When they first brought out the character, he was considered to be one of their top heels, and he was definitely over with the crowd.

As far as the timing goes... back then Wrestlemania was booked months in advance, and Hogan didn't come back until early 1993. By then Bourne's Doink was established as one of the bigger heels on the roster, and he was someone you could put in there for a one off with Hogan. Remember, this wasn't for the belt, the main event or anything. It would have just been another match at WM. The tag Hogan did that year was just a mid card match designed more for there to be a reason to have Hogan at the show for the later swerve with Yokozuna.

Also about the Davey Boy thing... Bret Hart confirmed this in his book. They wanted Davey to work with Doink, but Diana Hart got in Davey's ear and convinced him that wrestling a clown was beneath him. As it turned out, Davey was let go well before WM anyways, but even if he hadn't been, that's why they didn't work together.

The truth is, that too many people couldn't see past the clown costume and see what a great, original character Bourne's Doink was.

I couldn't agree more. The original Doink was gold. Great character and Bourne was a damn good wrestler. It's a shame the character never reached the heights that it should have.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Man crazy ass Buzz Sawyer. Another crazy bastard who died too young. People were scared shitless of him so I can't blame Hogan for that.

As far as the black eye at WM IX goes, I know for sure it wasn't a jet ski accident but I am not sure how he got it. Wouldn't surprise me if it was Savage. Too much bad blood between them.

Can't disagree with anything he said about Hogan.

Yeah, the only thing with Bourne's Sawyer comment that has me confused is that, outside of briefly in the late 70's/early 80's when they were both working in Georgia at the same time, I cannot remember a single time that Hogan and Sawyer would have even crossed paths.

Then again, Sawyer was nuts like you said, and had a reputation that preceded him. There's been enough stories out there where Hogan was scared of the legit tough guys in the business, that it's believable though. Or at least that's what his excuse was. Could have been he didn't want to work with the clown either, and just didn't want to shit on a creation McMahon was excited about. After all, he was being given his 5th WWF title reign at the time.

I don't see why anyone has a hard time believing Savage gave him the black eye either. Just look at the history between the two. Also look at how Savage was when it came to Elizabeth. If she was dating a friend of Hogan's, then Savage would have likely believed that Hulk set the two of them up, and that just goes against the guy code.

 

[Wald]

If there is any truth in this I would say that it is something along the lines of the idea of Doink facing a returning Hogan being tossed out and shot down a few months before the event, just like a million ideas are shot down in a million companies every year.

It would make sense for someone to suggest the uber-Babyface Hulk Hogan to come back and defeat the evil Doink for all the kids out there, but it was probably just put out there as a 'what if', rather than a 'let's go with'

 

[justtxyank]

I don't see why anyone has a hard time believing Savage gave him the black eye either. Just look at the history between the two. Also look at how Savage was when it came to Elizabeth. If she was dating a friend of Hogan's, then Savage would have likely believed that Hulk set the two of them up, and that just goes against the guy code.

I don't have a problem believe it COULD have happened. The problem is that everyone who would be in a position to know that has commented on it in the past has said that's not what happened. I think (and I could be wrong on this) that Brian Adams laughed it off in a shoot (he was a friend of Savage) and said it didn't happen.

I know Hogan denies it was Savage and did so while Savage was alive and Savage never called him a liar, even when they had their problems at various points. There were times when Savage hated Hogan and refused to do charity stuff with him, but even then he didn't say it was he who gave Hogan the black eye.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I guess my problem with this is really Hogan vs Hart - wasnt part of the appeal in bringing Hogan back, albeit for a brief run, to A) Boast interest in the product at a time business was very down and B) Do a definative, big PPV type one on one match with Hart, establishing him as the new No. 1 guy. If that was true (and there have been numerous reports over the years and plenty of comments from both men to this point) then how on earth would booking Hogan against a comical clown character have been even considered ??

When guys do these interviews you have to look at their history and remember, just because one person saw things one way doesnt mean that it was necessarily the truth. It is true that you dont hear a lot of people going out of their way to praise Hogan, although plenty of people who worked with him will attest to his star power. No one ever accused Hulk of being a bad manager of his character either. I cant say why Borne has an issue with Hogan, maybe Hogan was a snob to him, who knows. I do know from watching wrestling back then that at no time was Doink ever looked at by fans as a reasonable main event level talent. I might have believed Scott Hall could win the title back then but Doink ?? Not in a million years. He was comedian, mid card filler, he was Disco Inferno, Honky Tonk Man, Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant, George "The Animal" Steele near the end, the wrestling industry has always had them, they add entertainment value to the product, humor, but they dont carry the show, they lack the gravitas. I think maybe Borne took himself too serioulsy, or maybe he was friends behind the scenes with someone who had legit heat with Hogan and it influenced his opinion . I cant say for sure.

Having read numerous exposes, reports, books, and interviews with other wrestling stars such as Flair, Hart, Austin, Jericho, Arn Anderson, Sting, RE: Hogan (Savage too) and taking into account the times they spent with Hogan and what went on storyline wise, etc during those periods, my take on Hogan is he was limited in the ring but had tremendous charisma, knew how to maximize his ring skills to the best effect, extremely good at self promotion (or self preservation), a guy who knew how to work with the biggest names in the industry and manage to protect and enhance his persona perhaps better than any other living star. He was a guy who did care about the quality of the product, even if he was sometimes more influenced in what was best for him over the show as a whole, a guy who did a lot of work (uncompensated) for charity, and who, like him or hate him, was integral onscreen in spearheading two of the biggest boom periods in the industry's history. Im sure there were times he rubbed some people the wrong way, which happens in business and sports. He may not from a promotional standpoint have the best mind on the business but he is perhaps the greatest wrestler of all time at protecting and enhancing his own brand. His impact onscreen and behind the scenes was immense over two decades in two different promotions.

Also, whatever heat did exist between him and Savage over Hogan and his wife's roles or knowledge over Elizabeth's infedility, etc at the end of that relationship, Savage did agree to work in WCW knowing he would be closely tied with Hogan in almost every way. Maybe he did it just for the money (although I seem to remember reading he was only paid around $500,000 per year, about half what Hogan got just for one PPV appearance), maybe he saw no future for himself in WWE (plenty of stories about why that happened, none confirmed) and at least in WCW he'd be almost guaranteed of sharing the main events with Hogan & Flair, maybe there wasnt as much vitrol between him & Hogan at the time as some (like Borne) indicate.

Bottom line, given where WWE and Hart were in 1993 leading into WM 9 it doesnt make much sense to bring Hogan back for a match with a mid card comedian when you had a way over villain in Yokozuna and the heir apparent to the Super Hero Good Guy role in Hart both waiting to work with him on the roster. That would be like Dustin Rhodes complaining that Hogan should have worked with him when he joined WCW instead of Flair. Business wise it's nonsensical, and that makes me skeptical of at least some of what Borne says.

 

[Wolf Pac]

I have a hard time believing that Savage was the one who gave him the black eye. I've heard there was a confrontation backstage between Hogan & Savage at Victory Road 2004, where Hogan offered Savage a handshake to wish him luck but he refused and had harsh words for him instead, then Hulk asked him if he wanted to step outside to settle matters but Savage declined. If Savage could give him a black eye at WM9 then why would he wuss out from a fight with Hogan years later?

 

[justtxyank]

Also, whatever heat did exist between him and Savage over Hogan and his wife's roles or knowledge over Elizabeth's infedility, etc at the end of that relationship, Savage did agree to work in WCW knowing he would be closely tied with Hogan in almost every way. Maybe he did it just for the money (although I seem to remember reading he was only paid around $500,000 per year, about half what Hogan got just for one PPV appearance), maybe he saw no future for himself in WWE (plenty of stories about why that happened, none confirmed) and at least in WCW he'd be almost guaranteed of sharing the main events with Hogan & Flair, maybe there wasnt as much vitrol between him & Hogan at the time as some (like Borne) indicate.

There is no dispute about why Savage went to WCW. Vince wanted Savage to all but retire and become a full time commentator. Savage didn't want to. He wanted to keep wrestling and get paid like a wrestler.

As for this vitriol that allegedly existed between Savage, Hogan and Liz, Hogan and Savage worked great together in WCW until about 99 and they worked great with Liz as well. The two men had a lot of problems together, but I don't think the rumors of Hogan and Liz were true or relevant after the late 1980s.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

More weight on the Hogan is a cunt bandwagon. Borne is correct...Perfect, Savage, Hart - the real men of the industry. Sounds like snobbery from me why Hogan wouldnt work with Doink.

I also take it you find someone like Matt Borne to be a humanitarian in a business where such a type is rare if even existent. As I've aquciesced to in the past, even a diehard fan of Hogan like I am will have to admit that the guy's power played with his star status and what not. But seriously, someone like Matt Borne a known drug addict and misfit shot himself in the foot and cost himself a good gig as Doink. And if you're on the Hogan hate train, you'll eat up anything a has been like Borne will say.

I put more weight into Borne screwing himself over instead of Hogan refusing to outright work with him. Plus, the WWF had bigger plans for Hogan by feeding him to Yokozuna at King Of The Ring that year. While there could have been some plans to have Borne work with Hogan, the plan for Hogan's on-air demise trumped anything else as it paved the way for a very dominant Yokozuna title reign that led to Bret Hart redeeming himself for his loss against Yoko.

Anyway, noting against Doink's on air persona, I say the same about guys like Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart and Randy Savage. I mean if we are going to put Hogan under a moral microscope let's analyze the "real men of the industry" you're touting the sainthood of:

1) Mr. Perfect - I loved the persona, the act, and admired his ability but he abused his body and his health and died at a young age. Is that really something to admire.

2) Randy Savage - Was supposedly ultra possessive of Elizabeth and they divorced, something obviously went wrong. Again, loved the character,but who knows what he was like outside the ring. And then of course there is the Stephanie McMahon rumor. Again, if we are playing the part of a moralist here OP, let's evaluate and not pick and choose when it's convenient to do so.

3) Bret Hart - He's up there in my top ten favorites, I'm sure my handle and avatar explain that. But in his book, he stated that he cheated on his wife multiple times. I would say that's not the way to honor one's matrimonial vows, but again I could care less but you want to filet Hogan's personal character but explain to me how you feel about Bret's supposed infidelity

Again, none of us here are really in the business. But I will call out anyone who wants to take the backstage rumor mill as gospel and cite it as a definitive and true account of things. But it's even funnier that you're citing aforementioned individuals as pillars when they have their own skeletons in their closet. The Wrestling business is or to me was a great distraction from reality and a haven for great entertainment, but it's far from being a sainthood.

Can the moralistic bullshit and give me a fucking break....

 

[TheHorndogSays]

To those wondering why bring Hogan back solely to work with Doink, it makes sense. Vince clearly had big plans for Doink but knew Doink could greatly benefit from a big time win on the grand stage. Yokozuna was already viewed as a massive threat and honestly needed the win over Hogan less than an up and comer like Doink. Yoko beats Bret at WM 9 and Doink beats Hogan similar to how Doink screwed Crush.

I assume the only way that got Hogan to agree to do WM9 was to guarantee him a WWE title run and they still could have had Hogan come out after the Bret/Yoko match and do the exact same ending. For those of you saying "why have him lose earlier in the night and win the WWE title later that night", it will still give a push to Doink and Hogan. Keep in mind they did that VERY thing the following year with Bret/Owen.

Also to everyone wondering about a Bret/Hogan match at WM9. It makes no sense to me. Hogan was still WAY over and Bret was still struggling to be that next MEGASTAR. A matchup between the 2 would have been hurtful to Bret's career because honestly, he would have likely gotten boo'd out of the building. Look no further than Cena/Rock for this proof and that was with Cena being WAY MORE OVER than Bret was during WM 9.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Hogan Doink would have tanked... Whether Hogan nixed it or anyone else, having Hogan working solo with a clown WOULD have damaged both guys and even before Mania 9, Hogan knew he was going to WCW before the following year.

Bulldog, no bad thing, he could have lost in the same way Crush did and come out stronger with a decent feud (after all the next PPV saw Crush in an IC title match with Shawn). It would have tied into the Bret/Lawler stuff and Davey/Bret v Lawler/Doink at Summerslam would have been far better than Bret doing 2 matches. Sadly Davey was already paranoid about his spot after "forgetting" he was supposed to drop the belt to Shawn shortly after winning it (again if you believe Bret) so it's easy to see why he'd think he was being marginalised.

Hogan v Doink could only have ended with a Hogan win... it would have killed the Doink character that did have a hell of a lot of potential... Brutus v Doink? Yes, that would have been the way to do it... have Brutus making his big return only to get blindsided by the Double Doinks the weeks before... so it turns into Hulkamaniacs v Doinks... Doink takes the pin on Brutus if need be...

but you have to remember Hogan knew he wanted to take the title from Yoko at the end of the night. that was in stone almost from the Rumble... and for the other match, why wrestle clowns when you can wrestle DiBiase (who you KNOW is gonna make you look good.)

The one match that could have worked much better was Savage v Doink... but for whatever reason Vince didn't want Savage wrestling on that card. Total waste of an opportunity... No-one could have made Doink work in a shock win better than Savage.

 

[GameOver]

he was supposed to work a match with Hogan at Mania 9? lol.... No Chance in Hell. It would seem from looking back Hogan wasn't even gonna be there, he was clearly leaving til they caved and gave him the belt back, hell it was questionable whether he was even gonna be there after WrestleMania 8 and i doubt Hogan would ever wanted to go against a clown in his last WrestleMania.

as for the shiner, i wouldn't be suprised if it was Savage and Hogan deserves it if he did.
the storyline was he got hit by a dumbbell during a gym session, let's just leave it at that, that sounds plausible considering how often Hogan was obviously in the gym (steroids or not)


The only thing correct that comes out of this rant is his evaluation of the current workers and the overall situation between Savage and Hogan, though Savage seemed fine with him in his WCW DVD interview saying he was all about himself and that's cool he drew money and that they were on and off again friends. Why would Savage go to WCW knowing full well Hogan was there as was Elizabeth if he hated him with a passion and Savage was a jealous man so it's possible he blew it way out of proportion (as much as i loved Savage, he was his own enemy too) and Savage was arguably more successfull in his short WCW tenure then he was in his WWF tenure, all this while Hogan was throwing his weight around

 

[Jmallett]

is doink the clown relevant seriously shoots are for irrelevant assholes who have no career out of it

 

[HBsam31]

I think the original Doink has been underestimated in this thread a bit. Vince was supposed to be high on him, and getting a match with Hogan would have been huge for Doink. I think the Yokozuna route was better, but it is an idea that shouldn't be dismissed as possible. As far as the Hogan black eye goes who knows what happened. I was a kid at the time so I just figured he was in a jet ski accident like they said. Haven't really thought about it since. All of this being said I hate when old stars come out and dry to air dirty laundry. It comes off as bitter and jealous even if they are telling the truth.

 

[MFR0mack]

I guess my problem with this is really Hogan vs Hart - wasnt part of the appeal in bringing Hogan back, albeit for a brief run, to A) Boast interest in the product at a time business was very down and B) Do a definative, big PPV type one on one match with Hart, establishing him as the new No. 1 guy. If that was true (and there have been numerous reports over the years and plenty of comments from both men to this point) then how on earth would booking Hogan against a comical clown character have been even considered ??

Hogan wasn't brought back for a run with Hart. Bret addresses in his book that the original WM9 plan was for him to go over Yoko and the switch to Hogan was made pretty last minute. It wasn't until after WM9 that Vince had the idea of passing the torch to Bret through Hogan, but Hogan felt it would be unbelievable that someone as small as Hart could beat him for the title. He refused to do the job, which set up his match with Yoko at KOTR '93 and his bow out of the company.

Strictly speaking, when Hogan returned in 1993 it was simply to do cross-promotional work. There was no initial plan for him to have a title run and his match at Wrestlemania 9 was supposed to be a one-off deal. Facing Doink then -- an evil clown, not a comedic one as you put it -- would fit right in with that.

I do know from watching wrestling back then that at no time was Doink ever looked at by fans as a reasonable main event level talent.

You're quite wrong. Matt Bourne, the first Doink, was over HUGE as a heel. He was not a comedian until other actors took on the role & they started adding in midgets years later.

Also, whatever heat did exist between him and Savage over Hogan and his wife's roles or knowledge over Elizabeth's infedility, etc at the end of that relationship, Savage did agree to work in WCW knowing he would be closely tied with Hogan in almost every way. Maybe he did it just for the money (although I seem to remember reading he was only paid around $500,000 per year, about half what Hogan got just for one PPV appearance), maybe he saw no future for himself in WWE (plenty of stories about why that happened, none confirmed) and at least in WCW he'd be almost guaranteed of sharing the main events with Hogan & Flair, maybe there wasnt as much vitrol between him & Hogan at the time as some (like Borne) indicate.

Macho Man HATED Hogan. Always. He said this himself many times before he died.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG50i1k_0Qc

Savage worked with Hulk because not only was he a consummate professional, but he always enjoyed showing that he was better than Hogan at what they did. Hogan tried to push Savage down, hold him back, steal his spotlight & legit fucked up his relationship with Elizabeth. Savage always felt bitterness to him & it makes perfect sense that he gave him the black eye.

and even before Mania 9, Hogan knew he was going to WCW before the following year.

Blatantly false. Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair and everyone in-between have addressed this. Hogan was trying to step out of the wrestling spotlight -- especially after embarrassing himself on Arsenio Hall by lying -- and move into acting. He came into contact with WCW by working on a show in Orlando where WCW were shooting their shows in 1994. At that point, Flair reached out a hand to Hogan and managed to negotiate a deal between Hogan and Bischoff, bringing him to WCW. It wasn't planned months in advance, let alone a year before.

Why would Savage go to WCW knowing full well Hogan was there as was Elizabeth if he hated him with a passion and Savage was a jealous man so it's possible he blew it way out of proportion (as much as i loved Savage, he was his own enemy too) and Savage was arguably more successfull in his short WCW tenure then he was in his WWF tenure, all this while Hogan was throwing his weight around

1. Elizabeth wasn't there when Savage signed. WCW brought her in to work with Savage almost two years after he signed.
2. Arguably more successful in WCW? Are you on drugs or something? He was a two-time WWF champion, an IC champion, King of the Ring winner and had more memorable matches with Andre The Giant, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair and numerous others than he had in WCW wrestling Dungeon of Doom, DDP or Sid for their devalued and often changed world title. His WWF run was infinitely more successful and noteworthy than his WCW stint.