The Doink/Crush angle garnered some negative coverage in the New York Daily News. TV writer Bob Raissman wrote: "On the flip side of credibility, you have the kind of sleaze only the World Wrestling Federation is capable of generating. The toilet bowl Vince "Sir Swill" McMahon operates has no bottom. On Saturday's show, seen on Ch. 5, character Doink the Clown attacked wrestler Crush from behind with phony plaster cast. With paramedics placing a spine board under Crush's back, McMahon gushed about the possibility of Crush injuring his neck and vertebra. Considering the seriousness of recent injury suffered by Dennis Byrd, the script McMahon was working from could have been written only by an insensitive lowlife concerned only with exploiting the misery of others - and all in place to entertain your children."