Yeah, count me among those who found Wink's version "slow," first when I watched it as a kid, and moreso after I saw Trebek's a couple decades later.
In addition to the mini-games and general pacing of the show, I wonder if the feeling of "drag" comes from three new prizes - oftentimes prize packages - getting introduced for every single game. I just picked out a random episode on YouTube, and from when Wink tosses over to the board to start the prize intros, to when they start popping up numbers, it was two solid minutes of prize reads. And one of the columns in this particular example was just cash.
Oh, and Chyrons. Looked cheap then, look worse now.