There are a great many reasons why WCW has struggled in recent years to compete against the WWF. Backstage manipulations, disorganization, and an unwillingness to push new talent always seem to be listed, but I would argue that WCW fails in several other aspects to differentiate its product from what the WWF has to offer.
In fact, they often so blatantly copy the WWF that there is no wonder why many fans consider WCW to be an also ran.
Take, for example, this entry into WrestleCrap, Asya. Can you imagine the backstage brainstorming session for this character?
“Well, the WWF has Chyna, and she’s really popular…we need someone even BIGGER.”
“Did you see that nurse we got for that awesome Ric Flair-insane asylum angle?”
“Yeah, she was great!”
“Well, get this – she’s The Demon‘s girlfriend! Given that he is such a great worker, it would stand to reason that she would be too!”
“Super! Now we just need a good name for her. Let’s see…Hong Kong?”
“Nah, that’s smaller than Chyna. How about Asia?”
“YES! I LOVE IT! That’s great, you see, because she’s BIGGER than Chyna! And let’s spell her name with a ‘Y’, just to drive the point home!”
“SUPER!”
And so we got Asya, a musclebound female who dressed a lot like Chyna, and acted a lot like Chyna. Instead of carving out a new identity and doing something unique with this young woman (who did seem to have at least some talent), WCW simply grabbed Vinny Mac’s big book o’ gimmicks and xeroxed a few pages.
The result, of course, was academic. The crowd never got into Asya, because she was seen as nothing more than a poor man’s Chyna.
And that’s something that NO ONE wants to see.