Everything in wrestling is borrowed to some extent with the business lasting long enough for most ideas to be inspired from the past. All major wrestling promotions have been accused of having a couple of angles being a rip-off of something that happened before. Success stories like the New World Order invasion or The Authority faction in WWE proved that recycling could work in some occasions.
Unfortunately, not every instance of a storyline being reused has that level of achievement. Some have completely failed and came off like cheap imitations of the original work. The talents involved had a mixed bag of great performers that had bad luck to those that flopped most times. Each of the following attempts at recreating classic storylines failed in the bigger picture.
10 The Giant Trying To Take Down Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan made it clear that he wanted to rip off an iconic storyline when getting Big Show signed to a WCW deal. The Giant was the name given to him to play the son of Andre the Giant with the same angle of Hogan having to overcome a massive heel.
WCW completely ripped off the angle and even tried to pretend it was a big deal when Hogan hit the body slam for the first time. Unfortunately, they overbooked it too much with a slew of ridiculous and illogical moments that didn’t happen in the Andre feud.
9 Ric Flair Forming Fortune In TNA
Wrestling promotions have tried to replicate the Four Horsemen for decades since they became the first massively successful group. Evolution proved that it could work, but an act as blatant as Fortune would likely lead to disaster as it did.
The name itself was meant to be a pun with Ric Flair managing AJ Styles, Beer Money, Frankie Kazarian, Desmond Wolfe and others. Fortune having more than four members already made it odd, but the overall angle flopped due to the talents not connecting with Flair’s wilder character.
8 Tiger Ali Singh Paying Fans To Do Humiliating Acts
Ted DiBiase was arguably the most over heel in the Golden Era with a rich character using his power to diminish others. A running bit featured DiBiase offering money to audience members to do humiliating tasks to prove his power.
WWE tried to completely rip that off with Tiger Ali Singh offering the same thing to fans in the Attitude Era. This cheap rip off flopped badly and caused Singh’s career to end poorly. WWE never gave him another real chance with such a bad run associated to him.
7 Norman Smiley's Comedic Hardcore Adventures
WCW tried to copy too many WWE storylines in 2000 when things started to fall apart, and Vince Russo gained control. Crash Holly had an epic storyline in WWE as Hardcore Champion finding humorous ways to survive the 24/7 rules.
Norman Smiley had the same exact angle when WCW started their hardcore division and had him playing a beloved cowardly champion. This is not an indictment on Smiley, who did a great job entertaining, but the overall angle failed to make an impact. WCW’s hardcore division was viewed as a disaster that ended quickly.
6 Kane Developing A Split Personality
TNA was criticized for copying storylines from WWE, but it sometimes went the other way. Abyss showing the Joseph Park alter ego as a mild-manner personality in a suit had a lot of charm. Fans got to see the man behind the mask in a new way that entertained for months.
WWE clearly found inspiration from this when coming up with the split personality angle for Kane.
Corporate Kane was the persona he adopted with The Authority, but he pretended he was a different person when showing signs of the devil’s favorite demon in a rather weak storyline.
5 John Cena Taking Down Eric Bischoff
Every wrestling promotion to book a heel authority figure has tried to follow the Steve Austin vs Mr. McMahon feud in some manner. WWE tried to do it again when Eric Bischoff became the top enemy to John Cena as the Raw General Manager.
Bischoff had heels like Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and Carlito gaining an advantage when trying to get the WWE Championship from Cena. The feud played out with Cena predictably winning every noteworthy match and never causing the audience to invest like with Austin overcoming McMahon.
4 Asya Bullying Torrie Wilson
WCW showed how far they spiraled out of control when Asya debuted as a parody “bigger than Chyna.” WWE found huge success with Chyna as a singles star, but WCW tried to channel her introduction storyline when Asya arrived.
The Revolution faction feuded with the Filthy Animals when Torrie Wilson was their manager. Asya striking fear into Torrie due to her size mimicked the Chyna angle stalking Marlena. WCW didn’t find the same success as WWE with fans not caring about the storyline.
3 AJ Styles Walking Out As Champ To Upset Dixie Carter
WWE’s Summer of Punk became the hottest storyline of the early 2010s when he threatened to take the WWE Championship with him when his contract ended. Even though Punk signed a new deal, TNA was inspired to do the same angle when AJ Styles’ contract was running out.
Dixie Carter became the top heel that forced Styles’ hand of vowing to win the title and walk out. The funny thing is AJ’s contract really did end after he won the title and just made one more appearance dropping the belt to Magnus for a bizarre storyline payoff.
2 Ryback's Undefeated Streak
The debut of the Ryback character saw WWE trying to replicate what WCW did with Goldberg. There was already a similar look of the bald head and jacked physique. Ryback steamrolled over weaker opponents for months like Goldberg did in WCW.
Unfortunately, this led to Goldberg chants quite often to force WWE to confront the comparisons. Ryback getting a rushed title shot like Goldberg ended worse since he actually lost his match. CM Punk ending Ryback’s undefeated streak saw the bigger idea failing compared to Goldberg.
1 Jeff Hardy Turning Heel For TNA's Version Of NWO
Hulk Hogan turning heel to form the New World Order was the biggest move in WCW history to enhance the company. TNA tried to rip that off when Hogan himself came up with the angle to turn Jeff Hardy heel and form his own faction called Immortal.
Hardy, Hogan and Eric Bischoff led the heel group looking to take over TNA, but it missed the mark. Fans struggled to boo Hardy and the overall angle felt more like when the nWo jumped the shark with too many members.
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